If the US pulls out of Iraq, it will blow my fucking mind and I will become a hopeful bloomer
How the fuck is this how I'm now learning Iraq declared war on the U.S.
But "tinkzorg", I hear you screaming in rage. "The F-35 is a magical stealth aircraft, surely the US can simply send in those and it's total air dominance will be restored!?".
To that, my answer is "lol". There are, to say the least, a few big problems here.
Great Twitter thread
How the fuck is this how I'm now learning Iraq declared war on the U.S.
I can't find anything on this anywhere. Does anyone have literally any source on this?
It looks like they’re referring to the militias
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/iran-backed-iraqi-militias-announce-expanded-attacks-on-us-bases/
There were a number of attacks within Iraq. It looks more like irregulars rather than the actual State of Iraq.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/10/us-troops-attacked-in-iraq-2
Here’s the trillion dollar question: we know the lack of manpower is a political choice to avoid the PR problem of dead American soldiers, so a switch to remote controlled drones. But, with regards to everything else, where is all that ballooning military spending going if the bread and butter equipment is aged and unreliable? Is it going to magic toys like the F-35 and supersonic missiles that the military-industrial complex is hyping as miracles but are really boondoggles? Or is this just a sign of the DoD budget being a thinly veiled wealth transfer from the public coffers to Lockheed Martin shareholders?
It's a lot of the latter. Also a lot of it is exports, which is also just a subsidy for arms manufacturers but the weapons go to clients. This includes Iraq. American vassals will not necessarily do everything the US wants, however, despite buying those weapons. The Saudis are a big buyer but they've pulled back as a result of the al-Aqsa flood. Japan is a buyer but they're gonna do fuck-all in the case of a ME war.
This doesn't necessarily mean that the Twitter OP is overall correct. I don't know how to evaluate whether US stockpiles are overwhelming or not and I kinda doubt they do either. But it would be a good thing to focus on, as any hints of the downfall of US empire are a call to action for us.
All the stuff about the failures inside the US military apparatus sounds right but I'd really like some other sources on just how well armed and organized any Iraqi groups are or how apparently everyone has lots of Iranian made cruise missiles and AA equipment
https://twitter.com/IranObserver0/status/1716904602266902857
Here’s that video it doesn’t work in nitter, obviously it’s propaganda but still
