Friday, December 13, 2013

Do I Get To Go Back Soon?

Take a look below at this map of Iraq that I blatantly stole  borrowed from Reuters through Business Insider. It shows the areas that Al Qaeda in Iraq/Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant either control or have a presence:

Yeah, I purposely made this HUUUUUUGE

Iraq didn't want US soldiers occupying their country anymore, fair enough. But then Iraq pulled its own military out of population centers and shifted from counter insurgency tactics to counter terrorism in an attempt to return to some sort of normalcy.

This has backfired on Iraq. The decrease in security forces gave insurgents some breathing space that enabled them to reconstitute and increase the number of attacks conducted. Then Syria fell apart.

The territory that AQI has presence is primarily in Sunni areas that border Syria. Look at all that war spill-over. Oh, and look at that northwest to southeast line of control that is marked "Hamrin Mountains". Where does that culminate? Could that possibly be Lake Hamrin and 1-14 Cav's old stomping grounds? Why indeed it is! Damn Kurwi tribe. Apparently the As Sadiyah, Jalula, Qara Tapa triangle is still causing trouble.

But what's up with the area south of Baghdad? As far as I know that's primarily Shia (the map also confirms this). What has led to AQI to control chunks of Shia dominated land?

How long before Iraq begs the US to send combat troops back into the country? Will the US agree? Will our allies follow? How long does the world sit and watch the chaos in Syria spread?

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