Posted on 09/15/2014 5:24:38 PM PDT by mandaladon
Washington (AFP) - The United States bombed the Islamic State near Baghdad, the first time the US has targeted the militants close to the Iraqi capital, US officials said Monday.
A US defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity that American warplanes carried out one air strike near Baghdad and another near Mount Sinjar, in the north of Iraq, in the past 24 hours.
The United States last month began a campaign of air strikes against IS positions in northern Iraq, but Monday's announcement that US warplanes had targeted the militants near Baghdad marks an escalation in the scope of the mission.
"US military forces continued to attack ISIL (IS) terrorists in Iraq, employing attack and fighter aircraft to conduct two airstrikes Sunday and Monday in support of Iraqi security forces near Sinjar and southwest of Baghdad," US Central Command said in a statement.
"The air strike southwest of Baghdad was the first strike taken as part of our expanded efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions to hit ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense, as outlined in the president's speech last Wednesday."
The strikes destroyed six IS vehicles near Sinjar and an IS fighting position southwest of Baghdad that had been firing on Iraqi forces.
"All aircraft exited the strike areas safely," the statement added.
"These strikes were conducted under authority to protect US personnel and facilities, support humanitarian efforts, and help Iraqi forces on the offensive against ISIL terrorists."
They bring the number of US air strikes across Iraq to 162.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Just about nothing!
hide under his desk
Depends. How many more al-Qaeda generals do we have to give away?
Holy God, please protect our service personnel from enemies both here and there.
Surgical airstrikes be damned. Nuke’em.
The kind of jets on aircraft carriers are not designed to provide ground support....the A-10 Warthog is designed for this....it seems nuts to waste a $50,000 missile to take out a $20K pickup with a machine gun.
I thought the new Iraqi PM halted all air strikes against ISIS/ISIL late last week.
It’s tee time, baby!!!!
Of course they are, they are strike aircraft, they drop bombs. As for the $50K missile, which one might that be? Where are the A-10s coming from if there are no 'boots on the ground'?
I think that concerned air strikes from the Iraqi air force.
F/A-18.. A as in ‘Attack’.
No kidding? Might want to ping the guy who doesn’t think Hornets do ground support missions. Sure it is a surprise to the Navy guys.
What if things spill over into Jordan or Israel? I tell you what, besides rooting for the other side, even when Obama is forced to attempt the right thing, he’ll screw it up because he is a dithering idiot.
This administration announces the battle plans before the battle, states under no circumstances will there be boots on the ground, publicizes dates for withdrawal's and draw downs.
No way to wage war.
We need to go in there and F those guys up ! Not tell them we are going to F them up !
That was a trick question.
What does he always do? Lol
Two airstrikes in two days is like farting into a hurricane. They only good that came out of it is more dead ISIS shits and destroyed equipment and a gun position (one heavy arty piece can do a lot of damage to you).
Comments about using Warthogs is right on. However, Obama and DOD are worried about getting our pilots captured, tortured and executed on video.
If Obama and Dempsey, etc. had any balls, they would launch a 50-100 plane raid on ISIS all over Iraq and Syria, all at one time. This could punch holes into ISIS lesser positions, hopefully to be followed up by Iraqi ground force/Pesh Merga attacks using heavy armor and artillery. Once ISIS starts to lose forward positions/towns, they might be forced to consolidate further back in the interior.
That would open up better targets for heavier bombs, like Daisy Cutters and the 2,000 pounders. They worked in VN, so why not on ISIS? Level a few ISIS held towns and the people who support them or who are captives, will get the message which is “to get the fuck out of Dodge because the big stuff is on its’ way”.
That would really put the harm on these bastards because they wouldn’t expect it and prepare for it. Getting rid of ISIS heavy weapons trucks is crucial to getting Iraqi forces back into the fight.
When you fight, you fight to win and use all assets you have. That’s what the British and Americans did against Rommel and his Afrikan Corps, destroying the tanks, artillery and supply depots/trucks, leaving the foot soldiers in sand and the heat. The air attacks were relentless as they should have been. No nickel and diming.
yep, heck if we just said , move, we are nuking the area, mass immigration to Iran, pakpisstan,syria when they leave, Iraqis take it back until the money runs out, repeat rinse, as needed..
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