US INVASION OF IRAQ
This week marks the 12th anniversary of the bombing and invasion of Iraq by the U.S.-led coalition. Under the pretense of looking for weapons of mass destruction which proved to be a false...
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US INVASION OF IRAQ - Video
Finally Revealed: The CIA Report Used As Pretext for Invasion of Iraq
Make Sure to Subscribe to the New J.KNIGHT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnLrtqd5qxC_f1lOnrybpnA The document summarizing the CIA #39;s purported knowledge of Iraqi chemical, ...
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Finally Revealed: The CIA Report Used As Pretext for Invasion of Iraq - Video
David Petraeus speaks in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, 2014. The former head of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq tells The Washington Post that Iran and Shiite-backed militias pose a greater threat to Iraq than the self-described Islamic State. Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images hide caption
David Petraeus speaks in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, 2014. The former head of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq tells The Washington Post that Iran and Shiite-backed militias pose a greater threat to Iraq than the self-described Islamic State.
Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, says the "foremost threat to Iraq's long-term stability" is not the self-described Islamic State but Shiite militias backed, and sometimes guided, by Iran.
Petraeus' comments, which were made to The Washington Post in an interview published Friday, came at a conference in Sulaimaniya, in Iraqi Kurdistan. Petraeus oversaw the "surge" of troops into Iraq in 2007 and 2008, which succeeded in quelling the bloody Sunni rebellion after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
But since the end of combat operations in Iraq, violence in Iraq has spiked, a development Petraeus called a "tragedy for the Iraqi people, for the region and for the entire world."
"It is tragic foremost because it didn't have to turn out this way," he said.
Petraeus added:
"The hard-earned progress of the Surge was sustained for over three years. What transpired after that, starting in late 2011, came about as a result of mistakes and misjudgments whose consequences were predictable. And there is plenty of blame to go around for that.
"Yet despite that history and the legacy it has left, I think Iraq and the coalition forces are making considerable progress against the Islamic State. In fact, I would argue that the foremost threat to Iraq's long-term stability and the broader regional equilibrium is not the Islamic State; rather, it is Shiite militias, many backed by and some guided by Iran."
Petraeus, who headed the CIA before his resignation amid scandal in 2012, said: "Longer term, Iranian-backed Shia militia could emerge as the pre-eminent power in the country, one that is outside the control of the government and instead answerable to Tehran."
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Petraeus: Iran, Shiite Militias Bigger Threat To Iraq Than ISIS
Gen. David H. Petraeus, who commanded U.S. troops in Iraq during the 2007-2008 surge, was back in that country last week for the first time in more thanthree years. He was attending the annual Sulaimani Forum, a get-together of Iraqi leaders, thinkers and academics, at the American University of Iraq - Sulaimani in northern Iraqs Kurdistan region.
[Read: Five things Petraeus thinks about the future of the Middle East]
In his most expansive comments yet on the latest crisis in Iraq and Syria, he answered written questions fromThe Posts Liz Sly, offering insights into the mistakes, the prosecution and the prospects of the war against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, which he refers to by its Arabic acronym, Daesh.
How does it feel to be back in Iraq after four years away?
Iraq is a country I came to know well and the place where I spent some of the most consequential years of my life. So it has been a bit of an emotional experience to return here after my last visit in December 2011 as director of the CIA. I was very grateful for the chance to be back to see old friends and comrades from the past.
That said, it is impossible to return to Iraq without a keen sense of opportunities lost. These include the mistakes we, the U.S., made here, and likewise the mistakes the Iraqis themselves have made. This includes the squandering of so much of what we and our coalition and Iraqi partners paid such a heavy cost to achieve, the continuing failure of Iraq's political leaders to solve longstanding political disputes, and the exploitation of these failures by extremists on both sides of the sectarian and ethnic divides.
Having said that, my sense is that the situation in Iraq today is, to repeat a phrase I used on the eve of the surge, hard but not hopeless. I believe that a reasonable outcome here is still achievable, although it will be up to all of us Iraqis, Americans, leaders in the region and leaders of the coalition countries to work together to achieve it.
You oversaw the gains of the surge in 2007-08. How does it make you feel to see what is happening today, with ISIS having taken over more of Iraq than its predecessor, AQI [al-Qaeda in Iraq], ever did?
What has happened in Iraq is a tragedy for the Iraqi people, for the region and for the entire world. It is tragic foremost because it didn't have to turn out this way. The hard-earned progress of the Surge was sustained for over three years. What transpired after that, starting in late 2011, came about as a result of mistakes and misjudgments whose consequences were predictable. And there is plenty of blame to go around for that.
Yet despite that history and the legacy it has left, I think Iraq and the coalition forces are making considerable progress against the Islamic State. In fact, I would argue that the foremost threat to Iraqs long-term stability and the broader regional equilibrium is not the Islamic State; rather, it is Shiite militias, many backed by and some guided by Iran.
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WorldViews: Petraeus: The Islamic State isnt our biggest problem in Iraq
June 23, 2011: Then-CIA Director-designate Gen. David Petraeus testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.(AP)
Former CIA director and retired Gen. David Petraeus says the biggest threat to long-term stability in Iraq isnt the Islamic State -- but instead, Iran-backed Shiite militias.
What has happened in Iraq is a tragedy for the Iraqi people, for the region and for the entire world. It is tragic foremost because it didn't have to turn out this way, Petraeus told The Washington Post. The hard-earned progress of the surge was sustained for over three years.What transpired after that, starting in late 2011, came about as a result of mistakes and misjudgments whose consequences were predictable.
Petraeus, who continues to advise the Obama administration on Iraq despite his recent guilty plea for leaking classified information to his former mistress, says there is plenty of blame to go around for the chaos in the region.
But Petraeus told the Post he thinks Iraq and coalition forces are making progress against ISIS.
"In fact," he said, "I would argue that the foremost threat to Iraq's long-term stability and the broader regional equilibrium is not the Islamic State; rather, it is Shiite militias, many backed by -- and some guided by -- Iran."
He told the Post the Iran-backed militias returned to the streets of Iraq in response to a fatwa by Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Sistani during a moment of extreme danger and acknowledged this prevented ISIS from continuing its offensive into Baghdad. But he said the militias went after Sunni civilians as well as extremists, "and committed atrocities against them.
Whats resulted is that the group has been both part of Iraqs salvation but also its the most serious threat in the campaign to get the Sunni Arab population in Iraq to believe they have a say, Petraeus argued.
Petraeus, 62, admitted to having an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, following his resignation as CIA director. Prosecutors claimed that while Broadwell was writing her book in 2011, Petraeus gave her binders with classified information he kept while he was top military commander in Afghanistan.
In addition to working with the Obama administration, Petraeus has started to re-enter public life. Hes a scholar at Harvards Kennedy School of Government and has taken a job at KKR & Co., a private-equity firm known for its large corporate takeovers.
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Gen. Petraeus: Biggest threat to Iraq's stability is Iran-backed militias, not ISIS