USS GHW Bush to Persian Gulf
The Associated Press reports that the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush is steaming to the Persian Gulf from the Arabian Sea to support any of the options that the President might decide to use in Iraq. Well, once he finishes his little golf match.
Accompany[ing] the carrier will be the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and the guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun. The ships are expected to complete their move into the Gulf later Saturday.
The ships carry Tomahawk missiles, which could reach Iraq. The Bush is carrying fighter jets that could also easily get to Iraq, where a fast-moving Islamic insurgency is gaining territory.
The new insurgency in Iraq has captured 80 members of the diplomatic staff at the Turkish Embassy in Mosul, according to Reuters;
Diplomats and soldiers trapped inside Turkey’s consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul had no option but to surrender this week after hundreds of heavily armed Islamist militants surrounded the building, the foreign ministry said on Saturday.
The seizure by insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Wednesday of 49 Turks, including special forces soldiers, diplomats and children, has prompted criticism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government for failing to foresee the danger and evacuate the consulate sooner.
Reuters reports that the ISIS’ drive towards Baghdad has slowed;
An offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances as government forces regained some territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad.
As Iraqi officials spoke of wresting back the initiative against Sunni militants, neighboring Shi’ite Iran held out the prospect of working with its longtime U.S. arch-enemy to help restore security in Iraq.
al-Jazeera reports some gains against ISIS;
Reuters news agency, citing security sources, said Iraqi troops on Saturday attacked an ISIL formation in the town of al-Mutasim, 22km southeast of Samarra, driving rebel fighters out into the surrounding desert.
The army also reasserted control over the small town of Ishaqi, southeast of Samarra, to secure a road that links the city to Baghdad and the cities of Tikrit and Mosul further north.
However, Al Jazeera’s Omar Al Saleh, reporting from Baghdad, said that even though the army made those claims, “we haven’t seen any pictures showing the government forces taking control of these areas”.
Elsewhere, troops backed by the Shia Asaib Ahl al-Haq armed group helped retake the town of Muqdadiya northeast of Baghdad, and ISIL was dislodged from Dhuluiya after three hours of fighting, a tribal leader said.
Category: Terror War
I love how Obama says in one breath that we will not put combatants back in Iraq and in his next he orders a Carrier to steam around the front door.
What does he think those ships are filled with? Girl Scouts and Nuns? They damned sure aint gonna drop hard candy and beads from those planes or launch rainbows from the Truxton and Philippine Sea.
Were I the ISIS commander I would do exactly as he has done. I would slow down and conserve manpower and resources. Instead of an all out onslaught on Baghdad, I would be designing a well planned and coordinated effort to make an end run around and through Iraqi defenses, and beeline straight to the U.S. Embassy. That is their prize and if Obama thinks otherwise, he is a bigger fool than I thought before, which I didn’t believe to be possible. If he is not heeding the taking of the Turkish Embassy in Mosul, he is blind and dumber than I thought as well. Once ISIS is so close to our Embassy to direct Tomahawks and aircraft support without killing our own it is over. That would be my plan. Get so close they can’t use their weapons. They may do a lot at the Embassy but they are not going to be calling a “Broken Arrow”.
As far as Iran’s offer to help. Please tell them to stay home and we’ll just shake hands and promise never to write. Once Iran has a force of significant size inside Iraqi borders, again it is all over.
God please, intervene and help those Americans in our Embassy. Please give Obama and his minions the wisdom to evacuate NOW and not wait, depending on the Iraqi Army to do their job. They have proven now, over and over, what they are willing and capable of doing…not much except toss their weapons and shed those uniforms and head back to the family goat herd. If Obama is counting on them to defend Baghdad, God help our people there.
Where is the nearest carrier? That seems to be the answer to any conflict. Yet the U.S. does not want to build anymore carriers due to the expense.
Of course, who would have thought that muslims would kill other muslims? Turkey better get a move on. BZ
Does anyone want to bet that if the embassy gets captured then they’re going to be on TV wanting to trade all of their buddies in Gitmo for the people that they catch in the embassy?
Seeing as how the going rate has been established as 5 of their scumbags for one deserter, imagine what they might get for guys who actually held their post!
The irony of Obummer calling upon a Bush to respond to incompetence is hilarious.
Maybe this is the setup for his next fundraiser meme about how Bush goes to war though….
We should help Turkey out and offer VWP as trade for the hostages.
Have we got a deal for you! This one hates America, has the mental capacity of a retarded goat, and LOVES getting it up the ass! He can even be trained to perform simple tasks! What more could you ask for? Call now and we’ll even throw in Bradley Manning! Buy one, get one free!