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| Iraq |
| Building a Base for Iraq's Counteroffensive: The Role of U.S. Security Cooperation |
| 2014-06-20 |
| Encouraging signs have emerged that the collapse of federal government control in Iraq may have slowed and that Baghdad is beginning the transition to counteroffensive operations to regain ground. Massive mobilization of largely Shiite volunteers has given Baghdad an untrained but motivated "reserve army" that can be used to swamp cross-sectarian areas around the Iraqi capital. All available formed military units have been pulled out of reserve and brought toward Baghdad to defend the capital. In this effort, all Department of Border Enforcement units have been relocated from the country's borders, and Iraqi army and Federal Police units have been redeployed from southern Iraq. Isolated federal government units are scattered across northern Iraq, in some cases hanging on against Sunni militants with the support of adjacent Kurdish forces. Fighting is now taking place on five fronts: 1. Southern Salah al-Din. In the Tigris River valley (TRV), the government is fighting to regain control of the mixed Sunni-Shiite areas up to sixty miles north of the capital, with the northernmost point being the "stop line" at Samarra, beyond which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dictated there be no further retreat. This line appears to be holding. Between Samarra and the massive army depot at Taji, on Baghdad's northern flank, the federal government is contesting insurgents' control by using its ground and aerial forces, seeking to maintain highway lines of control to Samarra. 2. Diyala River valley. To the northeast of Baghdad, in the Diyala River valley (DRV) and adjacent corridors, the government is fighting to protect Sunni-Shiite areas on the main highway between Baghdad and the Iranian border. The Badr Organization, an Iran-backed paramilitary group, has historically maintained a close focus on Diyala and today dominates Iraqi military and police paramilitary forces in the province. Baquba, the provincial capital, is now under attack from insurgents led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). 3. Western Baghdad "belts". In Baghdad's outer suburbs to the west (Falluja, Karma, Abu Ghraib) and the south (Jurf al-Sakhar, Arab Jabour), ISIS-led forces are probing the capital's defenses, and other militant groups are periodically shelling Baghdad International Airport. The insurgents seem to have lifted the government's siege of Falluja, but for now nearby Ramadi remains loosely under combined federal and provincial government control. 4, The Kurdish front. The Kurdish peshmerga have moved into the disputed districts claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), filling the vacuum left by collapsing Iraqi army units. Though the Kurds are mostly holding back from attacking ISIS, they have inherited areas such as Jalula where ISIS was fighting the Iraqi army and regularly killing Kurdish civilians before the uprising. Skirmishes meanwhile have been reported all along the KRG's new front line, and a number of Kurdish troops have been reported killed in social media martyrdom statements. 5. Jazirah and Mosul. In the upper TRV and the Jazirah desert abutting Syria, the insurgents are consolidating their position in the absence of government forces. However, in Bayji, an oil-refining center, and Tal Afar, a large Shiite Turkmen town west of Mosul, the government still holds pockets of terrain and is reinforcing its outposts with small contingents of air-transported Iraqi special forces. More in the article. They try to answer the big "if": If Iraq's government makes painful compromises to win back Sunni Arab and Kurdish support, U.S. security cooperation with Iraq will increase, as evidenced in President Barack Obama's speech today. |
| Posted by:Squinty |
| #6 What Base + alleged NatSecCoop is that, I say??? * BIGNEWSNETWORK > [VOA News] STILL WAITING FOR ORDERS, US MILITARY HAS ISIL IN ITS SIGHTS. They may be awaiting for a while yet. * WORLD NEWS > [Daily Star.LB] IRAN SAYS OBAMA LACKS THE WILL TO FIGHT TERRORISM IN IRAQ. * CHINA DAILY > IRAN MILITARY CHIEF: ISIS CREATED, SUPPORTED BY US + ISRAEL, ostensibly in reaction to Baby Assad = Syria Crisis. IRAN not to cooperate or ally wid US in Iraq due to ISIL [aka ISIS] being a US Proxy. Iran Chief of General Staff Hassan Firouzabadi. * BIGNEWSNETWORK > [World Tribune] FAILURE IN IRAQ + VIETNAM [SE Asia War] RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT US RESOLVE IN UKRAINE + EAST ASIA. OOOOOOOOO, you just knew it would! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2014-06-20 23:09 |
| #5 Special Forces Heading To Iraq Won't Be Getting Extra 'Danger Pay' Gotta' love it when those unfamiliar with military ops write headlines. |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-06-20 20:03 |
| #4 Meh, images for lucky hat suck, so never mind. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-06-20 17:00 |
| #3 I say we put Kerry in a PBR and send him up river. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2014-06-20 11:36 |
| #2 Apparently, Small Wars is unaware that last month a huge shipment of Kurdish oil departed Cehyan, Turkey for Europe. A pipeline was built by indeigenous Kurd to connect with the Turkish pipeline, and reports this week indicate that (1) Kurd oil continues to flow through the Turkish pipeline, and (2) Kurdistan govt (which now unites the major families) plans to increase pipline flow. The present government in Kurdistan feels that they never did receive the percentage of funds that wass legally owed them through agreement reached in Baghdad. Kurds believe that US special ops has been operaating for months from at airstrip north of Irbil. |
| Posted by: Omolump Thud8081 2014-06-20 08:42 |
#1 I saw the following on Small Wars Journal regarding Kurdistan:Kurdistan is not going to become independent until it finds a way to fund itself. 90% of KRG budget comes from Baghdad which Maliki has cut off since beginning of 2014 for all but 2 months. There have been months of protests in Kurdistan by government workers about not being paid. Around 70% of KRG budget goes to public workers. It's estimated that KRG would have to export around 1 mil/bar/day to earn enough money to sustain itself. Currently KRG capacity is only at 400,000 bar/day |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-06-20 02:04 |