Angry Iraqi Demonstrators Damage US Embassy Related Property
Members and supporters of an Iranian backed militia conduct their protest in front of the US Embassy compound. (Associated Press)
The US conducted precision airstrikes, defensive in nature, against militia-controlled targets. This specific militia had Iranian backing. As a result of the airstrikes, 25 of their members ended up getting killed.
Naturally, the Iranians and those who are members, or supporters, of the attacked militia expressed anger. However, they did have previous warning from Washington that the US would protect its interests.
A group of angry demonstrators retaliated for this attack. They damaged property related to the embassy. Many of these demonstrators were wearing military field uniform items.
From Fox News:
Dozens of protesters, many of whom are reported to be wearing militia uniforms, are said to have come within 200 yards of the embassy after busting through an entrance used by cars.
The embassy attack, one of the worst in recent memory, followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed group, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said the airstrikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.
Military jet fighters conducted “precision defensive strikes” on five sites belonging to Kataeb Hezbollah, Jonathan Hoffman, a spokesperson for the Pentagon told Fox News. Two defense officials added that Air Force F-15 jet fighters carried out the strikes.
Supporters of the militia held funerals Tuesday for the fighters killed, before setting their sights on the embassy.
Fox News has additional details here.
Cut all funds to the government of Iraq for no protecting our embassy.
This is an outrage.
I’m not a fan of letting others do our fighting for us.
So my vote is to relax the ROE and remind the world that invading an embassy is invading the US and unleashing the ass kicking.
I am a bit old-fashioned about embassy security.
There were Marine Riflemen present. There should have been no surviving intruders.
The ROE should be adjusted to ensure proper response. One such event would tend to ensure no further ones.
+100
Our ROE should be:
1) “If they are attacking us, kill them. Repeat until they are no longer attacking us.”
2) “If they are attacking our allies, kill them. Repeat until they are no longer attacking our allies.”
3) “If they are attacking civilians, kill them. Repeat as necessary.”
Other ROEs may be added as needed, but none contravening these.
YMMV
We claim to be masters of “soft power” and then the Iranians (and Russians) show us what that really means.
We should probably learn the lessons they are teaching us by example, but we won’t, because “thats wrong”.
Hearts and minds. We have to fight a war while being politically correct and not risking the lives of any of our troops. Then we’re surprised when it doesn’t work.
As a PSYOP Soldier, the hardest battle I fight isn’t with the enemy, but with the American government and People. And its a fight I’m not actually allowed to fight.
This protest is a prime example of it too.
It’s safer for the Iranian’s to order their proxies to storm an embassy than it is for us to conduct precision strikes against legitimate military targets.
It’s safer for the Iranian proxies to storm an embassy (and as we taught the world in Bengahzi) and kill American citizens than it would be for them to ignore Iranian demands that they do so.
It’s so fucked up.
Nailed it SSG Kane and word up to the other comments. If you gonna fight a war, then FIGHT. Bring every weapon to bear. You’re gonna be accused of being a despot, then be a despot. Grind your heel into the soft underbelly and when you’ve got them down, kick ’em again. As much as we despised Cump Sherman and his bummers here in Georgia, you have to admire the fact that he knew what it would take to win. Bring the fight to the enemy’s back yard and don’t let up til they howl. Between Grant’s war of attrition and Sherman’s stroll to the sea, Lee’s Army melted away. Thus it should be in the ME. We have only one Friend in that whole God Forsaken part of the World, the rest only have the destruction of our way of life on their minds. And, yes, those enemies are aided and abetted by our own domestic enemies.
I clicked on the Fox linky, 12K comments, and the Trump Haters were out in full force.
Get.the.f^@k.out!
And we are in war. People are just comfortable and don’t want to acknowledge it.
Storming an American embassy should be one of the most dangerous and life threatening things a human being could ever do.
Seems that an AC-130 on orbit above any Embassy in a shithole should be SOP.. and that aircraft being cleared hot to fire on request from Embassy guards goes without saying..
AC-130 would be nice, but I’ll settle for the AH-64’s:
https://twitter.com/OIRSpox/status/1212063797059506176
For sure! I just figured that the loiter time was better on the 130..
Nah. Unleash the Riflemen. Set the ROE to “let no intruder survive”.
Yes, I mean -none-
It won’t happen twice. This minimizes casualties in the long run.
Can’t find a single reason to disagree with you 11B (though i’d still appreciate the top cover..just like the guys in Benghazi would have)
From your lips to the Norn’s ears…
My first memory of America sending the “Don’t fuck with us” was President Reagan in 1986 bombing the shit out of Libya because of their support terrorism that targeted US interests and culminated with the nigh club bombing in Berlin.
And Quadaffi sure mellowed out after that. Funny how we “accidentally” blew the walls off the French Embassy over there after they refused to let our Aircraft fly over their soil to do that raid, it was like some Pilot was saying “THANKS for the extra flight time, assholes!”.
This has been a standard throughout our history. Our enemies and adversaries know that they could not take us on in the battlefield. However, they do know that in order to win the war on a strategic level, they have to defeat the will of the American public to fight.
The Mexican government knew about this during the Mexican-American war. The Confederacy understood this concept. The Filipinos, leadership, understood this during the Phillippine Insurrection. The Japanese, with their initial attacks during World War II, attempted to defeat and demoralize America’s will to fight. Vietnam? Ditto.
Our enemies and adversaries today know this and are applying it. The Chinese are watching our actions, have been. They have no qualms engaging in asymmetrical conflict against us indefinitely. They certainly have more manpower than we do. Eighteen years is but a drop in the bucket to Chinese plans.
The Army may not be able to conduct PSYOP on US soil. But, that does not mean that Soldiers as private citizens are prohibited from presenting an argument like this.
This includes informing others of what is at stake if we buy into certain opinions about what to do… Mainly involving leaving Iraq or another place to an adversary.
I’m also PSYOP, albeit in the retired reserve.
I’ve been told by various levels of command that I, as a PSYOP’er am free to express my opinion…provided that nothing I say can be associated with me or the Army in any manner.
It’s part of the reason I’m leaving the Regiment.
The cognitive dissonance is killing me.
I’m tired of being summoned by a battalion commander and being told “Wave your magic wand and undo all the fuckery…” and when I come up with a solution being told “We can’t do that??!?!”
“Our enemies and adversaries today know this and are applying it. The Chinese are watching our actions, have been. They have no qualms engaging in asymmetrical conflict against us indefinitely. They certainly have more manpower than we do. Eighteen years is but a drop in the bucket to Chinese plans.”
Bingo. Chicoms broke the code and are working it.
So PSYOPs are like smart dudes or something?
Sometimes. When we are allowed to be.
And sometimes we aren’t. And get kicked out of Afghanistan.
Sounds like 1979 all over again but this time in Iraq. If the storming was on embassy property, would embassy security be allowed to use up to deadly physical force.?? would Some of you guys and gals out there know what could have been done in this case???
The marines have been authorized to shoot back if they are fired upon.
VoteVets chimed in with their official position.
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/12/31/ghoulish-progressive-vets-group-really-hopes-attack-on-us-embassy-in-baghdad-will-be-donald-trumps-benghazi/
Vo tevets needs to be drawn, quartered,tossed in the dumpster and napalmed.
IMHO it’s better off to ignore and let them be forgotten, they do what they do while craving any attention they can get.
They are nothing but a bunch of commies and crypto-commies who managed some military service, likely mostly as POG’s and REMF’s.
Trump: Iran Will Pay ‘Very BIG PRICE’ for Embassy Attack; ‘This Is Not a Warning, It Is a Threat’
By JOSHUA CAPLAN
Read the rest of the article here: Breitbart
Good read, lots of decent comments (500+). I perused thru a goodly # of them til I noticed our old “buddy” Lily kept popping talking sh^t. That was the screen name and the writing style/snarkiness was the same. I shuddered and beat feet the hell out of there.
Went in and looked … whatever Lily said, it was deleted. There are an awful lot of deletions, but the reactions to whatever that idiot said were great. I guess our old friend got tired of being called every name in the book.
I trust that little snotnose got himself banned from here.
That area around the embassy grounds looks like a great place for the next precision air strike.
As of 09:00 am Fox just reported elements of the 82nd
( Inf Bn.)are deploying to the area.
The Department of Defense released footage of some of the recent strikes against Hezbollah targets – three in Iraq and and two in Syria – it carried out near the end of December. (Tech. Sgt. Joseph Park / U.S. Air Forces Central Command)
https://www.militarytimes.com/video/2019/12/30/video-shows-us-strikes-against-hezbollah-in-iraq-raw-video/
Nothing says loving like videos of ON TARGET, FIRED FOR EFFECT Aerial Artillery Platform delivered rounds…with Kung Fu Gripped follow up BDA pics. Love ya man!
Could we just please get our people out of there?