Crescent crushes USA

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United States of America has been utterly defeated by Shias in Iraq backed by Shias of Iran.

When U.S announced withdrawal of its militiary forces from Iraq, the Shia Crescent was shinning at its brightest.

Iran declared victory.

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Iran: US defeated in Iraq quagmire

Fri Dec 16, 2011

Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says the world has witnessed the US defeat in “Iraq's quagmire.”

In a Thursday meeting with Chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim in the Iranian capital of Tehran, Hashemi Rafsanjani expressed satisfaction with the upcoming withdrawal of the US forces from Iraq.

He stressed the importance of reinforcing unity and integrity among the Iraqi people and establishing national security in the war-ravaged country, Fars news agency reported.

Under a 2008 bilateral security accord, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), all US troops are required to leave the country by December 31.

More than one million Iraqis have been killed in the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of the country since 2003, according to the California-based investigative organization Project Censored.

Washington claimed the military action was carried out to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the country while former dictator Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime was still in power. However, no WMDs were ever discovered in Iraq.

The head of Iran's Expediency Council further pointed to the sweeping wave of Islamic Awakening in the region and expressed hope that a free and independent Iraq would play an effective role in the Muslim world in the future.

Hashemi Rafsanjani described as “strategic and sustainable” relations between Tehran and Baghdad and added that the two countries should bolster cooperation to make a better future with regard to their religious, historical and cultural commonality.

Hakim, for his part, expressed appreciation for Iran's “principled” stance on Iraq.

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A superpower not strong enough to set Iraq on course

Patrick Cockburn - Friday 16 December 2011

The US invaded Iraq in 2003 in a show of strength after 9/11 to prove it was the world's sole superpower. But the war demonstrated that the US did not have the political and military might to determine the future of Iraq.

The country that US troops leave behind is badly damaged politically, economically and psychologically. This is to be expected after the 30 years of war, civil war, sanctions and occupation. Much of the damage was done by Saddam Hussein, but much was also the result of American efforts to rule the country directly.

The US problem in Iraq was that it wanted to overthrow Saddam without seeing him replaced by Shia Islamist parties linked to Iran. This was always going to be the inevitable outcome of any democratic election, which Shia Islamists allied to the Kurds would win.

Iraq is a divided country with a constitution aimed at sharing power that has institutionalised sectarian and ethnic divisions between Shias, Sunnis and Kurds.

Iraq may be divided, violent and unstable but this does not mean it is going to split up or subside into a new civil war. All communities have an interest in getting a share of the growing oil revenues. More dangerous in the longer term may a dissatisfaction with an administration viewed as a gang of racketeers. The more oil revenues increase, the more Iraqis will wonder why economic development is so slow.

Much of the $100bn (£65bn) budget this year will be spent on salaries and pensions, but rebuilding the country, aside from Kurdistan, is slow – though oil output will grow rapidly.

US fears of Iran dominating Iraq are overblown. Iran is influential, but it is not the only outside player in Iraqi politics and there are limits to what a foreign power can do in Iraq, as the US has found.

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U.S. Withdrawal and Defeat in Iraq

http://www.iwallerstein.com/withdrawal-defeat-iraq/
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Defeat in Iraq
President Obama’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops is the mother of all disasters

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/defeat-iraq_604179.html
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The Iraq war is finally over. And it marks a complete neocon defeatThanks to the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Iran's greatest enemy, Tehran's influence in Iraq is stronger than America's

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/23/us-withdrawal-iraq-defeat-bush-neocons
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Britain suffered defeat in Iraq, says US general

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11419878
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