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Iraq in Crisis- Merged Superthread

tomahawk6 said:
If you are seeking paradise,then you wouldnt fear death.One would welcome it.

Isn't it a wonderful sacrifice that their leaders make.  They deliberately forego their own opportunities for paradise in order to permit their followers to proceed ahead of them. 
 
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/397240/obamas-confused-iraqi-policy-bing-west-owen-west

National Review - January 27, 2015 -  Bing West & Owen West

Obama’s Confused Iraqi Policy
U.S. air, aid, and advisers in Iraq are currently furthering Iran’s interests, not America’s.

Today in Iraq, American advisers stay in safe shelters, while Iranian soldiers and generals fight alongside Shia militias and Iraqi soldiers on the front lines. Our bombing supports Iranian-directed movements on the ground. This bizarre situation bring into question American policy goals. Are the administration’s actions ad hoc and poorly thought out, or is there a hidden, more foreboding agenda?

In the State of the Union address, President Obama said that “in Iraq and Syria, American leadership — including our military power — is stopping ISIL’s advance.” Actually, America is following Iranian leadership inside Iraq. In 2007, when President Bush surged more than 20,000 American troops into Iraq, Iran responded with explosive devices and assassination teams to kill our soldiers. Eight years ago, it would have been risible to predict that American troops would deploy a second time to support Iran’s Republican Guard. Yet that is what we have done.

How did we get to this stage? After the president pulled all our forces out of Iraq in 2011, the majority-Shia government oppressed the minority Sunni and Kurdish tribes. The sectarian Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki deployed Iraqi military units commanded by Shia political hacks into the Sunni areas. When the Sunni Islamists invaded from Syria, those Iraqi units ran away. Iran rushed in troops to prevent Baghdad from falling.

In response, President Obama has provided air strikes, while forbidding any American to engage in combat. Canadian advisers have been in combat on the front lines, marking targets for U.S. aircraft. The American advisers must stay in the rear. This is publicly embarrassing and militarily zany.

Iran is pursuing a consistent policy to extend its influence. Inside Syria, Iran has sent in its Hezbollah militia from Lebanon to fight for Assad, its client. We are bombing the Sunni terrorists. Mr. Obama has designated the Assad forces off limits. Rhetorically he declaims against Assad and Hezbollah, but he refrains from action. In contrast, last week in Syria, our ally Israel bombed and killed several Hezbollah leaders and the Iranian general who was advising them.

Inside Iraq, it is again the Iranians who display more consistency than the administration. In Baghdad, houses are searched by Shia militias, supervised by Iranian advisers. Other Iranians are on the battlefields and inside the operations centers of the Iraqi army, where they study our techniques and learn how we think and plan campaigns. Iranian aircraft are transiting Iraqi airspace to supply the Assad regime and are bombing targets inside Iraq.

Addressing those Iranian strikes, Secretary of State John Kerry said, “The net effect is positive. . . . The Iraqis have the overall responsibility for their own ground and air operations, and what they choose to do is up to them.”

How is the effect “positive” when the end state is an Iraq more closely tied to Iran? About 7,000 Iranian soldiers are committed to the fight, while 3,000 American advisers stay safe in the rear. Given its close control of Shia militias, Iran can, whenever it chooses, engineer bombings that will drive us out of the country. We stay at Iranian sufferance. That will end someday, as it did in Lebanon when Hezbollah, trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, blew up U.S. barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Marines. When it is in Iran’s interests, we will be pushed out of Iraq.

The 1916 map of Mesopotamia drawn by the British and French is being redrawn by the 21st-century Islamic upheaval. Iran is consolidating power on the Shia side. On the Sunni side, the Obama administration has antagonized both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while no Sunni coalition of religious and military leaders has emerged to destroy the extremist movement within Sunni Islam.

Inside Iraq, the Sunni and Kurdish tribes will not accept a return to the status quo ante. The tribal and political dynamics that caused Iraq’s disintegration remain in place. No offensive to drive out the Islamists can succeed without Americans on the front lines calling in air strikes. Obama will be forced to play that trump card before leaving office, despite his denials to date. In return, he should demand an Iraqi federation with largely self-rule for Kurds and Sunnis.

On two levels, the administration’s policy in Iraq is confusing and suspect. First, Obama will not acknowledge the religious base of our enemy. He calls them “violent extremists” while insisting that “the vast majority of Muslims share our commitment to peace.” But he refuses to join France, England, Germany, Egypt, and other nations in calling on peaceful Muslim leaders to speak up.

“They [ordinary citizens] ask how they can trust the phrase that murderers who claim to act in the name of Islam have nothing to do with Islam,” German chancellor Angels Merkel said last week. “We urgently need a clarification of these questions by Islam’s religious leaders. This issue can’t be evaded any longer.”

Obama, however, persists in evading it. As long as he refuses to recognize the self-professed motivation of our Islamist enemies, he cannot take steps to remove their support system among the too-silent majority of peaceful Muslims.

On the second level, the policy is foreboding. For Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States — all allied with America for the past half-century — our aligning with Iranian forces inside Iraq increases their concerns that America has switched sides. Obama is pleading with Iran for a deal about its nuclear-weapons program. It represents the last, best hope for his legacy in foreign policy, which he has botched. And so he will not upset Iran by frowning on its military presence and increasing influence inside Iraq. Our traditional allies in the region believe that the administration is allowing the balance of power to shift against them, as Iran consolidates its influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Congress has a role to play. The administration has asked for funding and authorization to continue to use force against the Sunni Islamists in Iraq, Syria, and other countries. Congress should insist on three provisions relative to Iraq.

First, no aid, or bombing will be delivered, unless Iraq places limits on the number of Iranian military and on their linkages with Shia militias.

Second, insist on a compact with Iraq for a long-term American military presence. We should not fight and leave the political victory to Iran. Some in our military are whispering, “Don’t worry, the Iraqi mullahs don’t like the Iranian mullahs.” Perhaps true, but irrelevant. Their power positions are scarcely equivalent. Shia mullahs rule in Iran and pontificate in Iraq.

Third, all U.S. aid must flow directly to the end recipient, whether that be the Iraqi army or a Sunni or Kurdish tribe. The Iraqi government should be notified of our aid but not given control of it.

American air, aid, and advisers in Iraq must further American interests, not Iran’s.

— Bing West served in Vietnam as an adviser and has written three books about the Iraq war. Owen West served two tours in Iraq and wrote the book The Snake Eaters about his advisory team in Anbar Province, now controlled by the Islamists.

 
Seems at least one of those ISIS-operated Abrams tanks survived the air strikes to find its way to another Iraqi faction:

Iraqi Shia militia spotted with Abrams tank

IHS Janes 360 - 28 January 2015

The convoy was made up of at least 130 vehicles, almost all of them flying the group's distinctive flag.

Most of the vehicles are civilian pick-ups, minivans and trucks, some converted into weapons platforms, as well as supporting tankers and ambulances.

It also included eight Iranian-made Safir jeeps, the majority of them carrying 107 mm multiple rocket launchers, as well as several Humvees and mine-protected armoured vehicles.

At least six M113 armoured personnel carriers and a lone M1A1 tank were carried by heavy transporters at the rear of the convoy.

While Iraqi militias have been seen operating Humvees, M113s and Soviet-designed tanks before, this is the first time that one has been seen with an M1A1, a type that is only operated by the Iraqi Army's 9th Armoured Division.


1628635_-_main.jpg

A still from a video that emerged on 22 January shows an M1A1 Abrams tank in a large convoy of vehicles flying flags of the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hizbullah.
 
Mission creep?

These comments were similar to a statement made by Sen. McCain earlier this month, if I can recall correctly.

Military.com

Hagel Says US May Need to Put Ground Troops in Iraq

Jan 31, 2015 | by Bryant Jordan

Departing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the U.S. may have to put American troops back on the ground in Iraq to help that country n its fight against Islamic State.
"I think it may require a forward deployment of some of our troops,” Hagel as quoted telling CNN. "Not doing the fighting. Not doing the combat work that we did at one time for six years in Iraq ... But to help airstrike precision ... Those are things where we could continue support."
"It could be necessary," Hagel said. "It could be, but I'm not willing to say that it will be necessary."

(...SNIPPED)
 
my girlfriend yesterday was in a Tim Horton's , and she saw on the screen that 3 Americans pilot were captive by some ISIS member , and there was an exchange going on ....

anyone knows if there is any true to that ???
 
I am wintering in the US and there has been nothing reported. There were three American contractors killed in, I think Afghanistan, last week.
 
krimynal said:
my girlfriend yesterday was in a Tim Horton's , and she saw on the screen that 3 Americans pilot were captive by some ISIS member , and there was an exchange going on ....

anyone knows if there is any true to that ???

There has been a report on the UK's Daily Mail online ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-173168/Downed-US-pilot-captured-claims-Iraq.html ) that reports ISIS officials claiming this, and at the same time, the US denying any aircraft have been shot down.
 
George Wallace said:
There has been a report on the UK's Daily Mail online ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-173168/Downed-US-pilot-captured-claims-Iraq.html ) that reports ISIS officials claiming this, and at the same time, the US denying any aircraft have been shot down.

GW, I can not find a date attached to the article you linked anywhere. Also, in the article itself it mentions that Iraqi Security Forces were responsible for "capturing" the pilot. With the Iraqi forces being an ally in this current fight I find it odd that the word "captured" was used. As well it that this was shortly after air raid sirens were sounded in Baghdad which AFAIK has not been subject to any of the recent strikes which leads me to believe that this is a very old article from either 2003, or earlier  ;)
 
The Daily Mail story mentions Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, so it is from 2003.
 
then why in the world would Tim Horton's put that into Breaking News , lol , guess someone didn't have their coffee yesterday morning lol !
 
uncle-midget-Oddball said:
GW, I can not find a date attached to the article you linked anywhere. Also, in the article itself it mentions that Iraqi Security Forces were responsible for "capturing" the pilot. With the Iraqi forces being an ally in this current fight I find it odd that the word "captured" was used. As well it that this was shortly after air raid sirens were sounded in Baghdad which AFAIK has not been subject to any of the recent strikes which leads me to believe that this is a very old article from either 2003, or earlier  ;)

You are correct

British officials said they had no information about any downed plane, but US Defence Secretary Rumsfeld later said there had been a report of a missing aircraft.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-173168/Downed-US-pilot-captured-claims-Iraq.html#ixzz3QboArrq2
 
Shoddy website management on the part of The Daily Mail.  At the top of the page they have today's date and weather:  "Monday, Feb 2nd 2015 1PM  -16°C 4PM  -16°C "

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-173168/Downed-US-pilot-captured-claims-Iraq.html#ixzz3QbpRs1Kw
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 
This is a sad development, and one that may escalate Jordan's stance towards ISIL and possibly the carrying out of their threat to execute ISIS/ISIL prisoners:

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Jordan pilot hostage Moaz al-Kasasbeh 'burned alive'
BBC News, Middle East
3 February 2015 Last updated at 12:29 ET

A video published online by Islamic State (IS) militants claims to show Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh being burned alive.

The video, which could not immediately be verified, showed a man standing in a cage and engulfed in flames.

Lt Moaz al-Kasasbeh was captured when his plane came down near Raqqa, Syria, in December on a mission to support the US-led military coalition against IS.

Jordanian state TV reported that he had been killed one month ago.

The video posted online on Tuesday was distributed via a Twitter account known as a source for IS propaganda.

A relative of Lt Kasasbeh told Reuters news agency that the Jordanian armed forces had informed the family that he had been killed.

Jordan had been attempting to secure Lt Kasasbeh's release as part of a prisoner swap.

It had offered to free Sajida al-Rishawi, who is on death row in Jordan for her role in hotel bombings in Amman in 2005, in return for the release of Lt Kasasbeh.

More on LINK.
 
This just reveals a new level of evil, and that these crap hats are no better than the scrapings from the bottom of my shoes.
 
ISIS on the move again, threatening an airbase where some 300+ US Marines are training Iraqi troops:

Reuters

Islamic State fighters seize parts of western Iraqi town: officials

(...SNIPPED)

Al-Baghdadi, about 85 km (50 miles) northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, has been besieged for months by the radical Sunni Islamist militants who captured vast swathes of northern and western Iraq last year.

Militants attacked al-Baghdadi from two directions earlier in the day and then advanced on the town, intelligence sources and officials in the Jazeera and Badiya operations commands said.

The officials said another group of insurgents then attacked the heavily-guarded Ain al-Asad air base five km southwest of the town, but were unable to break into it.

About 320 U.S. Marines are training members of the Iraqi 7th Division at the base, which has been struck by mortar fire on at least one previous occasion since December.

(...SNIPPED)
 
And the Iraqi Army repels on the ISIS attack on the airbase:

Reuters

Iraqi army repels attack on base hosting U.S. Marines: officials

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces on Friday repelled an attack by Islamic State insurgents against an air base in Anbar province where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said.

Militants from the jihadist group had attacked the Ain al-Asad base and the nearby town of al-Baghdadi a day earlier, leading to sporadic clashes in the town overnight.

Al-Baghdadi has been besieged for months by Islamic State, which captured swathes of northern and western Iraq last year, prompting a campaign of U.S.-led air strikes and the deployment of hundreds of U.S. military advisers to the country.

(....SNIPPED)
 
The situation is Anbar province is bad and getting worse.The Iraqi Army is close to collapse in the province.The Marines there will have to be reinforced IMO.Of course if the Iraqi Army abandon's the province then ISIS will be ready to move on Baghdad.The air campaign hasnt done much and US Apache gunships are now supporting our allies in Anbar.Its going to take a couple of heavy divisions to push ISIS out of Iraq.The decision to pull troops out of Iraq by the administration isnt looking good.
 
US Army Air Corps Apaches back in action over Iraq:

International Business Times

US Apache Helicopters Attack ISIS Base: Report

American helicopters engaged Islamic State group fighters in Iraq on Friday, according to CNN’s Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto. The deployment of helicopter gunships comes days after U.S. President Barack Obama submitted a request to Congress for authorization to wage war against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS.

Helicopter gunships engaged fighters in al-Baghdadi, an area almost completely controlled by ISIS. The U.S. has led a coalition of Western and Arab nations to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq since June 2014 and in Syria since September 2014 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. Those airstrikes have consisted of long-range bombing and missile strikes from fixed-wing aircraft. Helicopter operations would require pilots to fly much closer to the combat area.

(...SNIPPED)
 
This is a different group from the Kurdish rebels who have also allowed Westerners/foreigners to fight for them in the past:

Reuters

Westerners join Iraqi Christian militia to fight Islamic State

(...SNIPPED)

Thousands of foreigners have flocked to Iraq and Syria in the past two years, mostly to join Islamic State, but a handful of idealistic Westerners are enlisting as well, citing frustration their governments are not doing more to combat the ultra-radical Islamists or prevent the suffering of innocents.

The militia they joined is called Dwekh Nawsha – meaning self-sacrifice in the ancient Aramaic language spoken by Christ and still used by Assyrian Christians, who consider themselves the indigenous people of Iraq.

A map on the wall in the office of the Assyrian political party affiliated with Dwekh Nawsha marks the Christian towns in northern Iraq, fanning out around the city of Mosul.

(...SNIPPED)
 
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