Defrocked US General Blames Iran for US Crimes in Iraq

by Stephen Lendman

Blaming others for its own crimes is longstanding US policy. Lunatic active duty, retired and defrocked Pentagon generals lie like their government counterparts.

David Petraeus is one of the worst. On March 20, the neocon Washington Post headlined "Petraeus: The Islamic State isn't our biggest problem in Iraq."

He attended an annual University of Iraq Sulaimani Forum gathering of "Iraqi leaders, thinkers and academics…"

He commented on Obama's Iraq War III. He answered WaPo correspondent Liz Sly's questions on its prospects. More on this below.

He commanded US forces in Iraq during George Bush's so-called 2007-08 surge.

He was CENTCOM commander and head of US forces in Afghanistan. He served as CIA director.

He fell from grace for incompetence. He failed in Iraq, Afghanistan and as CIA head.

Competence didn't earn him four stars. Former peers accused him of brown-nosing his way to the top.

It made him a brand as much as general. Talk about him being presidential material surfaced.

His former commander, Admiral William Fallon, once called him "a piece of brown-nosing chicken shit."

He was more paper hero than real one. The man behind the image was fake - sacked in November 2012 for incompetence, not his well-publicized extramarital affair.

Even though in January 2015, reports indicated Justice Department officials suggested charging him with revealing classified information to his mistress while serving as CIA director.

He pled guilty to a minor misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information. He walked away unscathed.

Sly asked him how he felt being back in Iraq. He called his service murdering Iraqis "some of (his) most consequential years…"

He admitted "opportunities lost" and "mistakes" made without explaining how America ruthlessly destroyed the cradle of civilization - turned it into a multi-decade raging cauldron of violence, instability and immiseration.

"(A) reasonable outcome is still achievable," he said. Meaning unchallenged US control, free plunder of Iraq's resources and subjugation of its people.

Asked about ISIS in Iraq, he lied calling what's happening "a tragedy…because it didn't have to turn out this way."

He called his failed surge "hard-earned progress." He said "there is plenty of blame to go around for" what's happening.

He claimed "Iraq and 'coalition forces are making considerable progress against the Islamic State."

He nonsensically said "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."

"Iranian-backed Shia militias could emerge as the preeminent power in the country, one that is outside the control of the government and instead answerable to Tehran."

Fact: From Washington's involvement in the 1980s Iran/Iraq war to Obama's Iraq War III, America bears full responsibility for decades of mass slaughter, destruction and instability.

Fact: ISIS/ISIL/the Islamic State (IS) is a US creation - a proxy force serving US regional interests.

Fact: Blaming Iran for US high crimes wore thin long ago.

Fact: Petraeus' tenure in Afghanistan helped create a new generation of warlords.

Fact: Critics called his Middle East/Central Asian service a slow-motion train wreck.

Fact: His greatest accomplishment was creating worse conditions than what he inherited on arrival.

He expressed concern about what he called "meltdown" in Syria. It spews "instability and extremist ideology over the entire region," he said.

Fact: Syria is Obama's war.

Fact: There's nothing civil about it.

Fact: Washington recruits, funds, arms, trains and directs IS and other extremist fighters as anti-Assad death squads.

Asked what went wrong in Iraq, Petraeus pointed fingers the wrong way.

He claimed things went sour after US forces left in 2011. He ludicrously said his surge "accomplishment(s) were undone.

He blamed US-installed stooge governance for its longstanding high crimes against peace.

He suggested permanent US occupation could change things.

He perpetuated the myth about America's involvement to protect its national security.

He sees Afghanistan and Syria the same way - ludicrously suggesting occupying other countries keeps America safe.

At the same time, calling Iran a threat to US regional interests.

He calls war the way for peace. He's like other US hawks.

Permanent wars serve their interests. Peace and stability defeat them.

They won't be satisfied until they set planet earth ablaze. Mass extermination suits them fine - maybe in global mushroom-shaped clouds.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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