Hi Pete,

For all that and all that, I'm glad that Australian (and other) fighters and bombers are in Iraq, hopefully bombing the crap out of ISIS there.

I recommend that all readers go back to the first post on this thread, by LEGO - brilliant !

Joe

Hi Joe

Our 8 Super Hornets have been sitting on the hot tarmac of the Al Minhad Air Base in UAE (not Iraq) for around 10 days. This inactivity would be costing the Australian taxpayer around $100,000 per day.

The Iraqi Government don't apparently care less.

Like our brave Afghani allies Iraqi politicians covet Australian bribe money - preferably in US dollars or gold.

Cheers

Pete

Thanks Pete,

And yet, and yet - sooner or later, they will be used to defend Iraq against the fascists.

The Second World War against Japan and the Nazis also had to be fought. I wonder if anybody back then carped about the cost per day ? Wouldn't it have been more nicer, more sweeter, to spend that money on saving the hairy-nosed wombat ? War is so nasty.

Joe

Hi Joe

Your such an idealist. But even the good burghers of Baghdad don't want the privilege of friendly Aussie bombing without bribes.

Will Australia be forced to bomb IS and AQ targets in Syria instead?

No bribes to Syria's President Assad required?

Pete

Hi Pete,

Yep, for all that. But no, I don't think Australia will get involved in Syria, only in Iraq, i.e. where a government that we recognise will invite us in (although we might contribute support for the Kurds in northern Syria). 'Us' meaning the Australian contribution.

Strategically, there are current two different battles: one to liberate Iraq, one to degrade ISIS in Syria and support the Kurds. I support both of them 100 %.

To hell with relativism.

Joe

Hi Joe

Its difficult to argue with you - as you're good-natured and probably right.

Here's an enemy's enemy is me friend story that is typical of the Middle East.

Intelnews has just reported "Are US spy agencies sharing weapons, intelligence with Hezbollah?" http://intelnews.org/2014/10/02/01-1566/ :

"...veteran intelligence correspondent Jeff Stein said on Wednesday that the meteoric rise of [IS] may have prompted the creation of a “de facto US-Saudi-Lebanese-Hezbollah-Iranian” alliance [bringing] an “unwritten, unacknowledged cease fire” between these former adversaries...

.. Washington and Hezbollah, the militant Shiite group that controls large swathes of Lebanese territory, have a common interest in combating the Islamic State and preventing its rule from spreading beyond Syria. So the Americans began reaching out to Hezbollah in 2012, says Stein, and have helped bring about a “regional consensus [...] to contain the conflict away from Lebanon and in Syria”.

...Washington’s decision to reach out to Hezbollah appears to have been prompted by the realization that the militant Shiite group, along with the official [Christian dominated] Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), were the only actors on the ground capable of fighting and defeating the Islamic State.

Last August, says Stein, the US Pentagon unloaded $20 million worth of weapons in Lebanon for use by the LAF. The weapons were reportedly shipped through the Beirut International Airport, which his under the control of Hezbollah. The group promptly transferred the weapons to the LAF, which... has recently developed an “arm’s length alliance with Hezbollah” due to their mutual concern over the rise of the Islamic State."

Cheers

Pete