Iraq in Crisis- Merged Superthread

[CougarKing]

The Kurds need anti-tank weapons to take on the captured Abrams tanks the ISIS fighters are using:

Military.com

US Sending Arms to Kurds in Iraq

Associated Press | Aug 11, 2014 | by Matthew Lee
SYDNEY -- The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, senior U.S. officials said Monday.

Previously, the U.S. had insisted on only selling arms to the Iraqi government in Baghdad, but the Kurdish peshmerga fighters had been losing ground to Islamic State militants in recent weeks.

The officials wouldn't say which U.S. agency is providing the arms or what weapons are being sent, but one official said it isn't the Pentagon. The CIA has historically done similar quiet arming operations.

(...EDITED)

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Targeting tanks and artillery held by the ISIS would be the priority, followed by bottlenecks in the oil production facilities to prevent them from exporting oil, without damaging the long term ability to restart the fields later.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

All the 'whoa is me' crowd whining that the US should do this or that, just do something. Why?

It's time that we made people like the Sauds do their own dirty work and clean up the scum in their own backyard.

The west should just sit back, tighten their belts and watch that whole fucking place implode.

 

[CougarKing]

It's time that we made people like the Sauds do their own dirty work and clean up the scum in their own backyard.

Speaking of the Saudis, they, the Qataris and all these other Sunni-ruled Persian Gulf states should have realized earlier they created a monster by funding ISIS/ISIL in the Syrian Civil War against Assad and Iran's proxies.

Free Beacon

ISIL Targets Saudi Intelligence
Officials: ‘Crowd-sourced’ assassination campaign aimed at destabilizing Saudi Arabia

(Free Beacon) Islamic State has targeted Saudi Arabian intelligence officers for a campaign of assassination as part of plans by the group to expand activities inside the oil-rich kingdom.

A campaign by the terrorists was launched Friday that sought information on Saudi intelligence officers.

U.S. intelligence agencies monitoring its social media communications identified the campaign as a crowd-sourced effort to gather names and other personal information about Saudi intelligence officials for the assassination campaign.

The campaign, according to U.S. officials, appears aimed at destabilizing Saudi Arabia, the location of two of Islam’s holiest cities.

U.S. officials said social media monitoring indicated that thousands of Saudis are supporting ISIL, as indicated by social media use. Twitter users in the kingdom account for 40 percent of all Twitter users in the Arab world.

An Android app used by ISIL for propaganda messages and recruitment was very active in Saudi Arabia between April and June, when Google Play removed it for terms of use violations.

(...EDITED)

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Well then, let the implosion begin then. Maybe if they get their nose bloodied, they'll finally man up and start doing what they should have a long time ago.

They have lots of men, lots of high tech equipment and lots and lots of money. Put the Ferraris away, fire it all up and set it rolling. There is no need for, the collective, us to get involved.

Every time the west bails them out, they vilify us the minute the last shot is fired, if not before.

 

[Kilo_302]

Well then, let the implosion begin then. Maybe if they get their nose bloodied, they'll finally man up and start doing what they should have a long time ago.

They have lots of men, lots of high tech equipment and lots and lots of money. Put the Ferraris away, fire it all up and set it rolling. There is no need for, the collective, us to get involved.

Every time the west bails them out, they vilify us the minute the last shot is fired, if not before.

In 100% agreement, though for probably different reasons. The idea that the US can salvage something here is less than realistic. More Western troops on the ground will just be another draw for radicals across the region.

Another point is the fact that Saudi Arabia is SUPPORTING ISIS as a buffer against Iranian influence in Iraq and a counter to Assad in Syria. Until the US is consistent in its FP (taking the Saudis to task for supporting terrorism and meddling in Iraq), any major move against ISIS won't solve the main problem.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/isis-saudi-arabia-iraq-syria-bandar/373181/


http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/iraq-crisis-how-saudi-arabia-helped-isis-take-over-the-north-of-the-country-9602312.html

 

[Rifleman62]

Allow drilling on US government land, build the Keystone pipeline, stop buying Saudi oil. Won't happen until Obama is gone.

 

[CougarKing]

Seems these piecemeal USN air strikes appear to be having less than the desired effect:

Military.com

Pentagon: Airstrikes Fail to Break ISIL Momentum

Aug 11, 2014 | by Richard Sisk

U.S. airstrikes have broken up the formations of extremist militants in northern Iraq but failed to stop the overall advances of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Pentagon's operations chief said Monday.

In reaction to the airstrikes, the ISIL fighters were "now starting to dissipate and hide among the people" to escape the U.S. warplanes, said Army Lt. Gen. William, C. Mayville. "Targeting is going to get more difficult," Mayville said at a Pentagon news conference.

"We've had a very temporary effect," said Mayville, adding that the limited air campaign could not be credited with "somehow breaking their momentum." The ISIL fighters may now think twice about advancing on the Kurdish capital of Irbil but they will "look for other things to do," Mayville said.

Navy FA-18 Super Hornet attack aircraft, Air Force F-15s and F-16s and MQ-1 Predator drones have carried out a total of 15 airstrikes since last Thursday that "slowed ISIL's operations tempo" but were "unlikely to affect ISIL's overall capabilities," Mayville said.

(...EDITE)

 

[Infantryman2b]

Vice news has been covering these stories and have even embedded themselves with ISIS.

Link with tons of stories on the situation

https://m.youtube.com/results?q=vice%20news%20iraq&sm=1

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Never has a country with such a big stick, been so unwilling or incapable of using it.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Never a Vlad Tepes handy when you need one.

 

[Kirkhill]

Never a Vlad Tepes handy when you need one.

Ah yes - Vlad and his allies the Poles....

 

[YZT580]

Obama has actually had the nerve to blame G.W. Bush for the current situation and what he is now calling a premature pullout. 

 

[McG]

130 more US military advisors are deploying back into Afghanistan.  Almost a 50 % increase to what is already there.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140812/DEFREG04/308120028/Pentagon-Official-130-Advisers-Heading-Northern-Iraq

 

[armybuck041]

Obama has actually had the nerve to blame G.W. Bush for the current situation and what he is now calling a premature pullout.

No comment on the premature pullout, but enough time has passed that I think it's fair to say that the Bush Administration's handling of the war in the first few months set the country on the path to where it is now. You can't destroy a country's government and key infrastructure with no plan the replace it, and not expect serious civil implications.

 

[CougarKing]

MCG's article partially reproduced here:

Defense News

Pentagon Official: 130 Advisers Heading To Northern Iraq
Marines and Special Operations Forces Sent To Irbil in Kurdish-Controlled Territory
Aug. 12, 2014 - 11:47PM  |  By TOM VANDEN BROOK  |

ABOARD MILITARY AIRCRAFT, OVER THE BERING SEA — The military has sent 130 advisers to northern Iraq to plan for the evacuation of refugees under siege by Islamic militants, according to a senior Defense Department official.

The Marines and special operations forces have been sent to the city of Irbil in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq to assess the humanitarian crisis in the Sinjar mountains and ways to end it, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to speak publicly about the mission.

There are about 300 US military advisers currently in Iraq, as well as other troops there to protect the US Embassy in Baghdad.

(....EDITED)

 

[a_majoor]

Obama has actually had the nerve to blame G.W. Bush for the current situation and what he is now calling a premature pullout.

You don't get to pull everyone from Iraq in 2012, declare that your administration had just scored a stunning victory, then when it all falls apart, blame the previous administration for your acts.

We can only wait to hear how former SoS Hillary Clinton spins this example of her foreign policy at work...

 

[George Wallace]

We can only wait to hear how former SoS Hillary Clinton spins this example of her foreign policy at work...

Please save us from that possibility.  Her various 'cover ups', which include Benghazi, will all be hidden from the voters in her run for President.

 

[CougarKing]

Some boots already on the ground...

Military.com

Ospreys in Irbil for Potential Rescue Mission
osprey dust cloud 428x285
Military.comAug 13, 2014 | by Richard Sisk

Marine MV-22 Ospreys and Army helicopters arrived at an isolated airfield in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq Wednesday, poised to take part in a potential rescue attempt of trapped refugees from a mountain top.

Pentagon and White House officials said the Ospreys and the helicopters brought 129 additional U.S. troops – about 80 of them Marines -- to the Kurdish capital of Irbil Tuesday.

The aircraft were among the "options" being explored by the U.S. for rescuing thousands of members of the Yazidi sect trapped in the Sinjar mountains by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said that as many as four Ospreys were now at an airfield guarded by Kurdish peshmerga forces in the region. Warren declined to say how many Army helicopters arrived at the airfield, or whether they were Black Hawks or the larger Chinooks. He also declined to say how long the aircraft will remain in the region.

Warren said that recent U.S. airstrikes on ISIL targets around Sinjar "have slowed if not stopped ISIL's ability to inflict harm" on the refugees.

Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said the new troops in the Kurdish region "will make recommendations about how to follow through on an effort to get the people off that mountain and into a safe place."

Obama has ruled out the use of U.S. ground forces for a combat mission in Iraq but Rhodes said U.S. troops might be used to aid a humanitarian mission.

(...EDITED)

 

[PPCLI Guy]

You don't get to pull everyone from Iraq in 2012, declare that your administration had just scored a stunning victory, then when it all falls apart, blame the previous administration for your acts.

We can only wait to hear how former SoS Hillary Clinton spins this example of her foreign policy at work...

The Iraqi's had quite a bit to do with that....