With the rapid strikes and seizures of Iraqi territory by the Islamic State (commonly known as ISIS), the West, given a splendid pretext by the horrific decapitations of two journalists, is mounting a counter-attack, if only by war.
So far, no Western state has yet announced the deployment of ground troops.
Why are they there?
They claim that ISIS is a “threat” to their homelands, surely a stretch by any honest measure.
For ISIS has, according to most accounts, 20,000 troops, at best. According to some published sources, 10,000.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Iraq has 246-thousand active troops — well over twenty times ISIS’s troop strength.
ISIS has no air force, nor navy, nor tanks (except those left behind in Iraqi bases by their fleeing armies).
How then is ISIS an “imminent threat” to the U.S., not to mention the West?
They have an aggressive and able armed force. But, how could they roust Iraqi troops so easily, unless Iraqis had little to fight for in the first place?
The truth is it’s hard to fight for a puppet.
And although former Prime Minister, Nouri Kamel al-Maliki is no longer in power, a US puppet still runs Iraq.
The real reason US troops withdrew from Iraq had nothing to do with the Iraqi people. It withdrew because al-Maliki steadfastly refused to sign a so-called Status of Force agreement; a pact granting US troops total immunity for any action committed on Iraqi land.
Any action? The idea is breath-taking. Even a puppet couldn’t bear it.
And now, to protect their puppet state, the US bombs Iraqi targets described as ISIS hot spots.
But bombs are weapons of war — not tools of peace.
Call it what you will; it’s war.
