Seven U.S. soldiers were injured raiding a suspected ISIS hideout in Western Iraq on Thursday, according to a Centcom press release late Friday.
The U.S. has some 2500 troops still in Iraq and their presence, since the Iraq War officially ended in 2011, continues to be a constant source of debate. And while they are supposedly there in an “advise and assist” capacity, it is clear when we hear about these raids, that they are still fighting a war, albeit a low grade one that runs far beneath the American people’s radar.
Is the Iraqi army STILL incapable with dealing with ISIS by itself?
“The continued U.S. presence in Iraq and Syria needlessly risks Americans lives in pursuit of objectives not tied to America’s national interest while raising the likelihood that the U.S. will get dragged into a larger regional war,” Dan Caldwell, Public Policy Advisor for Defense Priorities, who is also a U.S. veteran who served in the same region as Thursday’s raid, told RS.
Of course we all know why the US remains…OIL.
It would seems that a concerted push to convert the US private passenger fleet to EV & hybrid only vehicle would severely cut into the US demand for oil curtailing the strategic value of the Middle East to the USA.
But wait. The US produces enough oil, but of the wrong kind-light and sweet. US refineries are set up to refine heavy sour crude. So we export light and sweet & import heavy and sour from Russia and Middle East countries.
Why not build some refineries to process the light and sweet. Or convert a few existing refineries to process the sweet and light. Well that could cost billions of $. Sure but it would be less than the trillion spent in Iraq, Libya, and Syria methinks. The federal government could incentivize such construction. Shucks the EU might kick in some money so that the US would cease to meddle creating millions of refugees that refuse to integrate into EU society. They are not immigrants seeking a better life but ran to avoid dying from ordinance of the fighting factions.