...and herein lies the problem...

[Figjam]

"Iraq's Shi'ite rulers defied Western calls on Tuesday to reach out to Sunnis to defuse the uprising in the north of the country, declaring a boycott of Iraq's main Sunni political bloc and accusing Sunni power Saudi Arabia of promoting “genocide."

...instead of sending in 250 Marines to help protect the US Embassy - we should be sending them in to evacuate the Embassy -

 

[as seen on tv]

which ones? got a link?

 

[Figjam]

http://www.voanews.com/content/obam...loying-up-to-275-troops-to-iraq-/1938343.html

which ones? got a link?

 

[resident_evil]

If we only had a pipeline from Canada to refineries on the Gulf coast.

 

[as seen on tv]

http://www.voanews.com/content/obam...loying-up-to-275-troops-to-iraq-/1938343.html

thanks - i gave your top post a like. this another example of a head of state telling his own people one thing, and saying something entirely different for the foreign press.

 

[Figjam]

...for what? So we could allow oil companies to export tar sands?

If we only had a pipeline from Canada to refineries on the Gulf coast.

 

[Figjam]

...this problem is al-Maliki's in the making. he has set up and run an exclusionary government - now it is coming back and biting him in the rear end - and I for one do not want to save him from himself.

thanks - i gave your top post a like. this another example of a head of state telling his own people one thing, and saying something entirely different for the foreign press.

 

[resident_evil]

...for what? So we could allow oil companies to export tar sands?

Capacity is capacity. Did you fail economics 101.

And push come to shove who gets those tars sands oil?

Silly Figgy.

 

[Figjam]

...actually I passed Eco-101 and you ask who gets those tar sands? - the highest bidder - any other silly questions?

Capacity is capacity. Did you fail economics 101.

And push come to shove who gets those tars sands oil?

Silly Figgy.

 

[resident_evil]

...actually I passed Eco-101 and you ask who gets those tar sands? - the highest bidder - any other silly questions?

That must have been a Phoenix course then... ahahahahahaha...snort.

 

[fairsheet]

Partisan yammering aside, nothing Obama has done thus far, has hampered construction of the Keystone pipeline, as a practical matter. In other words, if Obama had never weighed in on this one, Keystone would be no farther along that it is now.

 

[Figjam]

...you're a legend in your own mind...

That must have been a Phoenix course then... ahahahahahaha...snort.

 

[fairsheet]

"Iraq's Shi'ite rulers defied Western calls on Tuesday to reach out to Sunnis to defuse the uprising in the north of the country, declaring a boycott of Iraq's main Sunni political bloc and accusing Sunni power Saudi Arabia of promoting “genocide."

...instead of sending in 250 Marines to help protect the US Embassy - we should be sending them in to evacuate the Embassy -

You hit the nail on the head as to this being the essential issue. Iraqi Sunnis have been "troubled" for some time now, at the extent to which al Maliki and the Shia have been dominating the Iraqi government. That explains why the Sunni Iraqi defense forces were reticent to confront ISIS. It also explains why the Sunni dominated regions now occupied by ISIS aren't quite so troubled by the occupation as we might think they would be.

So..if we support the Iraqi guvmint against ISIS, we are in effect, siding with the Shia AND Iran, at least per Sunni public perception. My guess though, is that the Iranians really aren't impressed with this sort of messiness and that they expected al Maliki to "manage" it better than he has. Therefore, I'm guessing the Iranians are too impressed with al Maliki right about now.