Posted on 06/21/2014 4:38:05 PM PDT by kristinn
The Iraqi military ran out of Hellfire missiles six days ago, and though the U.S. is rushing more missiles into the country, Iraq has only two modified Cessna aircraft to launch them in their battle against the radical Islamic militia ISIS.
ISIS has captured 28 tanks and shot down three helicopters, a significant percentage of the government force, and the militia killed an entire Iraqi Security Force brigade in the last couple of days at the border with Syria, which ISIS now controls.
The losses have left the Iraqi military with no offensive capability, and no real air force.
With the brigade at the border at Al Qaim wiped out, ISIS now controls the territory from Rubiya to Al Qaim. The tribes in Al Qaim tried to fight them, but ISIS unleashed a major artillery barrage, then a major assault, and they could not hold the back.
Taking Al Qaim opens up the entire Euphrates Valley to the insurgents, and ISIS has a safe haven across the border in Syria, which makes air strikes difficult.
Threat of a massive drive into Baghdad has receded somewhat, but fear remains that the radical militia will try big attacks for propaganda victories, or that its forces might take small neighborhoods and publicize its victories on YouTube in an attempt to scare the Shia into overreacting with the militias.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I posted back then, many times on the issue and they sure did KICK OUT the US Forces.
Quoting from an article from that time ...
U.S. Kicked Out Of Iraq
Now the truth about Obama’s Friday (October 21, 2011) announcement about the Iraq war ending is beginning to come out. President Barack H. Obama announced that “After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over,” that troops would be coming home by year’s end. That is, IMHO, a serious strategic blunder. But Obama did not ask for my opinion, so U.S. troops will be leaving iraq. The primary effect of the announcement is to end any chance of a substantial U.S. troop presence in Iraq after the end of the year. It was an acknowledgment that Iraqis had refused to agree to a key U.S. condition for remaining American troops: immunity from Iraqi law, that any U.S. military forces to stay would have to be shielded from prosecution or lawsuits, that precipitated the announcement.
Nouri al-Maliki said, “When the Americans asked for immunity, the Iraqi side answered that it was not possible, The discussions over the number of trainers and the place of training stopped. Now that the issue of immunity was decided and that no immunity to be given, the withdrawal has started.” While it is true that some U.S. troops commit offenses, the vast majority do not. The hubris of Iraq and its people after the Hussein regime is breathtaking. After 4,478 killed and 33,169 wounded U.S. troops, not to mention the ouster of Hussein and his two sons, Iraq wants to provide its own security. And with Iran next door. Well, GOOD LUCK!
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2011/10/u-s-kicked-out-of-iraq/
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Apparently you weren’t reading the news about the situation back then.
Nuke them both then.
Got checkbook?
Maliki rules out extension of U.S. troops’ presence after 2011
BAGHDAD, April 20 (Xinhua) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ruled out signing a new security pact with the United States to extend the presence of U.S. troops in the country, his office said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The Prime Minister rule out possibility for any new security agreement to prolong the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, because the (current) document of the strategic agreement (SOFA) is clear in this respect,” the statement quoted Maliki as saying in an interview with the local television channel of Biladi to be broadcasted later.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/20/c_13838284.htm
I wonder if it would have been any different if we hadn't destabilized Iraq.
However, I do think that as long as we keep pussyfooting with them, we will continue to get what we have been getting.
We are like some conflicted giant, unwilling to use our might to stop the little people from attacking us for fear that we might hurt somebody and people will call us names.
Send the friggin Brown Clown over to Iraq with a horse to lead them into battle.
I have this mental picture of the Iraqi “military” shooting expensive Hellfire missiles at non-targets. Why? Because it gives the illusion of action while not putting themselves at risk.
Honestly, at this point, I’m not sure I give a rat’s rear end about the situation over there. A pox on all their houses.
Evidently it is you who are not doing the reading. The article you posted confirms exactly what I said. Hillary refused to budge on the issue of immunity. We have made exceptions to this before and could have done so this time. It didn’t need to be a deal breaker. It was not the Iraqi’s who ended negotiations. It was the Obama administration.
Bush HAD that agreement already. Those ISLAMISTS and JIHADISTS over there in that Iraqi Shia government were just itching for their chance to prosecute those US Soldiers, something Bush wouldn’t let them do.
If Obama had let them prosecute our US Soldiers, I would have been all over his case on that issue.
Not "Funky Cold Medina" anymore....
As for the Bush administration, they punted the issue to their successors. Understandable since giving ground on the immunity issue would have had a political price. Wanna blame it all on Bush?
Iraq was never stable. Saddam used torture chambers and death squads and kept a lid on the media. He also used wars to rally his people (Iran and Kuwait).
Aaaand what’s the difference between Hoboken and Medina?
/s
Guy double Bogey’s, takes Mulligans all day and lies about his score. ...
A safe haven? In Syria? Really? For these killers.
Then we would have nothing to hold over their heads.
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