Pentagon recommends 13% increase to US troops in Iraq
Fox News reports that the Pentagon has recommended to the White House that another 400 US troops be deployed to Iraq to join the 3000 who are already there training the Iraqis to fight the ISIS invaders from the Syrian Civil War;
The official said that the White House had not made a final decision on the recommendation, which would bring the total number of American troops in Iraq to approximately 3,400.
[…]
The Pentagon also plans to open a sixth training base in Iraq’s Anbar province, a vital battleground against the terror group. No Iraqi troops are currently being trained by U.S. forces at the al-Asad airbase in Anbar.
The Pentagon says that the additional forces and base are aimed at bolstering the number of Sunni Muslims in the fight against ISIS. Currently, there are 2,598 Iraqi forces being trained by U.S. forces. Of that number, about 800 are Kurds and the rest are Shiite Muslims.
Wait, wait, wait. We have 3000 troops training 2600 Iraqis? The concept is called using US troops as “force multipliers” – one US soldier having a training impact on several allied foreign soldiers who will then be used in the actual fighting. I guess everyone gets their own personal trainer, and it looks more like US trainers are “force equalizers”.
The President was correct when he said there is no strategy.
Category: Terror War
“Let’s do the tiiiime warrrp againnnn.”
“Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to the early 1960’s”
“Can you say, VietNam advisors? I knew you could.”
My g’son keeps being bombarded by fliers and recruiters from the military, all saying, “Come talk to us”, or “Come join us”. I tell him, no, don’t, it’s not worth it at this time. Maybe later when we have a CinC that’s worth a damn, and just as equally, gives a damn.
I’ve always thought we’re better off winning a bad war than we are losing a bad war. It may be a bad war we’re headed for, but we need good men to fight it either way, for all our sake. I hope you’ll reconsider your advice.
If the CinC and Teh Perfumed Princes (and Princesses) of Teh Five Sided Insane Asylum get rid of the PC BS and ROEs, then I agree, we could win even a bad war. But for now, the troops are beyond hogtied.
In a more ideal world (Such as one I had a bit more control), military mobilization would be handled along these lines.
1. President talks to the Secretary of War. Clear objectives are laid out and a due date is presented. The ROE simply states “If they are bad guys, they die.”
2. President gets the hell out of the way.
First, we have to change the SecDef back to the Secretary of War.
Maybe once everyone in the military gets done celebrating the rich history and diversity that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community has contributed to the success of the U.S. Military, they may get around to come up with a plan to battle ISIS. Will the U.S. Military Advisors be giving the Iraqi forces classes on how the LGBT community has contributed to the success in Iraq?
Hack, you are making me nauseous.
But will they be required to perform their mission, whatever that may be, in their socks in order to continue the line about “no boots on the ground?”
Send the HR clerks this time. Then, later, those who survive can revisit the Plumlee issue.
Strategy? What The Emperor actually said was that this is not yet a “complete tragedy.” He’s still working on it.
The Emperor couldn’t strategize a decent bowel movement.
GIDUCK! The Turd With a Face!
I’m guessing the Iraqis need there own version of Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben, because something really sucks about the train the trainer concept over there.
Hell, apparently we couldn’t get it right when we had 100,000 over there – maybe it’ll work this time with 3000…
This recommendation was made after the planners in the Pentagon were given a series of limitations by the President.
If the President demands a plan with limitations that eliminate the possibility of any positive accomplishment, the Pentagon will comply.
Ramping up the troop levels for the fall of Baghdad.
I wonder if said Troops will be abandoned if the SHTF like B. Hussein 0bama and Hitlery the Hildebeast abandoned our people in Benghazi?
In other news…Obama is the dumbassed anti American shitstain in U.S. history! But then, that’s not new news I guess. It goes like this, Obama tells the Pentagon, after his shitty performance at the G7 Summit to, “ask me through the media for more troops”. So the Pentagon puts their Chap Stick and lip stick on and kisses his ass, as commanded.
I wonder if this means I need to start getting ready for another deployment? Damn, I hate that part of the world….Why can’t there be stuff going on in New Zealand? Australia?
Hack Stone, can we bring you out of retirement and get you back in the fight?
If the death squad doesn’t get me first.
If it gets bad enough and no one sent there before wants to go, they’ll start bribing old farts like me… because we’re po’ folks now, right?
Instead of playing fuck around why not get right down to business, either put 50,000 people back in Iraq and kick the shit out of ISIS or just fucking abandon the place and come up with a plan to deal with whatever aggressor fills the vacuum we created when we destroyed the established regime of Hussein.
Why is it so fucking hard to understand that without lots of troops and a long, long, long, really long, occupation there is no Iraq?
Maybe the solution is three provinces just like it USED TO BE under the Ottomans…we and the Brits seem to think we can just define a nation where there wasn’t one and change a thousand years of tribal warfare. Iraq is a third world with shithole with some modern amenities, it’s not a first world nation of unified citizens. It’s a tribal backwater where three groups don’t trust and don’t like to cooperate with each other.
Well, the Kurds seem to have it together.
I don’t suppose…no, that’s too stupid for me to even suggest and too grandiose for anyone else to think of.
The Kurds won’t have sway in Sunni or Shia lands though…I get where you are coming from I believe and I also think the Kurds are a great option possibly. I just don’t see that creating a unified Iraq on its own merits.
450? Is that a typo? Shouldn’t that be 45,000 or 450,000?
Oh, (per valerie) the Dude said pick one from this list and this list only. Great, just great. Going with low numbers is probably the least bad.
This whole thing is a F-zing train wreck…
Hell, a good chunk of the 3000 troops there are consist of the Division Headquarters and all their aides on lackeys. The only hand in training they have is helping that new guy at Green Beans get faster at slinging Cappucinos and Lattes’ all day long
Oh boy! I’m tempted to turn in my 214 so I could volunteer for this assignment! YGBSM!
ISIS has released its latest recruiting video, aimed specifically at kids. “Hey, kids! Come fight for ISIS! Learn to shoot a gun at everyone around you! Become a suicide bomber! Build your own vest! You’ll enjoy it! We promise food, clothing and some sort of shelter, maybe some medicine (if we can find it) and your very own explosives!’
The text is mine, the video was on the news this evening.
Here we go again, same ol’ sh!t again… marching down the avenue, 20 months and we’ll be through… I’ll be glad and so will you…
Hmmmm… 400 soldiers to Iraq to advise. This is nuts!
We should have allowed a dozen or so of our valiant A-10 drivers, Apache gunships and jet jockeys to blow the crap out of the conveys, staging areas, command and control areas months ago…
This is real sad…
convoys