AN F-18 drops guided munitions
The United States dropped laser-guided bombs on ISIS artillery in Iraq on Friday, the Pentagon said — the beginning of airstrikes threatened a day earlier by President Barack Obama.
The bombs, 500 pounds each, were dropped by two Navy F-18 fighter jets near Erbil, the strategically important city that serves as the Kurdish capital, and where the United States has a consulate. ISIS was using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Erbil, the Pentagon said.
ISIL artillery is being used to kill and conquer Iraqi territory ...
Oh, nevermind, it's our artillery, it just does that automatically.
Oh, nevermind, it's our artillery, it just does that automatically.
The strikes marked a return to U.S. military engagement in Iraq, three years after Obama removed U.S. forces.Story here and here.
Obama, in a speech Thursday night from the White House, said that he was authorizing airstrikes to protect American interests in Iraq and drops of food and water for tens of thousands of refugees trapped by ISIS on a mountain in Iraq.
Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Friday: “As the president made clear, the United States military will continue to take direct action against ISIL when they threaten our personnel and facilities.” ISIS and ISIL are acronyms to describe the same Islamic militant group.
Just a thought - how did the ISIS manage to roll up the Iraqi army after years of US training?
Iraqi soldiers who fled ISIS advance accuse officers of treasonAnother thought - firing an accurate artillery barrage is not like firing a rifle. It takes training and logistics. Where did these savages learn to fire sophisticated modern artillery? (This link is interesting)
Iraqi soldiers deny abandoning their posts following ISIS advance
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraqi troops who fled the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters into Mosul have denied that they abandoned their posts, saying that they had received orders to flee from up the chain of command.
[...]there's been an influx of skilled Saddam-era military leaders and soldiers into ISIS' ranks. "When you look at some of the reports about the leadership under [ISIS commander Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi," Rosenblatt said, "those second-in-command guys have very strong ties to Saddam's army." Acquiring lots of weapons, money, and experience over the course of the Syrian war allowed them to translate that new training into real military effectiveness.Just one more thought - What can slow the advance of ISIS forces? ISIS is now messing with the Kurds and the US may finally be rousing from its sleep.
[...]an unexpected military intervention by a third party. The semi-autonomous Kurdish area in northwest Iraq is adjacent to ISIS' stronghold. Their powerful military, which has already had small clashes with ISIS-aligned forces, could challenge ISIS. And who knows what effect a large-scale American air campaign against ISIS would have on the balance of power.
4 comments:
Obama is in a very difficult spot. He has committed advisers and now aircraft in an attempt to prevent the total collapse of the Iraqi army.
The current army was trained and supported by an immense coalition effort over at least eight years, apparently an effort that was not enough. The limited effort now in place will have little or no effect in the outcome.
Obama has a very difficult decision ahead - increase the aid and support and commit it to many many more years or let Iraq go and become a caliphate.
Like Gitmo,health care and a myriad of other subjects, he is finding out that the dream and the reality are two different things.
Schmoe - very true. It's not that I disagree with his decision to bomb ISIS positions, I just think that whatever he does it will be messed up. I believe he has deliberately eliminated many of the true warriors we used to have in the Pentagon.
I have it on good authority that Maliki removed all the COs and NCOs that we trained over those 7 years.
Which is why the remaining cub scouts turned and ran.
But yea, you're in it now. Protect this group and you're predisposed to protect every group threatened by these vermin (I said that in 2004 btw)
Leaving the obvious hypocrisy of (defending people against genocide) this is a situation where groups like IS and ISIL need to be wiped out NOW. Otherwise they will expand to supremacy over the entire ME.
They've done it before. This is not the time for a pushing and shoving match. Kill those MFs. Every last one.
Eventually they will reach Turkey.l. Perhaps then NATO will kick in.
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