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Iraq Wants America Back to Fight al Qaeda With Air Strikes
The Daily Beast ^ | Wednesday, June 11, 2014 | Eli Lake

Posted on 06/11/2014 4:44:37 PM PDT by kristinn

Two and a half years after the last U.S. soldier departed, an al Qaeda offshoot is in control of Mosul and headed for Baghdad—and Iraq’s prime minister is requesting U.S. air strikes.

It seems like only yesterday that Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was celebrating as the last American soldiers left Iraq. Now, with an al Qaeda offshoot threatening to take Baghdad, Maliki’s government is quietly asking at least some troops—specifically airmen and drone pilots—to return.

While Iraq’s government is not requesting a surge in U.S. ground forces like the one President Bush ordered in 2007, Maliki’s government has been asking for the U.S. to conduct targeted air strikes and the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance work to find those targets.

And there are plenty of new targets. On Tuesday, the al Qaeda offshoot known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) overran Iraqi military positions in Mosul, the country’s second largest city. On Wednesday, reports from Iraq said the terrorist group was pushing toward Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.

If President Obama agrees to launch drone strikes in Iraq, it would not be unprecedented for the region. The United States is playing a similar role in Iraq’s neighbor, Yemen, with intense counterterrorism training and drone strikes. But Obama also has boasted that he ended the U.S. war in Iraq and thus far has been hesitant to reenter the conflict.

“What we really need right now are drone strikes and air strikes,” said a senior Iraqi official Wednesday. But the official stressed that so far the Obama administration has been reluctant.

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: airstrikes; alqaeda; alqaedainiraq; bhogwot; iraq; isis; obama; postwariraq
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To: kristinn
Obama re-constituted the threat, so it's unlikely he will undermine his efforts to destabilize the entire middle east. UK Telegraph report The fall of the Iraqi city of Mosul to the al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS has shown the power of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – a former US detainee
21 posted on 06/11/2014 5:17:25 PM PDT by wtd
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To: lacrew

“I wonder how they feel at the embassy about now...

I’m sure it’s put a damper on the Wednesday night cocktail party on the river bank.


22 posted on 06/11/2014 5:19:08 PM PDT by Justa
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To: lacrew

ISIS knows what Russia and China have figured out. America is being led by an effeminate Islamic bitch, with ruthless females giving the dominate bitch advice, and other incompetent stupid females running the State Department. What’s to fear? Take what they want in the world, there is nothing to stop them. Don’t believe it? Ask Boko Haram. Look how scared of Obama THEY are.


23 posted on 06/11/2014 5:19:23 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: kristinn

Iraq and Iran can pay for the airstrike expenses with oil while adjusting their attitudes.

Denazification, cumulative review. Report, 1 April 1947-30 April 1948.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.Denazi


24 posted on 06/11/2014 5:19:47 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: Justa

Why should they worry? Look what a great job Obama did with Benghazi.


25 posted on 06/11/2014 5:20:08 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: kristinn

I understand Iraq has a LOT of oil. Pay back the trillion you already owe us first.


26 posted on 06/11/2014 5:20:43 PM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: Enterprise

Dear Iraquis: Defend you own crummy country. Enough American soldiers sacrificed their lives for your country. American taxpayers were looted to support you, also. Good luck.


27 posted on 06/11/2014 5:21:29 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: familyop

Not that I want to see Chinese troops in Iraq, but didn’t China benefit much more from oil contracts in Iraq than U.S. companies?


28 posted on 06/11/2014 5:21:36 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: Enterprise

It does seem that there was some news about something of that nature long ago, and it wouldn’t surprise us. The debt-for-resources paradigm is another facet of contemporary corruption in leadership.


29 posted on 06/11/2014 5:24:25 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: Enterprise

Well, they certainly aren’t going to wait for Washington to tell them what to do. They can land several helicopters on the ground but they’d have to use a nearby airport to get out of country. I don’t see them wanting to do that. Too many Sunnis at the airports so ISIS will have an easy entry.


30 posted on 06/11/2014 5:25:15 PM PDT by Justa
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To: mazda77; Senator_Blutarski
They had more than a chance.

Its scary to think how much worse its gonna get before it gets better.

31 posted on 06/11/2014 5:28:17 PM PDT by Delta 21 (Its my freedom. YES. I will be keeping it.)
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To: kristinn

A 50% discount on oil seems fair. Forever.


32 posted on 06/11/2014 5:28:18 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Radicalized via the Internet)
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To: Justa

Agree. If they wait until Washington makes a decision, they will be heads on a spike.


33 posted on 06/11/2014 5:28:33 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: kristinn

Good Lord - after Libya, Egypt, and Syria we are depending on Barack Hussein 0bama to lead a shooting war in Iraq? For which side?


34 posted on 06/11/2014 5:30:02 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: hal ogen

Yeah, like others have posted, pay us a trillion dollars first, (directly refunded to taxpayers) and we’ll talk about some air support.


35 posted on 06/11/2014 5:30:48 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: Enterprise
Not that I want to see Chinese troops in Iraq, but didn’t China benefit much more from oil contracts in Iraq than U.S. companies?

IIRC, not one American company was awarded an oil contract in Iraq.

Let's keep fracking, and drown the world's markets with US energy.

36 posted on 06/11/2014 5:35:23 PM PDT by Night Hides Not (For every Ted Cruz we send to DC, I can endure 2-3 "unviable" candidates that beat incumbents.)
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To: Night Hides Not

Thanks. If China wants more oil, they can buy it from Canada once Canada completes a pipeline to their West Coast.


37 posted on 06/11/2014 5:37:55 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: kristinn

Dear Iraq, thanks for your inquiry. We are not America anymore though. The jug-eared Marxist in the WH has fundamentally changed that. We may be back but it will be to help the jihadis kill you. Keep your head down. Yours sincerely. USSA


38 posted on 06/11/2014 5:42:38 PM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" means something different to 0bama.)
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To: Jagdgewehr
obie's makin plans



39 posted on 06/11/2014 5:44:55 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( "Never, never, never give up". Winston Churchill)
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To: kristinn

I wonder how President Jarret will respond...?


40 posted on 06/11/2014 5:52:31 PM PDT by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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