Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Iraq, Obama Weighs Moving U.S. Troops Closer To Front Lines In Syria

Iraq, Obama Weighs Moving U.S. Troops Closer To Front Lines In Syria

October 27, 2015 Iraq , Obama Weighs Moving U.S. Troops Closer To Front Lines In Syria 0 Comments


By Missy Ryan, Oct 26, 2015 Washington Post

President Obama’s most senior national security advisers have recommended measures that would move U.S. troops closer to the front lines in Iraq and Syria, officials said, a sign of mounting White House dissatisfaction with progress against the Islamic State and a renewed Pentagon push to expand military involvement in long-running conflicts overseas.

The debate over the proposed steps, which would for the first time position a limited number of Special Operations forces on the ground in Syria and put U.S. advisers closer to the firefights in Iraq, comes as Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter presses the military to deliver new options for greater military involvement in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
 
Read More: https://www.washingtonpost.com

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Friday, July 3, 2015

The Political Comeback Of GWBush!

July 03, 2015 Afghanistan , Andrew Duyan 0 Comments
Fewer In U.S. View Iraq, Afghanistan Wars As Mistakes

By Andrew Duyan, Jun. 30, 2015, Gallup

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Amid a security situation in Iraq and Afghanistan that continues to be contentious, a smaller share of Americans now than last year view the conflict in Afghanistan or the Iraq war as a mistake. A slim majority, 51%, say the 2003 decision to send troops to Iraq was a mistake, down six percentage points from 2014. A little more than four in 10 (42%) say the 2001 military action in Afghanistan was a mistake, also a drop from last year's 49% reading.

Official military operations have ended in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but the U.S. is still heavily involved in those countries' security affairs. Over the past year, U.S. military involvement in both countries could be characterized as on the rise, or at least not on the wane. This week, President Barack Obama announced the deployment of an additional 450 troops to Iraq to aid in the fight against the militant group Islamic State, bringing the total number of troops sent since June of last year to 3,550. Obama made good in 2011 on a campaign pledge to withdraw all American troops from Iraq, though he has since had to reverse course as the Islamic State group overran portions of the country.

In Afghanistan, a muscular Taliban insurgency has also complicated Obama's efforts to withdraw troops from that country, a goal most Americans shared when Gallup last asked about it in 2012. In March, Obama announced he would maintain U.S. troop levels, which stand at 9,800, until at least the end of 2015, a break from previous plans for a speedier withdrawal.


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Saturday, June 13, 2015

Breaking His Silence

June 13, 2015 Iraq , ISIS 1 Comments
GWBush: You Need Boots On The Ground 

By Jesse Brynes, Jun. 12, 2015, The Hill

The United States will need combat troops on the ground to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), former President George W. Bush suggested in a new interview.

"The president will have to make that determination," Bush said in an interview published Friday with the Israel Hayom newspaper when asked if ISIS could be defeated without ground troops.

"My position was that you need to have boots on the ground," he said.

Bush made the comments days after President Obama said he was sending more troops to Iraq. Obama has authorized sending up to 450 additional U.S. troops "to train, advise, and assist" local Iraqi forces battling ISIS, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. They will not serve in combat.

There are currently 3,100 U.S. military members in Iraq, with all serving in an advisory role. The Obama administration has also opted for airstrikes to combat the terrorist group in Syria, where it has taken over large areas of land.

Bush said he faced the "very difficult decision" as president to double-down and send additional U.S. troops to Iraq amid mounting casualties and eroding public support for the war.

"I think history will show that al-Qaida in Iraq was defeated," said Bush, who in the interview described al Qaeda as "ISIS as far as I am concerned."

More: www.thehill.com

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Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Sick...

June 02, 2015 Iraq , ISIS 0 Comments
Men Brace For Beard Patrol In ISIS Held Mosul

By Jean-Marc Mojon, Jn. 1, 2015, Yahoo

Baghdad (AFP) - Every time he looks in a mirror, Laith Ahmed is worried. As of Monday, the young Iraqi's hopelessly hairless chin could land him in an Islamic State group jail.

The jihadist group has handed out leaflets in their stronghold of Mosul in recent weeks announcing that full beards become compulsory on June 1 and explaining why shaving is punishable.

"My facial hair is just slow to come out for my age," said the 18-year-old, who like others in this story did not give his real name for fear of retribution.

"I'm scared because they deal ruthlessly with anyone who opposes or ignores their instructions," he told AFP from Mosul, the de facto Iraqi capital of IS's self-proclaimed caliphate.

"My work in a bakery means I have to leave home every day and interact with Daesh militants," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the jihadist group.

Mosul is Iraq's second city and used to have a population of around two million before IS swept in a year ago and made it their main hub.

Read the full story: www.news.yahoo.com

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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

So McCain Isn't "Lighting His Hair On Fire"?

So McCain Isn't "Lighting His Hair On Fire"?

May 26, 2015 Col. Jack Jacobs , Iraq 0 Comments
NBC Military Analyst Col. Jack Jacobs: McCain ‘Absolutely Right’ that There’s No ISIS Strategy

May 25, 2015

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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Hunter Throws Down!

Hunter Throws Down!

May 20, 2015 Barack Obama , Duncan Hunter 0 Comments
Duncan Hunter Slams Obama over Ramadi: ‘All It Takes Is One Commander in Chief with a Feckless, Naive Foreign Policy’

May 19, 2015

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Obama Turned A "Dumb War" Into A Dumb Defeat

May 20, 2015 American Thinker , Daniel John Sobieski 0 Comments
Obama Snatched Ramadi Defeat From Bush Victory 

By Daniel John Sobieski, May 20, 2015, American Thinker

The White House description of the fall of Ramadi to ISIS forces we have supposedly been busy degrading and destroying as a “setback” is like the British calling Dunkirk in World War II a strategic withdrawal. Ramadi is a defeat, the result of the precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by President Obama against the advice of military minds who know better about these things than the former community organizer from Illinois.

It is a defeat for President Obama’s foreign policy, a rebuke of his fundamental transformation of America’s role in the world from a leader who shaped events to one of treating foreign affairs as a spectator sport, with the U.S. “leading from behind” and being left behind in the process.

Critics of our role in Iraq offer the chaos in Iraq as a rebuke of President George W. Bush’s decision to topple the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, a regime that had used weapons of mass destruction against Iran in its war with its equally belligerent neighbor, and which had used these weapons against its own people at Halabja. The successful defeat of Saddam Hussein and liberation of Iraq was done at great expense in lives and treasure.

Read the full story: www.americanthinker.com

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Renews the debate? It Never Left!

May 20, 2015 Fox News , Iraq 0 Comments
ISIS capture of Ramadi renews criticism over US troop pullout, airstrike strategy

By Fox News, May 19, 2015

The Islamic State’s capture of the Iraqi city of Ramadi is sparking renewed criticism of Obama administration policies in the region -- from the decision to withdraw virtually all U.S. troops in 2011 to the current anti-ISIS strategy that relies mostly on airstrikes.

The fall Sunday of Ramadi, just 70 miles from Baghdad, marks the second time in roughly a year that the extremist group has taken control of a major Iraqi city -- after the United States spent nearly eight years at war in the country.

The administration repeatedly has defended its strategy for halting the Islamic State’s deadly advances in Iraq and Syria but acknowledged on Monday that the Ramadi takeover was indeed a major loss.

“No denying it is a setback,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz, while reiterating the administration expected a long, hard battle and has no plans to change its strategy.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later qualified the statement, saying Ramadi was a “serious setback for its long-suffering inhabitants” and Iraqi security forces.

Read the full story:  www.foxnews.com

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Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Larry Elder: "Jeb Should Have Followed Rubio on Iraq War Stance" (VIDEO)

Larry Elder: "Jeb Should Have Followed Rubio on Iraq War Stance" (VIDEO)

May 19, 2015 GOP , Iraq 0 Comments
BY Cathy burke, May 18, 2015, Newsmax

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's position toward the 2003 Iraq war is exactly the one GOP presidential campaign rival Jeb Bush should have firmly taken – and stuck to, according to talk show host Larry Elder.

In a panel discussion with "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth on Newsmax TV Monday, the Newsmax contributor defended the Florida Republican's position – outlined in a tough interview Sunday with Fox News' Chris Wallace.

Read the full story:  www.newsmax.com

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Sunday, May 17, 2015

Stop Apologizing--W. Did The Right Thing!

May 17, 2015 George W. Bush , Iowa 0 Comments
Republicans debate Iraq war at major Iowa gathering for 2016

By Steve Holland, May 16, 2015, Reuters

A debate over the Iraq war triggered by Jeb Bush's wobbly response to questions about it spilled into a major gathering of Republican 2016 U.S. presidential hopefuls on Saturday, reflecting divisions about whether the conflict was worthwhile.

The forum sponsored by the Iowa Republican Party was the biggest gathering of 2016 rivals in Iowa to date as the presidential race picks up speed in the state that early next year holds the first nominating contest on the road to the election in November.

The threat posed by Islamic State militants who have taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria was a dominant theme on a day U.S. officials said a raid by U.S. commandos in Syria had killed a top leader of the militancy.

Former President George W. Bush, who launched a U.S.-led invasion in Iraq in 2003, was defended by his brother, Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who is likely to join an array of politicians vying for the Republican nomination.

Jeb Bush spent all week on the defensive after telling a Fox News interviewer that he would have authorized the invasion if he had been armed with today's intelligence. After criticism, he disavowed the remark, but said his loyalty to George W. is strong.

 Read the full story:  www.reuters.com

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The Fog Of Wishful Thinking

May 17, 2015 Iraq , ISIS 0 Comments
In Spite Of IS Gains In Iraq, US Military Maintains Its Strategy Against Militants Is Working 

Credit: Zabelin/Thinkstock
By Robert Burns, May 16, 2015, Star Tribune

WASHINGTON — Despite major new setbacks in Iraq, the U.S. military command leading the fight against Islamic State militants insists that its strategy is working and that the militants' takeover of a key oil refinery and a government compound are fleeting gains feeding an IS propaganda machine.

"We believe across Iraq and Syria that Daesh is losing and remains on the defensive," said Marine Brig. Gen. Thomas D. Weidley, chief of staff for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, the name of the international campaign fighting IS. "Daesh" is the Arabic acronym for the militant group that swept into Iraq from Syria last June and swiftly took control of much of Iraq's north and west.

Even as Weidley spoke to reporters by phone Friday from his headquarters in Kuwait, IS militants were defying his description of them as a force on defense. Iraqi officials said IS fighters had captured the main government compound in Ramadi, the capital of battle-scarred Anbar province. Other officials said they had gained substantial control over the Beiji oil refinery, a strategically important prize in the battle for Iraq's future and a potential source of millions of dollars in income for the militants.

The battle to push IS out of Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, which some had hoped would begin this spring, now seems a more distant goal.

Read the full story:  www.startribune.com

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Friday, April 17, 2015

No Mention Of Commander - In-Chief and The Obama Iraq Bug-out

April 17, 2015 Bug , Commander In Chief 0 Comments
Army Morale Low Despite 6-year, $287M 'Optimism Program'

By Gregg Zoroya, Apr. 16, 2015, USA Today
 
More than half of some 770,000 soldiers are pessimistic about their future in the military and nearly as many are unhappy in their jobs, despite a six-year, $287 million campaign to make troops more optimistic and resilient, findings obtained by USA TODAY show.

Twelve months of data through early 2015 show that 403,564 soldiers, or 52%, scored badly in the area of optimism, agreeing with statements such as "I rarely count on good things happening to me."

Forty-eight percent have little satisfaction in or commitment to their jobs.

The results stem from resiliency assessments that soldiers are required to take every year. In 2014, for the first time, the Army pulled data from those assessments to help commanders gauge the psychological and physical health of their troops.

Read the full story:  www.usatoday.com



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Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Will The "Obama Bug-out" Become A Top Campaign Issue?

April 15, 2015 Hillary Clinton , Iraq 0 Comments
Ex-British Diplomat Accuses Hillary Clinton Of Role In Meltdown In Iraq

By Colin Freeman, Apr.14, 2015, The Telegraph

A former British diplomat has accused Hillary Clinton of contributing to Iraq’s disastrous meltdown during her four years as Barack Obama’s foreign policy chief.

Emma Sky, who served as an adviser to one of the top US commanders in Iraq, claims in a new book that Mrs Clinton operated a “dysfunctional” diplomatic mission to Baghdad that allowed a lapse back into sectarian warfare after elections in 2010.

At that time Mrs Clinton was mid-way through her four-year stint as Mr Obama’s Secretary of State, the equivalent position to Foreign Secretary in Britain.

The criticisms, which come as Mrs Clinton announces her presidential bid, are contained in a book that Ms Sky, an Oxford-educated Middle East expert, is to publish next month about the seven years she spent in Iraq.

Read the full story:  ww.telegraph.co.uk



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Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Sort of irrelevant--If Iran Gets A Bomb

April 01, 2015 Brooke Baldwin , Iraq 0 Comments
Iraqi Forces Take Back Tikrit From ISIS, Official Says

By Hamdi Alkhshali and Jomana Karadsheh, Mar. 31, 2015, CNN


See the video:  www.edition.cnn.com

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Thursday, March 5, 2015

"[U]nlikely alliances are proving effective."

March 05, 2015 CBS News , Iran 0 Comments
The Risks Of Iran Winning The War Against ISIS

By CBS News, Mar. 3, 2015

As the international coalition of countries continues to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), some unlikely alliances are proving effective. While both the U.S. and Iran have said they are not coordinating efforts, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's backing of Kurdish and Shiite militias is a key component to the fight.

But CBS News senior security contributor and former CIA deputy director Michael Morell said that de-facto relationship comes with some possible serious consequences.

"There's a real risk here that over the long run we can defeat ISIS in Iraq, but we might hand Iraq to the Iranians, in a diplomatic sense," he said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."

U.S.-backed Iraqi ground forces have not proven nearly as effective as the combination of coalition airstrikes and Kurdish and Shiite Muslim militias, which have clawed back significant territory from ISIS in northern Iraq of late.

Read the full story:  www.cbsnews.com

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Friday, February 20, 2015

"five Iraqi Army brigades will be used in the fight"

February 20, 2015 Fox News , Iraq 0 Comments
US Military Outlines Plan To Retake Iraqi City Of Mosul

By Fox News, Feb. 20, 2015

A U.S. military official on Thursday outlined plans to retake the vital Iraq city of Mosul from Islamic State terrorists as early as April -- an unusual move that swiftly drew criticism that the Pentagon was revealing too much information to the enemy.

A senior U.S. Central Command official said the "shaping" for the battle is currently underway, and the Iraqi military hopes to begin operations in the "April, May timeframe." The goal is to retake the city before Ramadan begins on June 17.

The official said five Iraqi Army brigades will be used in the fight, as well as several smaller brigades, composing a total force of up to 25,000 Iraqi troops. Three brigades of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will participate as well.

But the details, disclosed at the close of a White House summit on combating violent extremism, raised some concerns.

"That is pretty amazing that that information's out there," retired Gen. Jack Keane, former Army vice chief of staff and a Fox News military analyst, said Friday.

Read the full story:  www.foxnews.com

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Saturday, January 31, 2015

Just a recognition of the obvious

January 31, 2015 Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel , Iraq 0 Comments
Hagel: Ground Troops May Be Needed In Iraq

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel
By Mandy Oaklander, Jan. 31, 2015, Time.com

Departing defense secretary Chuck Hagel said it’s possible the United States may need to send non-combat ground troops to Iraq to help deter the Islamic State.

Hagel, who resigned as Pentagon chief on Nov. 24, told CNN in an interview Friday that he thinks the deployment of American troops for intelligence-gathering and locating targets is a possibility, reportsReuters.

He said he wasn’t sure, however, that it would come to that. “I would say we’re not there yet,” he said. “Whether we get there or not, I don’t know.”

Rad the full story:  www.time.com

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Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Hideous--and in pursuit of WMD

January 20, 2015 Breitbart , Genocide 0 Comments
German Embed Reporter: ISIS Plans On Killing 'Hundreds of Millions' In 'Religious Cleansing'

Jordan Schachtel, Jan. 18, 2015, Breitbart

“I always asked them about the value of mercy in Islam,” but “I didn’t see any mercy in their behavior,” explained Todenhofer. He added, “Something that I don’t understand at all is the enthusiasm in their plan of religious cleansing…

He told Al Jazeera that he believed the terror group would only be stopped if fellow Sunni Iraqis would rise up against them.

Read more: www.breitbart.com

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Saturday, January 3, 2015

Growing in strength!

January 03, 2015 Iraq , Islamic State 0 Comments
ISIS Alive And Well--Faces No Threat To Their Existence
Jonathan Spyer, Sep. 4, 2014, Jerusalem Post

This week, the siege on the city of Amerli was lifted by Iraqi and Shi’ite militia forces, paving the way for the reconquest of Salahuddin province. The advance was preceded by US air strikes on Islamic State positions in the town.

The Peshmerga has also had a good few days. The strategic Mosul dam was recaptured in late August, in a joint operation with Iraqi forces; this week, the town of Zumar was retaken.

Read more: www.jpost.com
Photo via Flickr

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Monday, December 29, 2014

Iran, a terror state pursuing a nuke, fights on same side as USA?!

December 29, 2014 Iran , Iraq 0 Comments
The U.S. And Iran Are Aligned In Iraq Against The Islamic State--For Now

Missy Ryan and Loveday Morris, Dec. 27, 2014, Washington Post

At the same time, Iraq’s Shiite-led government is increasingly reliant on the powerful militias and a massive Shiite volunteer force, which together may now equal the size of Iraq’s security forces.

Although the Obama administration says it is not coordinating directly with Iran, the two nations’ arms-length alliance against the Islamic State is an uncomfortable reality. That’s not only because some of the militia shock troops who have proved effective in fighting the Islamic State battled U.S. forces during the 2003-2011 war there, but also because, in Syria, Iran continues to support President Bashar al-Assad, whom the United States would like to see toppled.

Read more: www.washingtonpost.com

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