More US Marines arrive for Iraq
Last night we learned that the number of troops heading to Iraq had nearly tripled in the space of a few hours to 275. This morning, Stars & Stripes reports that an additional 550 Marines arrived in the Persian Gulf;
The USS Mesa Verde, carrying about 550 Marines, entered the Persian Gulf on Monday, as the U.S. prepares for potential Iraq contingency operations, according to Navy and Marine Corps officials.
The Mesa Verde, an amphibious transport dock, carries a complement of MV-22 Osprey aircraft, which can take off and land like a helicopter but fly like an airplane.
“Its presence in the Gulf adds to that of other U.S. naval ships already there …and provides the commander-in-chief additional options to protect American citizens and interests in Iraq, should he choose to use them,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement.
The Associated Press reports that the White House is also considering sending special forces troops to Iraq as well as the conventional forces which are there now;
While President Barack Obama has explicitly ruled out putting U.S. troops into direct combat in Iraq, the plan under consideration suggests he would be willing to send Americans into a collapsing security situation for training and other purposes.
Three U.S. officials familiar with ongoing discussions said the potential of sending special forces to Iraq is high on a list of military options that are being considered.
It’s not clear how quickly the special forces could arrive in Iraq. It’s also unknown whether they would remain in Baghdad or be sent to the nation’s north, where the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has overrun several cities in the worst threat to the Shiite-led government since U.S. troops left in 2011.
White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said no combat troops would be sent to Iraq, but that the U.S. is looking at other options.
There’s that Caitin Hayden woman again. She has lied both times she commented on this blog, so there’s no reason to think she’s not lying now. But, I’m glad the Iraq War is over and that all of the troops are home. Well, except the ones who aren’t.
Category: Terror War
The USS Mesa Verde is part of the 22nd MEU, and my guess is they would be used to secure the port at Um Qasr, or shore up security in Basra if/when embassy personnel are moved there.
“While President Barack Obama has explicitly ruled out putting U.S. troops into direct combat in Iraq,”
Nonsense! U.S. troops in Iraq WILL be in direct combat as soon as ISIS can get near them. I hope USMCE8Ret is right and they will be staying around Basra. But I fear they will be moved closer to Baghdad as things WILL get bad there shortly. ISIS may be a lot of things but they have learned tactics from us and from years of fighting. Not trying to say their great just giving the enemy his due and not underestimating him. ISIS is planning a run on Baghdad to get the Embassy and if they can do it before we add a lot more troops they will be happy, if not, they will adjust accordingly. I say again, evacuate our Embassy now, then decide what this country needs and wants to do as far as Iraq goes and helping them. Personally, I say don’t help them at all. Once the Embassy is empty, there is no trump card for them to gain and use over us. But that is the huge issue. As long as the Embassy is staffed, ISIS has a goal post against America. Empty it, let them have Baghdad and anything else the well trained, well equipped force we left there are willing to fight and die for. Short of that, screw them all.
Agreed, Sparks, and don’t forget the Trident!
The Other Whitey…As I look around the world, I think of Tridents more and more often these days.
Sparks, do an image search for that embassy. It is the largest American embassy in the world, occupying a ground area the size of Vatican City. Any truly effective defensive force will have to be in the several hundreds to secure all flanks.
Sure we can pound the shit out of any assaulting forces with close air support but that still leaves us with an embassy surrounded,under siege and difficult to reinforce and resupply.
This loser in the White House (and his clueless current and former secretaries of state) has put a lot of good people in harm’s way with his clueless foreign policy and inept military leadership.
It’s awfully hard to win when you’re led by such losers.
I’m waiting for Barry to go full LBJ “I will not send American boys to fight an Arab war”.
And he’ll probably just keep incrementally increasing the number of troops in country. First it’ll be to secure the Embassy, then it will be to protect airfields for the planes that are attacking ISIS and so on and so on. And then he’ll leave office and leave the mess for his successor to clean up.
History doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme….
Just got a message from my daughter-in-law – says “Start Praying”.
Darn computer & fat fingers. My son is in the [XXX]. So much for “No Boots on the ground”
You really should not be saying this on here!
OPSEC cleanup on Aisle 3 please!!!
Karen O I agree with rb325th. For the safety of yours and all who may or may not be there or anywhere, be careful what you post, okay. Just thinking of yours here dear. God bless and keep them all safe and bring them home soon.
I agree with the others’ comments.
If you think those hyper-aggressive militants are not monitoring anything and everything that even remotely mentions them, you’re naive.
Mentioning someone who is over there, even in passing, is making him/her a target. There is ALWAYS chatter.
It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if the maroons in the Oval Office could learn that lesson and shut their damned mouths?
(Sigh) I know. Keep wishin’ and hopin’ and dreamin’ and hopin’….
Obama will not send any troops to Iraq! Uh, except for the troops he IS sending. Oh yeah, and the troops he’s GOING to send. But he will definitely not send any troops into Iraq! But he’s considering sending more troops into Iraq!
And to think, we not only elected, but reelected this no-talent assclown. No wonder the world stopped taking us seriously.
If he said that our people will bomb the shit out of every pipe, road, airfield, school, power station, bridge, pier, and building that the US built, gave guidance in building, or supplied money or material to build, I’m there. How long does it take to get embassy personnel out? It’s not like we’re not practiced in this sort of exercise. Putin is laughing his ass off.
Laughing and positioning.
“I didn’t elect him, but they took my horse and made him elect him. They have him pulling a wagon up in Kansas I bet.”
The Indian in Outlaw Josie Wales referring to Lincoln?
Actually talking about surrender. And the old dude’s name was Chief Ben George.
I swear, the current regime in DC makes me think of this clip more and more every day.
http://youtu.be/aV0d_5GES0A
What’s about to happen in Iraq is going to make the Iranian Hostage Crisis look like a Girl Scout picnic.
Somebody of a proper paygrade needs to stop this. Right now. There is no excuse for this clusterf*ck, and it needs to STOP RIGHT NOW.
Scanning the news last night,the total for Marines Flying in is 550. Somebody from the recent Corps tell me what the strenght levels for companies and bats and regs are? I know how you the Sand Box Warriors feel, Saigon Redeux. Joe
I have a question that someone might be able to answer. Is the 550 number just the ground combat element or does that number include the maintainers and associated personnel for everybody, including the air combat element?
I guess it doesn’t really matter as a MEU in the area means they are, at a minimum, anticipating the need for boots on the ground.
This morning’s news regarding US troops included the term ‘special forces’.
And from Reuters, doing twitterpating: UK PM David Cameron: ‘No one should be in any doubt that what we see in Syria and now in Iraq in terms of ISIS is the most serious threat to Britain’s security that there is today’.
The UK has decided to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran and open the UK embassy: http://news.msn.com/world/uk-to-re-open-iran-embassy-in-diplomatic-breakthrough
It’s not just UK’s security at stake, but they at least have enough freakin’ common sense to see which side of the bread needs to be buttered. This entire thing should be dealt with by Iran, and the Kurds should be supplied with whatever they need in the way of equipment. But will the idiots in the Oval Office do that? No. They will create an even bigger fustercluck than they already have.
I have a really bad feeling about this.
Iraq: we broke it on the way in, and we broke it on the way out.
I like none of our options for action, even doing nothing, an option which could still bite us badly in the future.
But hey, O’s got all the excuses he needs for cozying up to Tehran now, at least between rounds of golf and $10000 a plate dinners.
FAST is already there, the number of Marines on Mesa Verde is irrelevant. It is a small Marine Air Ground Task Force, or MAGTF. That will be used to conduct the full evacuation. If more is required, the full MEU will be inbound, with CAS, heavy lift and the rest of the battalion landing team. Don’t forget CVN 77 is within easy sortie range.
Get some, Marines!
Like I said earlier, I wish the Marines a short and uneventful stay.
The only conceivable good that can come out of this entire charlie-foxtrot is this: our current president is such a boob that no one will vote for him, his wife, his kids, his dog, his golf bag, or his lucky turtle for the rest of eternity. We should be so lucky if our electorate felt the same about his political party but infinite boob-ness is not restricted to our President.
In ordinary cases, the quality of being an idiot is most hazardous to the idiot. In the case of a president, it is more hazardous to be almost anyone else. I am thinking and praying for those guys on the ground. Someone brought up LBJ. At one point during the Vietnam War, every single SOG mission sent to Laos had to be approved by the US Ambassador to Laos (Sullivan) and someone from the Whitehouse. Thinking about the current ROE in Afghanistan, would anyone care to speculate about the rules of engagement for these guys? Or who they have to ask in order to insert a magazine containing real bullets into a weapon? Via con Dios — but carry 11 magazines on your web gear.
You’re right, just like Jimmy Carter made his legacy a great reason for people to vote for Ronald Reagan the Great®™!
Ave Ronaldus Maximus!
The Grand Imam could have prevented this by having some testicular fortitude (grabbing his nut sack) and doing something during the beginnings of the Syria fiasco. Yet, he trusted Putin. Incompetence’s abound with this administration.
He did do something. The administration gave US weapons to “moderates” that uploaded youtube videos yelling religious zealotry while killing people with them.
Even if the Iraqis didn’t cut and run like little shits, we’d have seen US arms being used against them anyway because American politicians are terrible at picking out good Muslims from bad Muslims.