ISIS Delivers ‘Shock and Awe’

The Fiscal Times ^ | 10/16/2014 | Eric Pianin

[bill1952]

Early this year, Islamic State forces showed a powerful new side to their murderous military operation by knocking out five of the Iraq Army’s M1A1 Abrams tanks with anti-tank guided missiles and shooting down six of the army’s helicopters with a light anti-aircraft gun and rocket launchers while damaging 60 others. The New York Times quoted a U.S. official in June as saying that, in all, 28 Iraqi Army Abrams tanks had been damaged in fighting with the militants, including the five that suffered “ full armor penetration” when struck by the anti-tank missiles. As for the helicopters either destroyed or heavily damaged between January and May, they constituted “a significant proportion of the Iraqi Army Aviation Command’s assets.”

[bill1952]

Interesting read. I did not know that ISIS was taking out M1A1 Abrams with impunity in Iraq.

[WayneS]

Maybe we need to update our tanks.

[John O]

Lets just nuke them from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

[McGruff]

"The New York Times quoted a U.S. official..."

Sounds suspicious.

[bill1952]

read it.

[thegrump]

To my knowledge, M1A1 exports do not have the same armor as our tanks nor do they have the same systems onboard.

[Psalm 73]

Great hardware is dependent on good tactics and good maintenance - neither are strongpoints of Mid-East peoples.

[McGruff]

“The New York Times quoted a U.S. official...”

Maybe it was Joe Biden.

[RobbyS]

A lot of this has to do with tactics. How you use tanks in co-ordination with infantry and air-cover. During WWII, even a Tiger tank could be taken out by Bazookas etc. when you attacked it intelligently.

[US_MilitaryRules]

They are probably using our own weapons they looted from other military bases against our tanks.

[mad_as_he$$]

The tank era is drawing to a close.

[Dr. Thorne]

Nuke Mecca.

[inpajamas]

"They are probably using our own weapons they looted from other military bases against our tanks."

They may be using weapons we gave them covertly to fight Assad. Suckers.

[Rebel_Ace]

"The tank era is drawing to a close."

Don't we have BOLOs?

[Marko413]

Carafano said that there is no way to prevent weapons and ammunition from falling into the wrong hands in the Middle East. And international efforts to try to choke off the flow of weapons to radical groups in the end are largely futile.

If that is the case, then why are we even bothering to give these countries our weaponry? I think we should change strategies and move from giving bombs and missiles to the middle east and simply just dropping them on the middle east.

[UCANSEE2]

During WWII, even a Tiger tank could be taken out by Bazookas etc. when you attacked it intelligently.

"Like, from the rear, man."

[woodbutcher1963]

“Stop with the negative waves, Man”

[WayneS]

That would be a good thing.

[SunkenCiv]

> knocking out five of the Iraq Army’s M1A1 Abrams tanks with anti-tank guided missiles and shooting down six of the army’s helicopters with a light anti-aircraft gun and rocket launchers while damaging 60 others... in all, 28 Iraqi Army Abrams tanks had been damaged... including the five that suffered “ full armor penetration” when struck by the anti-tank missiles. As for the helicopters either destroyed or heavily damaged between January and May, they constituted “a significant proportion of the Iraqi Army Aviation Command’s assets.”