While Einstein defined insanity as repeating the same behavior and expecting different results, it appears President Obama’s administration defines that action as US foreign policy. Just as they did in Syria (where the US ‘trained’ moderate Al Qaeda terrorists, instead of “sending troops” – ensuring no ‘boots on the ground’ blowback), AP reports that the US is sending arms to the Kurds as their new proxy mercenary force in Northern Iraq. We are sure the result will be different this time?
Until now, the U.S. had insisted on only selling arms to the Iraqi government in Baghdad, but the Kurdish peshmerga fighters had been losing ground to Islamic State militants in recent weeks. As AP reports,
The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, senior U.S. officials said Monday.
The officials wouldn’t say which U.S. agency is providing the arms or what weapons are being sent, but one official said it isn’t the Pentagon. The CIA has historically done similar quiet arming operations.
The move to directly aid the Kurds underscores the level of U.S. concern about the Islamic State militants’ gains in the north, and reflects the persistent administration view that the Iraqis must take the necessary steps to solve their own security problems.
A senior State Department official would only say that the Kurds are “getting arms from various sources. They are being rearmed.”
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In recent days, the U.S. military has been helping facilitate weapons deliveries from the Iraqis to the Kurds, providing logistic assistance and transportation to the north.
Meanwhile the coup and political chaos in Baghdad leaves the US floundering in who is their man…
At the same time, the administration is watching carefully as a political crisis brews in Baghdad, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Iraq’s embattled prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to maintain calm among the upheaval.
“We believe that the government formation process is critical in terms of sustaining the stability and calm in Iraq,” Kerry said. “And our hope is that Mr. Maliki will not stir those waters.”
Speaking in Australia on Monday, Kerry said there should be no use of force by political factions as Iraq struggles form a government. He said the people of Iraq have made clear their desire for change and that the country’s new president is acting appropriately despite claims of malfeasance by al-Maliki.
Maliki is resisting calls to step down and says he’ll file a complaint against the president for not naming him prime minister.
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Of course, none of this matters because as stocks are tellung us – everything’s fixed…
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1oDrxjl Tyler Durden