Who's On First--Strange Doings in Iraq

++General Conway, formerly the Marine commander in Iraq, claims that the worst is over for Iraq with the ISIS advance.

++Iraq has produced the strangest bed fellows. Iran is furnishing drones,military personnel and equipment. The United States is providing drones, military personnel and equipment. Syria is bombing Iraq at the request of Prime Minister Maliki. Maliki has decided not to wait for the delivery of F-16s but is purchasing MiGs from Russia. 

++Ayatollah Sistani insists a new unity government must be formed before the parliament meets. Iraqi parliamentarians are commuting to Tehran to get instructions about whom should be the next Prime Minister. Prime Minister Maliki insists he should be retained although the United States and even Iran has gently insisted he shouldn't. Publicly,Iran has denounced the United States for destabilizing Maliki.

++John Kerry first met in Paris and then in Saudi Arabia to encourage the Saudis,Qataris and Jordanians to support the "moderate" Syrian forces and to solidify the support of the Sunnis tribes in both Iraq and Syria against ISIS. The Saudis are in high alert because ISIS may move their way.

++ISIS' propaganda is more modern than Al Qaeda's. They ran an Instagram of Michelle Obama holding  photoshopped sign "Where's Our Humvees" as a parody of her "Where's Our Children" call for the school kids kidnapped by Boko Haram. They also sent an image of Senator John McCain meeting Syrian rebels beneath a sign of ISIS.

++There is some confusion about whether Saddam Hussein's former troops are with ISIS because of their age. 

++Depending on who you read, ISIS is aiming for the Sunni suburbs of Baghdad and will attack when American troops arrive or they are consolidating their positions around the country. 

++Iran is not so happy. Tehran is debating how far they can extend themselves since they are under tight sanctions. They argue they have lost Hamas,that Hezbollah are lax, and 35,000 Shiite militiamen are returning to defend Iraq, leaving a gaping hole in Syria's defense.

++President Obama's choice to leave Iraq after not getting the Force Agreement looks great now as military analysts argue that he would have faced the situation of having to either escalate of leave when 10,000 Americans came under attack.

++His decision to re-insert hundreds of Special Forces doesn't look that great. His decision to train "moderate" Syrian forces,mostly former members of the Syrian army, has considerable risks. As Steve Clemons in Atlantic pointed out,the Free Syrian Army often sold the arms we provided to ISIS and formed fluid alliances on the ground,often with the Al Qaeda-affiliated troops. The leader of the Free Syrian government was replaced yesterday because of charges of corruption.

++On a brighter note, Bibi Netanyahu said that the removal of Syrian chemical weapons eliminated an "existential threat" to the State of Israel and he thanked the Obama Administration for that. Likewise, the American-provided Iron Dragon anti-missile defense system destroyed rockets launched from Gaza.

++The United Nations said that Iran had violated the arms embargo with their sale of weapons that were detained en route to the Sudan. Negotiators for the nuclear agreement between the P-5 and Iran will meet this week. 

Iran Opposes American Intervention

++Leslie Gelb and others proposed that the United States can coordinate its actions on Iraq with Iran. This idea was floated when Iranian President Rouhani suggested that Tehran was interested in assisting. But today, the hammer came down. Ayatollah Ali Kamenei came out strongly to oppose American intervention in Iraq. Last night ,the Shiite militias also told BBC journalists that they don't want Americans back.

++Secretary of State John Kerry is en route to Baghdad with a stop in Egypt where he urged President al-Sisi to create a government of diversity to prevent further violence. 

++I'm sympathetic to these calls for more inclusive governments in the area and think that represents our core national interests but there are some hard truths. We selected Prime Minister al-Maliki and we have given him billions to prop up his regime. He has purged the army of anyone except loyalists. He has developed a system of corruption within each ministry and where he has the portfolio he gets a cut of every contract. He's come a long way from the days when he was working as a butcher in Damascus. He has allowed Iranian intelligence control of his own intelligence agency. What is the incentive for him to leave when he received greater votes than before in the last election? And who are we at this stage to pressure him to leave?

++Are we at the stage again where we might have to accept the Saddam proposal--I'll leave if I can keep $1billion?

++Ayatollah Sistani beat us to the punch when he called on all Iraqis to defend the country and sanctioned the mobilization of the Shiite militias. 

++The Shiite fighters who were off fighting to defend Assad are returning home. It should be remembered that Maliki supplied arms to the Assad government and ignored our request to stop fly-overs from Iran to resupply the Syrian army. 

++Dick Cheney did battle with Rand Paul this morning. Rand Paul said we created a jihadist play land in Iraq and Libya. Cheney decried Paul's isolationism and warned of another 9-11 as he has warned of another 9-11 since 9-11 when he failed to heed warnings the first time. 

++The American Embassy has scattered in many directions as many have been evacuated to Erbil and other consulates. The same is being done in Nairobi, Kenya, where Islamic militants rampaged through coastal towns.

++Maybe we should heed the advice of a former Vermont Senator during Vietnam, "Let's declare victory and come home."