Deployment to Iraq on the fly
The US is preparing to send a few hundred troops to Iraq to aid the army in rolling back the al Qaeda tide there, but that status of forces agreement thing that forced us to withdraw a few years back still hasn’t been written. The Pentagon says that it expects that to be rectified soon, acording to Stars & Stripes;
[Pentagon press secretary, Navy Rear Adm. John] Kirby said the U.S. does not need a Status of Forces Agreement of the type it tried to negotiate with Iraq in 2011. He was not specific about the type of written agreement being sought in this case but said he had no doubt it will be obtained.
“I’m confident that the legal protections that are needed will be in place,” he said.
The point of having such legal protections is to ensure that U.S. troops would be subject to the U.S. military justice system if needed and not to the Iraqi judicial system.
Meanwhile, according to Fox News, a Shi’ite cleric, loyal to that little butterball Muqtada al-Sadr, used his Friday prayer session to threaten US troops;
A high-level Shiite cleric in Iraq issued a warning to American military advisers bound for Iraq Friday, hours before Sunni militants captured a crossing on Iraq’s border with Syria and Shiite militia members paraded in Baghdad and other cities.
Sky News reports that Nassir al-Saedi, a cleric loyal to the firebrand Muqtada al-Sadr, referred to America as “the occupier” in a sermon during Friday prayers and added “We will be ready for you if you are back.”
Then we won’t send them, and you can deal with the consequences of that, fella. How’s that? Ingrate.
Oh, by the way, ROS sends us a link from Military.com which reports that the folks who are going to Iraq will do so sans “danger pay”;
“This is not a combat mission, they are not being sent to participate in combat,” said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, of the 300 Special Forces troops ordered to Iraq by President Obama on Thursday.
Consequently, the troops would not be eligible for “imminent danger pay” of $7.50 daily up to $225 per month for service members in areas where they could be at grave risk, Kirby said.
Kirby said danger pay ended for U.S. troops with the withdrawal of forces at the end of 2011, and Iraq currently was no longer considered a combat zone in terms of pay and benefits for U.S. troops.
But, thank you for your service.
Category: Terror War
“This is not a combat mission, they are not being sent to participate in combat,”
That is awesome. Code Pink can get back to sniffing glue and hating Bush now. Obama will say in future speeches “I never sent our troops into combat.” and they will swoon and adore him, forever and ever, amen.
Be funny if those guys all of a sudden came down with some mass ailment, you know? Unable to deploy and all that.
“I’m sorry, Mr President, but we can’t deploy. My entire command has come down with a severe case of the “Shits & Giggles”.
I’ve heard of the Blue Flu, but the Green Pox?
Yes. The green pox is spread by being raped by the Green Weenie.
Just a curious question Jonn, so what if one of the soldiers is killed over there during this, will spouse/child still be able to receive full benefits etc or not?
Yes, they would Heidi. Those benefits apply even if they pass in their homes.
But no Purple Heart. If they are not receiving combat pay/imminent danger pay, if they are injured or killed, it will be attributed to workplace violence.
No longer considered a combat zone? Well, gee whillikers, then they don’t really need us, right?
Yes, let’s do screw the troops as much as we can, because they are the toy soldiers that bodaprez can just move around with one of those little pusher things they used in WWII to decide on combat theater movements.
It seems like there’s an awful lot of combat going on in a place that’s not considered a combat zone…
Here’s an interview of Dick Cheney by Megyn Kelly regarding Iraq and the history of US involvement.
No weekend open thread, so I’ll ask it here: Anyone heard from LebbenB? I hope he is okay. Have not seen him post any comments for a long time.
He’s active on another board, last post was 6/7/14. May be on vacation. 😉
“I’m confident that the legal protections that are needed will be in place,” he said.
Well I’m glad HE’S confident. It’s just a minor issue I guess. Until another blue on green attack and we kill one of them. Then it will be, “You had no agreement in place with our government, so your soldier will be arrested and stand trial under Iraqi courts not your UCMJ.” Mark my words.
AND…No imminent pay huh. That means a lot more than money of a troop is killed. As someone above pointed out, no Purple Heart for wounds or death. But medals are worthless in the face of lives and limbs and blood. This is messed up beyond all recognition! We are doing this, we as in Obama, in every wrong way imaginable. Our troops will face threats and death. They WILL have to defend themselves and the Embassy and themselves while they are out “training AGAIN”, these cowards we trained before. Someone, somewhere thinks we can instill courage and the will to fight and die for a better Iraq into them. It is a geopolitical form of the political correctness we see in our nation and our military running rampant. I say again, evacuate out Embassy, pull all our citizens out and let Muqtada al-Sadr and his stank ass, dental hygiene deal with ISIS. Their country, their problem. The only thing they are worth to me are several well placed Tomahawks but not ONE American life or drop of American blood. Not ever again.
How hard would it be to present a SoFA to the Iraqi government and tell them, respectfully, that as soon as it’s signed the help will arrive? I say flatten the entire country and bomb the survivors!
Roger in Republic…I am with you. Only I say as soon as the troops arrive, the evacuation helicopters, with fighter and AC-130 air cover get ALL American citizens out. Present them with the agreement to sign and on the last page have it read, “Oh, by the way, all previous pages are null and void, so FUCK OFF. Please sign here.” Then after we are gone, STAY GONE. If they export one ounce of terrorism outside the Iraqi borders, even at the Kurds, we bomb them back to the century they oh so love to live in. Period.
The only troops I would agree to send would be those who help the Kurds establish a separate and independent state in the north of Iraq. Fuck the rest of the country. The Sunni and Shia aren’t worth another drop of American blood. And BTW, would someone put a bloody red asshole into that Muqtada al-Sadr’s cowardly head? It should have been done a long time ago.
We should have filled the whole place up with good ‘ol American feral hogs before we left. Hopefully, we can do it to Afghanistan.
Hey, I have a question. I’ve asked it previously. We train our own troops in the US. They then deploy to learn the additional essential skills that can’t be replicated fully out of the target country. The Iraqis don’t need that additional native-land training. So, why don’t they come here for advice and training? I mean, after years of our being there, did they lose the advice and training they previously received? Or is something else afoot? This will be phuked up because obama and kerry are intimately involved. There is no question about that. None. So, tell me again why 300 or more of our people will be in Saddamville again.
2/17 Air Cav…I agree with you and I wish I had some kind of answers to your questions. But for the life of me I am lost. Except to say as you did, Obama and Kerry are intimately involved. Guaranteed failure from that point on. God bless and keep our Americans in Iraq safe.
Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrdH482qEUc
We spent how many years training Iraqi troops? Providing them equipment, intelligence, and other resources.
Precisely what does this administration expect to accomplish with 300 trainers now?
This President and his administration has proven time and again that it is totally inept and incompetent, it seems that Obama learns of crisis by watching the news and then reacts belatedly.
Benghazi, the current border problems regarding the influx of children, the impending collapse of Iraq – all indications that Obama and his people are totally clueless.
And nothing will be accomplished until we have a real Commander In Chief – but that’s two years away.
I have asked multiple times in years gone by, why does it take so damned long to train Iraqi’s in the most basics of soldiering and combat skills. We’re talking almost a decade right?
And yet, we can take a soft, bed wetting, video game playing, fast food junkie 18 year old mama’s boy, and within months of basic and advanced training he is ready to ship out to the battlefields of the Middle East.
Well, when you saw how those Iraqi national soldiers just abandoned their posts and tried to hide and run away when ISIS was in town, you know what time it is.
They’re not even giving them Combat Pay? Good Lord, talk about spitting on the troops! But just try to deny even one illegal alien a freebie, and you’ll have B. Hussein 0bama & Company on your ass in full force, GOD HELP AMERICA, we need it with these crooks at the helm!
Maybe they could just give them all Congressional pay for the duration.
roflmao
Why hasn’t Obama been relieved?
Serious question.
What a train wreck.