I figured some military guys would read this thread and I just wanna say thank you. I know sometimes this board acts like military guys and gals get thanked too much and such, yes, I've read many threads on that. I work alongside many veterans and old friends of mine that fought in Iraq or Afghanistan. None of them brag about it and hardly ever even talk about it unless you ask them. Even the one's who were in military but never fought, they don't try to act like they did or makeup war stories like so many people make remarks saying they do. To the guys that did fight over there, I can't imagine the horror of not knowing who is enemy and who isn't, is that coke bottle a bomb or not, etc.

Pretty crazy how our military went thousands of miles away, in the ME, with so many people against the war in Iraq, and still put up with all the turmoil in a country where many people didn't want them there, and kicked arse. Politics aside, we are lucky to live in a country like ours. I hope we never lose another soldier in the middle east, or yet anywhere.

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Posted by windshieldman

Member since Nov 2012

12818 posts

Posted on 1/16/16 at 8:31 am to Oyster

quote:
So what are they going to do with the void created when Isis falls? There will just be another group of crazies to take their place.

I think the hope is, they are being better trained then they were in the past, the Iraqi army. The hope is Abadi is the right man for the job. They are gonna have to first, treat the Sunnis better, and second, keep training the regular army better. Iraq is finally having more and more Sunni tribes fight against ISIS than ever before. Several big cities are Sunni dominated and you need "good" Sunni tribes to keep the void at bay.

Maliki basically treated Sunnis like dirt which caused an uprising, basicall same thing Hussein did to the Shiites. Abadi is actually trying to ease the sectarian tension. Who know whether that will work, hasn't worked the last few thousand years. Basically, keep training and recruiting more soldiers, and cover as much of the country you can, and hope Sunni tribes will help also.

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Posted by Ace Midnight

Between sanity and madness

Member since Dec 2006

89790 posts

Posted on 1/16/16 at 8:40 am to windshieldman

quote:
The issue is what happens after ISIS is defeated.

1. Divide Iraq into 3 countries - Kurd, Shi'ia and Sunni.

2. Negotiate a revenue sharing agreement covering Iraq's oil money

3. Profit

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Posted by windshieldman

Member since Nov 2012

12818 posts

Posted on 1/16/16 at 8:47 am to Ace Midnight

quote:
1. Divide Iraq into 3 countries - Kurd, Shi'ia and Sunni.

2. Negotiate a revenue sharing agreement covering Iraq's oil money

3. Profit

Well, might be worth a shot

And in all seriousness, seems the Kurds are trying to do that.

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Posted by Jimmydatiger

North Endzone

Member since Dec 2011

369 posts

Posted on 1/16/16 at 9:12 am to TigerFanInSouthland

(no message)

This post was edited on 6/6/20 at 1:34 pm

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Posted by sullivanct19a

Florida

Member since Oct 2015

5239 posts

Posted on 1/16/16 at 9:16 am to windshieldman

quote:
I'll add that some of Iraqis military is actually a prett good fighting force. Their main army has plenty of problems but some of their elite forces are pretty damn legit.

Yeah, when SF is there to hold their hand.

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Posted by TigerFanInSouthland

Louisiana

Member since Aug 2012

28065 posts

Posted on 1/16/16 at 9:16 am to Jimmydatiger

quote:
Sounds complicated. How bout this; do nothing. I don't hear anyone saying please come save us. Why are we even involved?

Well it's not us that's the ground element really. The Iraqi leadership said they wanted a minimalized US ground force so I guess they're trying to save themselves.

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