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Iraq
The Third Iraq War is coming, and it will be ugly
2015-02-25
[BusinessInsider] I can't say I blame the anonymous source at DOD for "leaking" this info to Stratfor. They must be beside themselves with anxiety. After all, if it fails, they will take a hit, and the potential for failure is clear. The "coalition" they have to work with is totally unlike the two they worked with in earlier wars. In the past, we never had to worry about our coalition partners fighting with each other, much less killing each other.

Posted by:Hupineger Glomomp15048

#12  I'm wondering how they are feeding 3 million people.

Less well than before, I understand. The farmers aren't getting the seed and fertilizers they need, and those that haven't fled or been killed are being routinely terrorized in the inimitable ISIS way. Not to mention that the unfavoured of Allah can only be only be looted and killed or sold into slavery once, which doesn't provide either a steady income stream or a reliable work product for the Master Religion.

It's interesting. Given that this Caliphate's reputation rests on its ability to rule its territory wisely and well, thus demonstrating that it is indeed the favoured of Allah, it would seem the path of wisdom to rule both wisely and well instead of the way it has done. On the other hand, given that Allah recreates the entire universe each moment, making changes at whim and reducing causality to a matter of appearance only, a certain lack of care for the future seems inevitable.
Posted by: trailing wife   2015-02-25 17:51  

#11  I'm wondering how they are feeding 3 million people.

I don't think ISIS is a cradle-to-grave welfare state. Unless food shipments are being bombed, they should be able to get all the food they need, assuming they have goods to barter or cash to pay for them.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2015-02-25 17:03  

#10  I'm wondering how they are feeding 3 million people.
Posted by: phil_b   2015-02-25 16:54  

#9  When a population exceeds carrying capacity of it's habitat, things become ugly.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2015-02-25 15:59  

#8  Methinks the only thing the author got right is that the so-called attack timeframe is based on political considerations.
Posted by: Pappy   2015-02-25 15:43  

#7  It will be a bloodbath whatever happens.

And IMO there is a good chance it will fail. With the Kurds now in control of the routes to the west. ISIS in Mosul has nowhere to go. The US isn't going to bomb a heavily populated City. This won't be a rerun of Kobane.
Posted by: phil_b   2015-02-25 15:33  

#6  If a Pentagon staff officer came up with a brilliant plan to wipe ISIS off the face of the earth with minimal risk of good-guy casualties, would Champ give the order?

To fire the planner?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2015-02-25 14:00  

#5  In the past, we never had to worry about our coalition partners fighting with each other, much less killing each other.

Anxiety:
A-10 pilot slaughtered after his plane shot down by Benghazi Stinger trafficked through Turkey and delivered to Moderate Assad Opposition.

DC Solution:
Cancel the A-10.

Operation Ted Stryker. I wonder if details were leaked to purposefully cancel the attack. Then again, with the celebrity gossip culture and a member of the mooslim brunder + valjar hanging off of each of the president's ears the secret would be there are no secrets.

Everything is domestic politics with TFG. Why win the war, if you can flame the nation so bad as to make certain a Republican President serves only 1 term.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2015-02-25 13:42  

#4  It pisses me off. This could all have been averted by maintaining a reinforced Brigade Task Force, with an air element and extensive support and trainers (to transform the Iraqi Army) in-place semi-permanently, like our garrisons in Germany and Japan after WW2. Bush was right in 2007.

Posted by: OldSpook   2015-02-25 11:24  

#3  The author begins his article blaming everyone except BHO for the current mess in Iraq. Enough said.

The Stratfor summary is naive at best. It's anonymous writer suggests that the Shiites will form an effective fighting force, attack and conquer a Sunni city, occupy a Sunni city and ally with other Sunni and Kurd. Not going to happen. The militias will see to that.

Stratfor should be talking about the following:
1. A Baathists/Sunni/IS future state in some form, it's going to happen. Iraq as we know it is gone.
2. Syria as we know it is gone. Someone will eventually get to Assad. The borders will need to be redrawn.
3. Israel and Jordan will need to create buffer areas out of Syria and Lebanon. (Personally, I hope that when the battle for Mosul begins, Israel attacks and wipes out Hezbollah in South Lebanon).

You don't have to like it, but it's going to happen. It benefits the U.S. to have a hostile state next to Iran.
Posted by: jvalentour   2015-02-25 09:22  

#2  If a Pentagon staff officer came up with a brilliant plan to wipe ISIS off the face of the earth with minimal risk of good-guy casualties, would Champ give the order?
Posted by: Matt   2015-02-25 08:36  

#1  So we are still playing the no boots on the ground folly and foolishness in this major turning point?

I know that whatshisname has depleted our ability to fight and sustain a fight substantially, but I do not understand how this can work without a serious hammer being applied from the west.

If there are only 2,000 ISIS in Mosul, a two pronged attack of near equal size and violence could stretch them to the point of collapse.

Somewhere in all of this I keep remembering Sun Tzu and thinking this all might be a major pile of crap and intentional disinformation designed to allow for a major attack in a different form to be a surprise...I doubt if our political officers in the Pentagon and CENTCOM have that kind of creativity.
Posted by: Mystic   2015-02-25 00:45  

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