The plan for the third deployment to Iraq
Our President laid out his plan for the war against ISIS last night, our third deployment of troops to Iraq, the fourth consecutive President to deal with Iraq, the first time without Saddam Hussein being the problem.
He laid out four points – the first is to expand air strikes into Syria, the second is to put 475 more troops on the ground. He emphasized that they don’t have a combat mission in Iraq. But it brings the number of US troops on the ground well over a thousand. He also wants to expand their mission to training Syrian rebels.
Thirdly he wants to do more to cut off ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State’s resources including the flow of foreign fighters to the battle. He could probably start with the Americans who are joining. His fourth point is to provide humanitarian assistance.
The President wants the US to lead a “broad coalition” of allies and unfortunately for all of us, that hinges on the success of John Kerry who has been a miserable failure in the past few months. Obama reiterated that this new mission to Iraq will not include ground combat forces and will be completely dependent on air forces and support from advisers on the ground.
The only encouraging part of his entire little speech is that he used the word “destroy” twice when talking about his plans for the Islamic State. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say he was going to destroy any of our nation’s enemies before. So we have that going for us. But, then there’s John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, the only guys in the Obama Administration who make Joe Biden look smart. Actually, if Kerry is worth even one small turd, he should be able to convince the Gulf States to provide direct support on the battlefield just to protect their little kingdoms.
The situation in Syria will be confusing though. He still wants to be rid of Assad, but Assad’s government is fighting ISIS, too. As with everything else with this administration, they dithered too long on the Syria question. How do you fight one group of Syrian rebels while training and equipping another group of Syrian rebels. I suspect that will be the most dangerous aspect of this operation for the US troops.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War
My friend, who was our platoon leader in 2005, sent me a story about ISIS in one of the villages in our AO from back then published by Reuters yesterday. “Ready to go back?”, I asked. “Yes”, he replied. Me too-we should have never left in 2011 (I mostly blame Maliki for that).
It’s probably going to come to it, put a force in place to provide appropriate security and ask for volunteers to go do training of indigenous forces, but let’s get on with it.
Amazingly, he missed the part of increasing American security not by relying on proxy armies but by dealing with the possible methods of terrorist infiltration into the US.
Yep. Like the Clinton Administration, the current Klown Krewe in Washingtoon are treating terrorism as a “law enforcement matter” vice a critical threat to national security.
Look back 13 years to see the previous result.
OK, Hondo, but what will law enforcement do when the real SH and IT hit the proverbial fan?
With the pockets of disgruntled people who show up at something just to cause trouble (see Ferguson, MO for reference), do you think the cops can actually put a stop to it?
Or is it more likely to get out of hand? I’d pick this one – out of hand. LEOs can’t really stop that kind of thing, and we all know it.
What will LE do when it hits the fan, Delilah T? The same thing they did after 9/11: pick up the pieces, count bodies, and figure out who did it/how they did it.
LE’s mission is NOT to provide for security against external attacks. Their mission is also NOT to protect the public.
Their mission is to enforce the law and to investigate crimes. Protecting the public is a secondary consideration. Protecting the nation’s security isn’t in their job description.
The Clinton Administration never “got it” with respect to terrorism or US national security. Apparently neither does the current Administration.
Actually, Hondo, the disturbances and threats I’m referring to are internal, rather than external, e.g., three disgruntled dorks building beerkeg incendiary bombs in a basement, two college kids building pressure cooker bombs to detonate at a public gathering, some idiotic twinkie with jihadist ideas dropping a backpack bomb outside a popular night spot.
It wasn’t my intent to imply that the local cops can stop those things, but you know as well as I do how quickly crowds can become unruly, which was my point in making the Ferguson reference. That demonstration only became unruly and near-riot in context when out-of-towners appeared and started making real trouble and throwing things lisk molotovs at the cops.
My point wasn’t about stopping it before it starts. It’s about stopping it AFTER it starts. I do not think local LEOs or county mounties or state police are up to that kind of thing any more, period. They don’t want the backlash that comes as a consequence of doing that kind of police work.
Ah, another “coalition of the willing”.
Now, where have we heard that phrase before . . . ?
Looks like the Brits and Germans have already said no thanks on bombing Syria. So, two cheers for France?
What could go wrong here. By the way, if these “advisers” in a combat zone aren’t combat troops does that mean they’re not getting combat pay. Well, if Obama says he will destroy ISIS then he will. Kinda like if you like your healthcare you can keep your healthcare. He’s never mislead us before.
The troops already there now are receiving Hostile Fire Pay and increased Hazardous Duty Pay.
I remember that many of the earliest names on the “WALL” were advisors. If you show up in a combat zone there will be plenty of people willing to kill you. They don’t care if you are an advisor or a combatant, too them you are just another target. IEDs and car bombs don’t select their victims by status, only by proximity.
So, we’re going to bomb a sovereign nation’s territory while giving training and materiel to a rebel faction. Did Congress declare war on Syria while they were talking? Because we’re about to commit acts of war against them.
Russia’s not going to do shit. They’re all a bunch of fuckin’ amateurs.
Really? Putin has done a good job of making Obama & most of western Europe look like fools, not to mention taking as much of the Ukraine as he wants for now.
docstew…Well said. If memory serves me, ISIS is as strong as they are, in part because Obama lent aid to rebel factions in Syria before and very many turned into ISIS. Assad will no doubt use his air defense against any U.S. plane in his air space. He’s as much as said so already. So unless we intend to take out all their defenses first, we are going to lose pilots and then it will escalate from there. Obama is just, sound good, sound bites but no follow through because he still has NO STRATEGY to do anything substantial. His speech was just to placate his low poll numbers. I have an idea, have the Iraqi Air Force lead the way in strikes against Syria. See how that works out. They’ll be headed to Europe to seek asylum while giving Syria a wide berth.
Oh, I forgot to say that the picture of the “Vietnam War Hero” at the top of the article is hilarious.
Well how else was he going to rack up 3 PHM’s and beat feet back home as a decorated war hero, the likes of Jenjis Kahn?
John Kerry had a knife kill? Thats one I haven’t heard before… I’d love a source on that one.
You beat me to it, RobertWL. I know he chased down an unarmed teenager and shot him in the back, but I never heard about the knife thing.
“No one disputes it” that should be enough. Kinda like no one scams the VA.
Snopes says nope (it’s at the bottom of the entry), he shot him and nothing wrong with that. You take your shot, you miss, xin loi, sucks to be the guy out of ammo.
Sorry, forgot the Snopes entry:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/service.asp
And then he came home and accused those he served with of horrific crimes-screw him.
Maybe he went. That still doesn’t excuse him lying about his brothers at the “winter soldier” crap. And douchebagging three PH’s didn’t win him any support.
He’s a complete waste-of-time loser and an unpatriotic one at that.
And he’s trapped in a loveless same-sex marriage.
Jonn, Thank you I needed that this morning. ROTFLMAO and coffee through my nose! 😀
What? Mrs. Lurch is a gay man? I had no idea.
My “mind powers” are classified (and irrelevant). But I can discuss Lurch, his 3 boo boos, his ‘seared” memory, his medals, his throw away set of medals, and his low opinion of veterans.
Hell, until I see proof – I’ll dispute that. That doesn’t square with what I remember witness accounts to the incident saying about it. But I guess I could be wrong.
Mark L. has a habit of making shit up hoping no one will call him on it. He used to do it on our Facebook comments, but he got bolder lately trying his hand at the blog comments.
Mark L. sounds like he gets his info from the same place VWPissbucket does, I bet they both sniff the same brand of glue as well!! He sounds like some high school or college kid whose biggest grip is that his Mommy never buys him enough Skittles, Doritos and Mountain Dew for while he plays Xbox!
Here’s some neat stuff about your hero Mark L.:
“Day after day, night after night, the Swift boats plied the waters, harassing and often killing villagers, fishermen and farmers. In this program, aimed at intimidating the peasants into submission, Kerry was notoriously zealous.”
Quite the stud, wasn’t he?
Feel free to read more, but alas nothing about a fearless knife-welding JK…
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/26/what-john-kerry-really-did-in-vietnam/
Wow. That’s all I got.
Barking up wrong tree fella…not a lot of fans of Richard (I got other priorities)Cheney in these neck o’ the woods. Also, most aren’t die hard fans of big gubmint Repub Dubya either.
MarkL: you might want to do a bit of homework, fella. All of what follows is public record info.
1. Bush went to college during 1964-1968. The Vietnam War didn’t exist when he started college.
2. Bush entered the ANG for the express purpose of going to flight school after graduation. At the tme, USAF flight training took about two years. That brings us to 1970.
3. In 1970 or 1971, not long after finishing flight school, Bush inquired about serving a tour in Vietnam. He was advised by his base commander that he didn’t have enough experience (requirement was apparently 500hrs flight time) to apply to do that, and that the program in question was winding down (as was US involvement in the War in Vietnam by that point). The USAF had excess pilots at the time, and (obviously) didn’t order him back to active duty for service in Vietnam.
Bottom line: unlike his father, George W. Bush was caught in a classic “wrong place/wrong time” scenario. Kerry, being roughly 2 years older and not interested in learning to fly, was not – and was granted his wish to serve in Vietnam.
You can only deploy to a combat zone if/when you have orders to do so. Believe me, I can understand that. It took me over 3 years to wrangle a tour in-theater from the Reserve Components.
Bush lied in his autobiography about the length of his military service. He claims to have flown with his unit for at least two years after his last recorded time in uniform. His father obviously notwithstanding, we haven’t had a president who did anything of note militarily since Kennedy. Again, Bush 41 notwithstanding, we haven’t had a President who wasnt a piece of shit since Eisenhower.
I think Jerry Ford was more than a desk jockey in the Pacific…
Fair enough, I forgot about Ford. He still falls into the PoS category with Kennedy and all the rest though.
You need to add a few /s tags to your posts above. Without the, my mind powers think you’re an ahole.
Mark L, you need to get you r facts straight before you troll here. Many who have done so have gotten their asses handed to them, what’s your issue, was your Mommy too slow to replenish your Mountain dew and Doritos supply while you’re playing WoW or Xbox? Now go play my little unicorn fart-sniffing smurf-luster, and leave us adults alone to discuss things!!
Tell us all about it “knife kill”.
You should really quit, you haven’t a leg to stand on. Tell us another fable smart guy…
Apparently, Markie-boi can’t read plain English.
9/11 conspiracy theorists all believe that 9/11/01 was an inside job, funded and perpetrated by the Bush government.
No one here believes that or has said anything like that.
Markie-boi, you one step short of falling off a cliff of stoopid idiocy. You must use wiki a lot as your refence source, right?
“This forum is just a couple IQ points away from being a birther, 9/11 conspiracy rodeo.” Said the Einstein who claimed that we didn’t leave any Iraqis hanging when we pulled out.
Never served? Oh, then you’ve done a census count on us, have you?
Tell us, Markie-boi, just who has and has not served here. Please do so.
I’ll be over here in the corner, breathless with anticipation.
Oh, and while you’re at it, where’s your service record, sport? Do you even have one? Ot are you just another troll with a big mouth and a bigger asshole?
Mark – the fact that we left Iraq and left thousands of intereters and other locals that had worked on our bases to fend for themselves is a matter of record. Many of them were murdered while our state department had them on waiting lists. For you to assert that this did not happen is either willful ignorance or deceit on your part. We needed help from the locals, in many cases we put their lives at risk, offered them visas to emigrate, and then did nothing as they were killed. Unlike the “knife kill”, these are documented FACTS. Here is one of many articles about the matter. There are many others. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougbandow/2013/02/25/endangered-wartime-interpreters-the-u-s-should-protect-those-who-protect-us/
You might want to pull your head out of your ass.
Its amazing how quickly the Wikipedia/rumor educated commandoes that have never been there are so quick to tell those of us that were there what it was “really like”.
Most of us ate too old to play with the 9/11 conspiracy. We all subscribe to the “gunman on the grassy knoll” conspiracy.
MarkL – shut up punk.
One question, Mark, What outfit did you serve in?
Sounds like he served in the Cricket Brigade cuz that’s all I’m hearing.
I noticed you didn’t include ole William Jefferson in there tough guy. Awe too bad.
I really didn’t hear anything exciting or different from the President. The way it looks like it will shake out is Assad will somehow fall and ISIS will take over that government, then seek and obtain UN recognition. Meanwhile, nothing will really change much, more bombs but not enough, more beheadings, more blame for Congress now since Obama mentioned their help TWICE, which is code for “you guys are next in the blame, name game.” If they do nothing, it’ll be there fault, if they lend him support and offer advice, the fucked up end result, which is inevitable, will also be their fault. Don’t know if Congress was listening but they got barb hook baited like a fat earthworm. I don’t remember any bipartisan anything in Washington, much less agreement on Iraq so he lied there. I know of no allies involved to any great extent. He made it sound like we need international air traffic control, since there are so many allied planes over Iraq. I don’t like and don’t trust this fool and the bigger fools the lesser fool surrounds himself with. I wouldn’t let Kerry negotiate with my neighbor over my 15 year old used lawn mower for sale.
I didn’t actually see his speechifyin’ online last night, but I watched excerpts from it this morning.
One thing I noticed is that the usual ‘drive’ (for want of a better word) in his tone of voice was missing. He sounded like a tired old fart just waiting to disintegrate into dust.
If you can watch parts of it again, listen to the tone of voice, not the words. Then you’ll see what I mean.
Ex-PH2…Roger that. I thought I was the only one who thought the guy would rather be in Baghdad than giving that speech. I think it comes from hearing his own BS so much and the fact he still has NO STRATEGY. The speech was all about poll numbers and trying to set up Congress for a fall guy.
Who’s the fall guy?
They’re turning their backs on him. He’s not a ‘good thing’ to have in a picture with you any more. It has become ‘Obama? Eeeww! No, thanks.’
If this blows up in his face, they can all point at him for it. And he’ll still blame Bush.
I watched it, He needs to fire his sound man, Way to much artificial reverb/echo they had the low bass jacked up to make him sound authoritative.
What he ended up sounding like was a new baseball announcer at a AA field.
I honestly expected to hear him say and this conflict is brought to you by ISIS remember if ISIS scores 4 or more runs then Poppa Johns will deliver two pizzas for only 14 dollas
So Pres Obama is gonna get serious, roll up his sleeves, and get to work? Nope…its back to fund raisers, golf, planning more vacays. Whatever happens…he’ll watch the news to catch up on events.
I’m sure his teleprompter will have something for him to say when he gets done golfing!
I have to take issue with one comment Jonn. I have heard the President use the term destroy our nations enemies before….usually he’s talking about Whites, Christians, Males, Veterans, Republicans and everybody else that opposes his Marxist agenda.
As much as I dislike Hillary, she had a knack for getting foreign rulers to like her when she was SecState. Whatever ‘good’ she may have done is rapidly being undone by Lurch. This (lack of) administration has nothing but hot air and empty promises, kind of like a used car salesman at a dumpy lot on the south side of Chicago.
One political analyst said very clearly, this morning, that no one in Congress on either side of the political fence is willing to back the policies of the marone in charge, partly because elections are so close and partly because a whole bunch of them don’t believe anything he says any more. There have been too many flipflops and too many reversals for anyone with a working brain cell to believe anything that comes out of that piehole.
And truly, if you actually do have a plan to defeat any enemy, why in the hell would you go on TV and lay it out in a bullet point presentation where they can see it and start laughing at you?
Did you guys know that the ISers have their very own SCUD missile now? Yeah, they drive it around on a truck. I wonder if they know where the fuse is to light it.
Oh, the US will be sending combat troops in there again some day.
Never fear. The wind is about to shift directions again.
Hillary has one – Kerry is one.
Perhaps that’s how she got things done.
Just saying…..
Ex-PH2…Well said and thank you. I never saw the strategic advantage in announcing our war plans to the world. I believe a simple, “we will seek out, close on and destroy ISIS and all its members wherever found. Thank you and goodnight.”, is enough. Then…without word or notice, go and do it. I mean why not invite them to the Pentagon briefings and NSA meetings for gosh sakes?
Even my wife who is not a strategically minded or military type watched and said, “why is he telling everyone what we are going to do?” I tried to explain how Obama works and his need to offend no one, at any cost, especially the Muslims whom I believe in my heart, he loves in his heart. (Thus I believe we have the first President in history to lend backhanded aid, support and comfort to our enemies. If anyone thinks I am calling him a traitor to his nation and oath of office…I am.) But the more I talked the louder and more angry I became just watching his ugly, big eared mug and hearing the BS lies coming out of it. So I just stopped. He is the first President in my memory, I cannot have a civil conversation and meaningful debate about. Everything about him and all he “does not stand for”, overwhelm my sense of calm debate and I go ballistic in short order.
Thank you again Ex.
Exactly Ex- “the most transparent admin in history” is only transparent on National Security. This is just the latest example. I predict at least two more major scandals before Christmas (we can’t absorb one without a new one popping up).
Personally, I think we’re maybe two steps away from another major disaster at home. I watched the goings-on in Ferguson, MO and wondered why on earth out-of-towners were showing up for the sole purpose of causing trouble.
And that was it right there: the ‘out-of-towners’ can stir up major disturbances in any large city with a law enforcement department that is woefully ill-equipped to handle it. The NATO conference in Chicago showed that.
If the protestors for that had not been somewhat orderly, the CPD was NOT prepared in any way to put down a real riot, like Watts or downtown WDC in 1968. Those three malignant idiots who were building incendiary bombs in beer kegs in a rented apartment should have been a wake-up call. They were for me. That was preceded by flash mobs at state fairs in Iowa and Wisconsin, and more in the Loop. These are not coincidences, they are test runs, incited and supported by social media availability. One person can simply put the word out and the rest follows.
It’s coming, and I am just happy I moved away from Chicago. I would not care to be working downtown in the Loop when it happens.
Ex-PH2…You hit the nail on head about what I believe is coming. Test runs being done with instigated, ignorant citizens, then when you have a big event like Ferguson, MO in Chicago, NY or WDC the terrorists will be there to do their deeds. I believe these guys watch how we do things like Ferguson and how we respond closely and plan their mayhem accordingly. If they did it right the death toll could be unimaginable. I pray not. I am also glad you are out of Chicago as well. I would no longer live in a large metro area like the Seattle-Tacoma I-5 corridor. Even when I travel I am heads up about where we go and what’s in the news about the place.
I’m glad to hear that you’ve escaped from Chicago, Ex-PH2. That burg was a nightmare to go to or through with a semi truck!!
For the same reason, I now stay off limited access highways like the interstates. Counry roads may take a little longer, but the pile-ups are fewer and further between.
The hard copy of the latest Army Times, which was published a couple days before this speech, said that there were already 1200 personnel on the ground in Iraq; add in these 475, and we’re at 1,675 (or, as Jonn has pointed out elsewhere, 3,350 actual boots).
No, the correct number of advisors was 300, you moron.
Geez, you can’t even get that simple fact straight, can you?
Every time this administration makes a statement I am reminded of Robert Hayes discussing the attack plan for Drambuie… about the only thing they DON’T tell is when they will return. Oh wait – Obama did tell ’em when we would pull out. See how well that worked.
Was that before or after Macho Grande? I’ve lost track.
See, if bodaprez is following the dictates of his dumb-fuck adviser Jarrett, she obviously had not thought any further than how SHE could reshape Amerikka to suit her personal viewpoint, and it is now backfiring in HER face, as well as her toyboy’s. In the world view, she has made him into a one-man crew and one of two passengers on a ship of fools and a laughing stock. She might have thought about how very clever she was to get that jackass all the way to that position, but I doubt seriously that she had any idea what it really meant in the long run.
Who else would tell a sitting president to wear a beige suit to a press conference? Just think about it for a few seconds. If she dropped dead tomorrow and he didn’t have her to direct everything he does, he’d be more lost at sea than the Captain Bligh.
You have two damned, contemptible fools at the helm of this country, and it’s hard to determine which is the bigger fool of the two.
EX-PH2, I must leap to my feet and say a few words in defence of Capt. Bligh. He was never lost! He was cast adrift in a small boat in the middle of the south Pacific with members of his crew, and by one of the most illustrious feats of open water navigation sailed two thousand miles to a friendly island. He got his crew back to England, was exonerated by a Naval court, and went on to serve as the Governor General of Australia. He was never lost.
“went on to serve as the Governor General of Australia” whereupon he was overthrown in the Rum Rebellion of 1808, the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history. Seems like Bligh was kind of a dick….
Yes, he was a dick but he was one hell of a sailor!
I stand corrected. Instead of Capt. Bligh, I will substitute the Swiss Family Robinson.
John, you did it again with the picture.
Masterful.