(ANTIMEDIA) Mosul, Iraq – Whether through nefarious planning or just plain incompetence, it seems as though the Western powers have no interest in a defeated Islamic State. The battle in Iraq caused by years of failed foreign policy rages, and the West seems to only be concerned with public relations activities.
The Kurds are literally begging for supplies to fight the Islamic radicals. In an amazing interview with The Guardian, Captain Ibrahim expressed his surprise at being abandoned by the West.
“You know, we’re puzzled being out here with such a lack of support. Why is this happening? We like freedom. We are just like you. We want what you have.”
Captain Ibrahim is just outside of Mosul, where an offensive is scheduled to begin in April or May. That piece of information was leaked by US war planners, in what seemed like a blatant attempt to warn the Islamic State forces. He bemoaned the British who have denied Kurdish requests for heavy weapons, but are sending them to the same Iraqi forces that abandoned hundreds of armored vehicles and thousands of Humvees when then turned tail and ran from advancing IS forces. Those weapons are now being used against the Kurds who held the line while the Iraqi army regrouped.
There was a strategy meeting held recently… the Kurds weren’t invited, even though they seem to be the only force in the area holding their own against the radicals.
The West’s intentions are clear. The only victory that is acceptable is one led by the puppet regime in Baghdad. If the victory was led by the Kurds, it would embolden the nationalist movement in Northern Iraq. An independent Kurdistan is contrary to US business interests because the new nation might not honor the contracts western corporations have signed with the regime in Baghdad.
There is no clearer sign of the West’s unwillingness to help the Kurds than the fact that the UK would not even sell leftover weapons from Afghanistan to the Kurdish militias that are cleaning up the coalition’s mess. Yes, the Kurds offered to pay for them. While the US is dumping billions into Israel’s war machine for new fighter jets to attack a contained Palestinian people, the Pentagon seems unwilling to give the Kurds even “hand me down” weapons so they can win a fight a common enemy.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, delivers a speech to troops at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. Carter is gathering top U.S. military commanders and diplomats for talks in Kuwait on Monday about the battle against Islamic State, as America’s military effort approaches major hurdles in both Iraq and Syria.
While the campaign contributors to America’s policymakers count their profits, the Kurdish fighters that were captured by the Islamic State were paraded through Hawija in cages similar to the one in which a Jordanian pilot was burned alive. Nobody expects them to survive the week.
The President’s administration has used the threat of the Islamic State to seek far-reaching authorization for military operations, while the men and women who are on the front lines are left without the tools they need to defeat the enemy. This is a matter of life and death for the people of Iraq. As has been the case since 2003, the West has couldn’t care less about the suffering of the Iraqi people. All that matters is big business interests. Safely from inside the marble halls of government offices in the United States, the lack of support for the Kurds is an uncomfortable political issue that will be sorted out in due time. A few miles from the front line, the lack of heavy weapons to counter the armored vehicles isn’t uncomfortable; it’s unforgiving.