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| Iraq |
| US: No end date for anti-IS strikes |
| 2014-08-09 |
[ARABNEWS] President Barack Obama...Dreams of My Sainted Father has not established a "specific end date" for US military strikes in Iraq, the White House said on Friday, explaining the situation will depend on the security situation in the country. "The president has not laid out a specific end date," White House front man Josh Earnest told news hounds. Pentagon front man Rear Admiral John Kirby said on Twitter that US forces bombed the jihadis after artillery fire against Kurdish regional government forces defending their capital Arbil. Two US jets hit a mobile artillery piece, he said. A Kurdish official said the strikes targeted the towns of Gwer and Makhmur, southeast of the autonomous Kurdish region. The US operation began with air drops of food and water for thousands of people hiding from the Lions of Islam in a barren northern mountain range. Many people who have been cowering in the Sinjar mountains for five days in searing heat and with no supplies are Yazidis, a minority that follows a 4,000-year-old faith. Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and other airlines canceled flights to and from Irbil after the The UN said it was "urgently preparing a humanitarian corridor." Obama said the strikes would be limited and it remained unclear how much of a game-changer they would be on the ground. Iraq's military chief of staff told AFP he expected to see his forces and the peshmerga reclaim large tracts of land "in the coming hours." Many people in Baghdad were skeptical of Obama's motives. "He did nothing for three years but something happened to the Kurds and the Christians and he started talking about terrorism," said Rashaad Khodhr Abbas, a retired civil servant. "Where were you all this time, Obama?" Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ... one of Iraq's most influential Shiite holy mans, Moqtada Sadr, claimed that the IS men were poised to attack Baghdad and he vowed to send his men to defend the capital. "There are terrorist groups that have completed their preparations for a breakthrough into Baghdad," the holy man said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #15 Blame Bush, Blame Obama, blame the Sun and Moon! It does not fucking matter, that is the past. ISIS is a real threat, the only threat will the real capability to bring it to America, right now. They have upward of 900 US Passport holder in their ranks. We need to stop bickering along political lines, stop living in the past. We need to deal with this very specific and real threat. I don't really give a Damn if Iraq survive this or not, I care that America is safe, and that our children sleep well at night. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2014-08-09 20:16 |
| #14 Consider: the area they're operating in is landlocked. They must be getting support from someone with a port and roads that go into their area of operation. That would have to be: Jordan, Syria, or Turkey. I don't think the Saudis have good roads up there. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-08-09 17:35 |
| #13 Overall, the Iraqi Sunnis are lucky with their enemies. With less pathetic and weak ones, they would have long ago been eliminated or driven out for their relentlessly despicable behavior, and it would have been richly deserved. Now they have on more chapter to darken their historical indictment. Most of the people ISIS has been killing since early Spring have been Iraqi Sunnis. Given all the uncertainty (as has been pointed out here before) about who ISIS is really workihng for, it might be a good idea to consider the possibility that they're basically Maliki's way of cutting the Sunnis down to size. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-08-09 17:33 |
| #12 "The president has not laid out a specific end date" It's when the cameras get turned elsewhere. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-08-09 14:55 |
| #11 It is a good thing the Kurds basically want to be left alone in their corner of the map. If they had territorial ambitions outside of their area (other than a buffer zone), they would be a big problem. Its been a milline, but once upon a time, there was this Kurdish guy named Saladin |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-08-09 12:58 |
| #10 Biden's still wrong, and Iraq isn't finished. Kurdistan was already de facto independent, but very much preferred the overall Iraqi state to continue, and to operate mostly within it. We'll see, but I still think the forces that kept Iraq together will maintain the lines on the map. The internal divisions were always there. Just that for the moment the usual combo of coercion, bribery, and sharing at the trough is out of kilter, for lots of reasons. Matt, excellent comment. The idiocy of Mr Abbas - tragically the sort of tribal infantile nonsense you will now find in America for the first time probably in our history - deserves the most acid contempt. Overall, the Iraqi Sunnis are lucky with their enemies. With less pathetic and weak ones, they would have long ago been eliminated or driven out for their relentlessly despicable behavior, and it would have been richly deserved. Now they have on more chapter to darken their historical indictment. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2014-08-09 12:01 |
| #9 Biden's administration created the situation they wanted whether it really was a good idea or not. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-08-09 11:39 |
| #8 Rashaad Khodhr Abbas, a retired civil servant. "Where were you all this time, Obama?" Dear Mr. Abbas: Thank you for posing that interesting question. It is what Americans who follow baseball would call “a hanging curveball”. If you are referring to the location of Mr. Obama’s head, it has been firmly embedded in his ass. If you are referring to his whole self, the answer is: golf, Hawaii, golf, Martha’s vineyard, golf, fundraisers, hoops, golf, etc. You get the picture. If you want his attention, put together a $35,000 a plate fundraiser at any available five-star restaurant in New York. Be sure to invite the Danish Prime Minister. But do you really want Obama’s attention? Depending on whether you think he’s merely incompetent or entirely malicious, it’s either like being locked in a closet with the Three Stooges or having the Eye of Sauron turn your way. On balance, the best thing you can do is send him a new set of Pings and hope for the best. But speaking of the last three years: Where have you been, Mr. Abbas? I personally think we left too soon, but even if I’m right, 4,000 Americans gave all their days so that your peachy country could have a chance of leaving the seventh century. You couldn’t take a head start like that and make something of it? The bad guys are coming your way? Man up and fight for it, dude, because I’ve had my fill of Americans rolling over IED’s or walking into ambushes that the locals didn’t warn them about. And if you survive and ever visit America, be sure to stop by Section 60 at Arlington and say whatever Iraqis say when they want to express gratitude. |
| Posted by: Matt 2014-08-09 11:31 |
| #7 What, no pullout date? That is so unlike him. Maybe the pot is finally wearing off. |
| Posted by: gorb 2014-08-09 11:05 |
| #6 All that multiplied by State Dept willful blindness. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-08-09 10:20 |
| #5 Biden was right, but only because we left too soon, and left a crooked Shia pol in charge who splintered the country. Maliki pissed of the Sunni with his heavy handed and exclusionary (retribution?) conduct, and froze out the Kurds from economic and military participation. Plus there's the corruption Maliki actually seemed to favor. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-08-09 10:19 |
| #4 There are now 3 states, Sunni (ISIS), Shia (Maliki/Iran) and Kurd. We're going to have to admit Joe Biden was right about that one... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2014-08-09 10:06 |
| #3 In case the State Dept hasn't noticed, "Iraq" is a lost cause. There are now 3 states, Sunni (ISIS), Shia (Maliki/Iran) and Kurd. Pick a side. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-08-09 06:19 |
| #2 What, no ceasefire ever? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-08-09 02:16 |
| #1 As per FREEREPUBLIC Artics, because clearly EIGHT BOMB DROPS AGZ ISIS TARGETS = A MAJOR B-52 BUFF, ETC. STRIKE. Well, I'm convinced - REJOICE, AMERIKA, FOR TOTAL VICTORY AGZ THE ISIS IS AT HAND! Oh wait ... ... * TOPIX > [Hot Air] WHITE HOUSE: "NOT GOING TO DECIMATE THE ISIS, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE PLANNING US ATTACKS". * RELATED SAME > OBAMA: IRAQ ACTION WILL BE LIMITED. * RUSSIA TODAY > US CULTIVATED ISIS: NOW ISIS PLANS TO RAISE FLAG OF ALLAH IN THE WHITE HOUSE". ISIS Spox Abu Mosa. POTUS OBAMA = US-ALLIES FOUGHT BABY ASSAD + THE ISIS WON!? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2014-08-09 00:18 |