Posted on 06/14/2014 5:35:16 AM PDT by Strategy
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Friday he is weighing a range of options for countering the violent Islamic insurgency in Iraq, but he warned government leaders in Baghdad the U.S. will not take military action unless they move to address deep political troubles.
"We're not going to allow ourselves to be dragged back into a situation in which, while we're there we're keeping a lid on things, and after enormous sacrifices by us, after we're not there, people start acting in ways that are not conducive to the long-term stability and prosperity of the country," Obama said from the South Lawn of the White House.
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegassun.com ...
The correct tool for this job are B-52’s and cluster munitions, not Tomahawks.
I thought King Obama decreed that we don’t need Tomahawk missiles any more, so he stopped buying them. It must be that he’s trying to use up the remaining ones before he leaves office.
Tomahawks are the tool to use when we don’t have full control of the airspace. In this case F-15Es, B-52s and B-1s are the better and more cost effective option, with A-10s for close in work.
Iirc we haven’t replenished our Tomahawk stocks from previous actions (like all the ones we popped off into Libya) So I’d definitely see this as, possibly, an opportunity to draw them down even further, limiting future action.
That said, a Tomahawk is a mighty expensive way to hit a moving truck or house full of terrorists.
Iraq needs armed drones for intelligence & the ability to hit targets of opportunity. Obama has rejected that request.
Drones would require US forces to operate, which puts US troops on the ground, something that Obama does not want to do. Maliki PO’d Obama during the failed status of forces agreement, so this is payback.
How does a drone piloted from Nellis AFB or an Indian Ocean facility need to have troops on the ground?
That battle was one snapshot of the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, a militant Sunni group whose thousands of fighters have occupied crucial swatches of Syria and have now surged into northern Iraq. The group has vowed to create a caliphate spanning the Sunni-dominated sections of neighboring countries.
In doing so, it is simultaneously battling the Syrian and Iraqi governments and Sunni rebels it considers insufficiently committed to Islam. Having seized vast areas of Iraqi territory and several large and strategic cities, including the countrys second-biggest, Mosul, it controls territory greater than many countries and now rivals, and perhaps overshadows, Al Qaeda as the worlds most powerful and active jihadist group.
The fighting in Minbej took place six months ago, but the methods the Islamists used so effectively in northern Syria helped set the stage for their blitzkrieg in Mosul, Tikrit and other important Iraqi cities this week.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/world/middleeast/the-militants-moving-in-on-syria-and-iraq.html?_r=0
Can’t you figure it out yet, Mr. President?! Islamic maniacs who wish to establish a caliphate in the Middle East are rampaging through the country killing and beheading people, especially Christians.
Then again, perhaps you have figured it out, and approve. Have a nice weekend at your fundraisers, and hope you get a little golf in there too.
are Tomahawk missiles offensive to Native American Indians like the Washington Redskins?
maintenance & support.
Iraq needs a bunch of drones, armed & unarmed, small & large. No time to train the Iraqis. Also, anything we give the Iraqis we are, in effect, giving to Iran. They need battlefield assistance today, not 3 month from now.
A couple of Predators would help, but they need far more than that.
Nah, there is a real and valid need for Tomahawks in the region: to destroy our embassy after it is taken when Iraq falls. That’s one helluva fixed target.
Yep
That means no Israel.
This may be off topic, but are not Tomahawk missiles by their very nature racist?
Should they not be called, say, Eagle Feather missiles?
Or maybe, Native American Get You Good missiles?
He had some left when he was done trashing Libya.
Smile for camera missile
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.