Iraq may be more difficult this time around
The New York Times reports that a classified Pentagon document catalogs the ways that going to Iraq this time is more dangerous than the other two times the US sent troops went to Iraq. Apparently it’s like walking into a 360 degree ambush;
Adding to the administration’s dilemma is the assessment’s conclusion that Iraqi forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki are now heavily dependent on Shiite militias — many of which were trained in Iran — as well as on advisers from Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force.
Continue reading the main storyShiite militias fought American troops after the United States invaded Iraq and might again present a danger to American advisers. But without an American-led effort to rebuild Iraq’s security forces, there may be no hope of reducing the Iraqi government’s dependence on those Iranian-backed militias, officials caution.
Something the Times didn’t mention, those Shi’ites are basically the same guys who were holed up in Sadr City and caused a lot of US casualties during our last adventures there. Sadr City was named after Muqtada al-Sadr who just last week said;
“Let the whole world hear that we reject America. No, no to the occupier,” al-Sadr said during his 35-minute speech in Najaf, a Shiite holy city about 100 miles south of Baghdad. “We don’t kill Iraqis — our hands do not kill Iraqis. But we target only the occupier with all the means of resistance.”
From the Times again;
“We must not only commit the right number of advisers, but they must go to the right places — in the field with Iraqi security forces,” said Michael D. Barbero, a retired lieutenant general who was in charge of training the Iraqi forces from 2009 to 2011.
“The advisory mission has inherent risks, but they can be mitigated,” he added. “You can put security with them. You can be selective about where you put the advisers. We can apply the lessons learned from dealing with the insider threat in Afghanistan.”
Like I said, a 360-degree ambush situation.
Thanks to SGT(P) E for the link.
Category: Terror War
“The advisory mission has inherent risks, but they can be mitigated,” he added. “You can put security with them. You can be selective about where you put the advisers. We can apply the lessons learned from dealing with the insider threat in Afghanistan.”
Yep…make the same mistakes all over again….expect advisors not to engage….and rely on our sworn enemy to provide them with security…maybe President mom jeans should use one of his drone strikes to take out donut head Sadr to send a message…any message. He means business this time. Oh yeah, Kerry (who fought in Vietnam)should be deployed to Sadr City to lead the American effort on the ground.
I think the best way to mitigate the danger to our advisors is to locate them in CONUS and call in the advice via telcomms. Screw these guys, leave um for the mother love’n rats!
Anyone who proposes sending our troops into that shithole needs to have their ass beat. Repeatedly and with vigor.
Obama has pissed Iraq away. Any of our troops sent in there would be nothing more than a face saving mission with a high probability of casualties and making our armed forces look fucked up. In other words, typical Obama foreign policy.
I’m no tactician, but none of this makes any sense to me.
And what the hell is the NYT doing with a classified document?
“You can be selective about where you put the advisers.” How about at the Pentagon? Try GoToMeeting or another video conference site. What with headcams, the American advisers can see what’s happening in real time and make recommendations on the spot. Over several weeks, a nice PPT can be developed and sent to the ally of the day for viewing at their leisure. We can even set up a toll-free hotline, manned 24 and 7 when shit gets deep and urgent advice is required such as, “Tell your men to go back and find their rifles.”
They might wanna check out the Green on Blue experiences with the ANA/ANP…just saying.
This adds weight to my opinion. Evacuate our embassy and all American personnel and let them have at it but use air power in a determined way to keep them in their borders. Muslims of both flavors have killed lots of our troops. It’s past time to declare the truth. They do not want democracy. They want a Muslim country of one sect or the other. Leave them be to have what they want to die for. But get our people out and deal with them from a the distance of security and power. Use them as an opportunity to show the rest of the Muslim nations that you can have what you want but export it beyond your borders and we will by force keep you in your borders in a way that makes Dresden look like a 4th of July, fire works show in middle America.
Saddam was right.
You were all wrong.
Anyone man enough to admit that?
Of course he was right. But we knew that going in. These folks almost demand a dictator, they are ungovernable otherwise. They never have been capable of self governance. It’s all tribalism and sectarianism with them. They need a heel on their necks and only dictator can do that. Americans have always felt that most people were just like us and that they craved freedom and democracy. It is national belief that inside every gook there is an american trying to get out. While it is not true, we really wish it were.
Hussar, what in the holy fuck are you talking about?? You just trying to bait someone into debating you?? Oh, wait, your idea of debate is to just call everyone wrong and claim you are right. So once again, bye bye.
I’ll put you in the “no” box then.
You know Hussar, I was in charge of a lot of Marines over the years and I ran into quite a few that remind me of you. Smarter than everyone else. Always had a better way to do the job at hand. Always amazed that everyone else didn’t see their brilliance. And 9 times out of 10, when you called their bluff and made them perform, or put them in charge, they were a total bag of ass.
I am betting that was you to a T. When you needed to shut your fucking mouth and just perform, you probably had to tell someone in charge how to do their job. I am betting your experience in Iraq is probably zilch. And yet you come on here with a large bunch of veterans who served over there and try to call us out.
How many friends did you lose over there? I lost several, plus several that I was in charge of when they were younger Marines. So that makes your stupid fucking asinine comment sort of personal to me. But that does not matter to you. You are trying to make what I am sure is a brilliant point. Either that or you are just a major league douche bag. I think I am going to go with the latter.
Actually, when I was in a line unit, I was the type of Marine you would have liked. Ironic thing is, my Gunny, who was pretty much as close to it gets for a god to walk the earth, was pretty much the opposite of you.
And I probably contracted more times in Iraq than you deployed there, but that has nothing to do with the facts of my statement.
Saddam kept the Islamic looney toons in check. The US made Iraq safe for militant Islam. Those that supported the war for “freedom” were wrong. He was right.
Well put. He claims to be a Marine, so I think you’d be the perfect person to give him a wood line attitude adjustment. He’s screaming for one.
Well Hussar, if that is your point, how do you know that many here do not agree with you? But instead of coming here in a respectful way and presenting your argument, you have to come here and call everyone out and tell us we were “wrong” when we don’t even know what the fuck the question was. Proving once again that you are a know it all asshole.
And just for your information, the first time I was in the middle east, you either weren’t born or were giving your parents second thoughts about having spawned you. So your contracting career does not impress me. And I probably knew your Gunny and hopefully helped him figure out how to muzzle your dumb ass.
Oh give me a fucking break. For a bunch of supposed “tough guys”, you’ve all got the skin depth of a 14 year old girl. I bet a knife hand in the face of all your bluster would make you cry, “but I’m a vet!” faster than CJ Grisham in cuffs.
And how do I know it isn’t the popular position here? Because everyone has made it pretty clear that any deviation from the Bush II, Israel, ‘Murica, post 9/11 level of popular retardation is some sort of evil communist/nazi/Islamic plot.
Out of curiousity…what is it with you and the skin of 14 year old girls? You use that as an epithet so frequently, I’m beginning to hear the strains of “Silence of the Lambs” everytime you post.
PN: ++1!
Perhaps 14 y/o girls are the only females who will give him any attention, PN. Any girls older than that probably have enough sense to know he’s not worth their time.
No laddy, most of us are either fairly educated, either through schooling or through living a life of hard knocks. In other words, we know how to think.
I think that many of Bush’s policies were wrong but unlike the ass clown in charge now, he tried to learn and pivot (the surge in Iraq) and do the right thing. And I also knew my place. It wasn’t to make policy or create waves. It was to lead my Marines to the best of my ability and support the decisions that my commanders made. If you were any sort of leader in the Marines, you would have understood that concept.
You saying that Saddam was right is just an attempt to stir a pot. If you really believe that a maniac who murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people, who allowed his son’s to run amok and who squandered the wealth of his country was right, you need to reevaluate right and wrong. He didn’t keep radical Islam under control. It festered in Iraq for decades. Especially amongst the Shia who he put through some real hoops. Any “control” that he exerted was through buying off the real crazies so he could stay in power.
Any thin skin I have is when I have to read your screeds that denigrates the sacrifice of my brother Marines who thought like I did and did their jobs to the best of their ability. Your “godlike” Gunny was probably such a man.
But you know that. I go back to my original thesis. You are just an asshole.
The only time radical Islam was “safe” in Iraq was under the protection of the US military. This is undisputed fact, and anyone educated, and honest, knows that.
Saddam may have been an ass, but he was our ass, and he was fighting these current douchebags back when St. Reagan was sending their comrades in arms Stinger missiles.
Not to mention fighting the bloodiest war since WW2 (Iran -Iraq war) against the people who not only took Americans hostage, but murdered 200+ Marines. Something else Reagan did nothing about. (Those pussy French bombed the shit out of the Bekka Valley while Rambo Reagan did nothing.)
Saddam had the balls to kill Sadr off, and send Jr Sadr into hiding. The latter of whom didn’t dare show his face in Iraq until the pussy occupiers showed up.
If fact makes me an ass, or is me “stirring the pot”, well, I’ve got a huge spoon.
I think the real shame is that it bothers you so much.
Obviously “Hussar the Dim” here has forgotten about US Navy operations in Lebanon in late 1983 and early 1984 – specifically, those of the USS New Jersey (Sep 1983 – Feb 1984) and the Dec 1983 US naval air raids against Syrian/other targets on the Beirut-Damascus highway.
Either that, or he’s intentionally not mentioning them. Although I guess it’s also possible his “good, unbiased professors” at whatever NoVA/NCR college Hussar allegedly was attending just failed to mention them – and he was too lazy to do his own research on the matter.
Basic facts are a b!tch, laddie. Especially when you base your argument on them – and get them wrong.
“This is undisputed fact, and anyone educated, and honest, knows that.” That’s as far as I got. I saw no need to read beyond that inasmuch as Mr. Tidy Pants put the world on notice that anyone who would dispute his take is ignorant, uneducated, and dishonest. Hussar. Way to go. You are truly a horse’s ass.
Whatever Hussar actually writes, it comes out sounding like this:
“Lookie. I am smart. I am really, really smart. I’m smarter than you. Really smareter than you. Did I tell you I study geopolitics? You probably don’t even know what that is! See, I told you I’m smart.”
I bet he’s the Green Bean asshole that I ordered a double latte no-whip from and the dipshit brought it to me with whipped cream mounded up all over it. It still pisses me off.
Think again, fuckstick.
Well, GDContractor, perhaps our “good buddy” Hussar did work in Iraq a few times as a contractor. As I recall, KBR did run a lot of DFACs in Iraq. They also pumped a lot of port-a-johns.
Yes, and every DFAC had a KBR enforcer to ensure nobody went through the serving line with safety glasses on their head. Mission critical shit right there. Thanks Hussar.
Hey you little twerp, don’t try to school me on the whole “good ones, bad ones” bullshit. What bothers me is you defending a goddamn butcher and maligning the sacrifice of fellow Marines. What will be in your next post, blaming America for all the ills in the world? Well shit, you practically did that in your last post. You are so goddamn predictable. And did you really call our troops the “pussy occupiers”.
Listen, this website is obviously not your cup of tea. Why don’t you start posting on Democratic Underground (hell you already do) and just leave us knuckle dragging war mongers to our devices. Or like I suggested before, don’t go away mad, just go the fuck away.
Master Guns, he said he was an 11B, but the louder he whines and points out how very smart he is, the more I think he may be not just a pogues, but a 42R9G pogue.
Dumb girls….I never said I was an 11B.
0311> 11B.
Learn the difference before you open your cockholster.
Oh, well, then 5536, and you’re still a pogue.
Yeah…Marine Infantry is “pogue.”
Lol…Dumbass.
Futue te ipsum cochleare.
Quando podeces te regi eorum fecerunt?
Knuckle dragging war monger…lol…self inflated sense of worth. Anyone who has to say that about themselves is a fucking clown.
You’re the exact same type of partisan hack I’ve schooled on DU, just the opposite side of the political spectrum.
Listen, dumbass….You’re type of “thinking” and “logic” has killed more of our fellow Devil Dogs than mine has, and I will fucking call you out on it every time I deem fit.
People go to the DUmpster just to see how fucking dumb people like you can get. It’s actually pretty frightening.
Actually, you’re both comparable.
Over there….the State, Obama, and the Democratic Party can do no wrong.
Here, Bush II was a god, the Republicans are just this side of Moses or you’re some sort of Islamic communist.
What’s frightening is, you both think you’re smarter than the other, but you’re just the same type of idiot.
And yet I’m neither. That’s what you get for jumping to conclusions, smarty pants.
Right…you just felt compelled to respond for some completely unrelated reason.
No one is buying it. At least be man enough to have the courage of your convictions.
So you speak for everyone here now? How patronizing of you. I haven’t typed word one about my views on the situation yet here you are making assumptions. Kid, you’re gonna need some thicker skin if you want to last around here.
Ousar, faut péter dans l’eau pour faire des bulles.
Le réalité et toi, vous ne vous entendez pas, n’est-ce pas, Ousar?
Hussar: What’s with the disparaging comments regarding females? Dumb girl? And why the multiple references to 14-year-old girls? The veil has fallen completely now. Seriously, let’s talk facts. How long have you hated women? Did your mother dominate you and always tell you that you were wrong? Is that what drives you to insist that you are correct in all things and to insist that everyone who fails to meet your standards is wrong, subpar, or otherwise intellectually deficient?
Oh…so the cowgirl feels safe enough to chime in again?
What….the strong women here can’t take a little push back?
I think they can handle themselves without support from the cowgirl hat and spur crowd,
Dites-moi, c’est quand que tu t’es fait enculé la première fois?
It was a lot better than your first time, for sure.
😉
Est-ce difficile trouver une cravate plus odieuse que vous?
Spare us the stories about your first Thursday night in Iraq, Hussar.
2/17AirCav, if you know what a 42R9G is, then you’ll also know what 5536 means.
Yeah, he hates women, females, girls. They’re all beneath his lofty notice. Just another male chauvinist pig, with intence vagina envy.
Il a le cervau d’un sandwich au fromage.
Ohh….so we’re not so tough any more now that I’m treating you like one of the guys, huh?
Lame.
I love and respect women. Haven’t run into one in uniform yet.
Clearly none of the females who post here have proven me mistaken.
Si les cerveaux étaient de l’essence, vous ne seriez pas suffisants pour faire tourner un kart de fourmis à l’intérieur d’un beignet.
Not so Lame.
We know the company we keep.
You don’t.
You have crossed the line here missy …
You want to be a man and inddentify yourself?
Don’t answer, for I know your response.
The petition to indentity and toss you starts here!
Try this on him, Master Chief.
Póg mo thóin.
BREAK NEWS:
The “Thought Police” have arrived and he understands EVERYONE including their differing views based on gerneration and actual experiences.
I believe in thee Hussar and I give thee mind to thou!
PRAISE HUSSAR!
Oh …. and KMRIA!
Hussar, you fucking toolbag. Everything you try to ascribe to me and the others here seems to describe you 10 fold. You believe you are the smartest motherfucker here. Drinking your own bath water for that long has damaged your brain.
You come on here and insult people who have served their country for most of their adult lives. And you think that you are making an impact. Not likely.
In this post alone you have insulted our war dead and called the U.S. military “pussy occupiers”. Why are you here. You said you were schooling liberal Democrats over at DU. Why don’t you return over there. You are a bust here.
Let me guess, they ran you off too. Cause you are a pretentious, self important blowhard who read a book or two and think you got it all figured out.
You have been exposed junior. We don’t hold your beliefs here. You are not going to change any minds. You are ineffective. Go away. Quietly if at all possible, but just go away.
Hold on there, Master Guns. We haven’t had a chew toy in a while.
This one can actually spell and write coherent sentences, so he isn’t pulling a psul the uncool. And he isn’t claiming rank he didn’t have (so far), although he does claim to have been a shooter of some sort.
He likes making personal attacks, however, which everyone here is capable of handing back, so I’m sticking with the 5536/42R9G analysis of Mr. Wannabe. Smallest instrument in the band, also makes the most annoying sounds when played badly.
I wote we give the poguey-bait puke his very own thread. That way, we can find out exactly how boring he truly is.
Hussar is a scream. He is doing the redirect dance. He is now attempting, however failingly, to ascribe (not subscribe, Hussar) to others what he has so well earned for himself: a reputation for thinking himself to be the brightest bulb in room.
Oui, mais il est fils d’un gay et d’une pute.
What was that? Other than delusional, of course.
Here’s your clue for the day, Hussie, baby: To properly put someone in his (or her) place, it would behoove you to first know where they are before attempting to move them. That small detail would save you a bunch of wasted energy.
Got to give the loon credit for being consistent in his inability to move beyond his own assumptions, none of which he can actually support with either facts or logic. Every claim he has made about the opinions of posters here are completely unsubstantiated.
So, we can add liar to his CV.
Yes, and he finally ran away when I said if brains were gasoline, he wouldn’t have enough to drive around the inside of a donut.
Jonn,
REC toss Hussar!
MCPO
Awww, Master Chief, he’s a Toon, and a boring one, at that. Same silly one-note whining over and over ad nauseum.
Keep him on the weather deck for a while. He creates the storm. He can ride it out.