U.S. airstrikes begin on ISIS militants in Iraq

CNN ^ | August 8, 2014 | Jim Sciutto, Ben Brumfield and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN

[Jonah Vark]

Washington (CNN) -- Two U.S. F/A-18 jet fighters bombed artillery batteries of Sunni Islamic extremists in Iraq on Friday, escalating America's military involvement more than two years after President Barack Obama brought home forces from the country.

Obama authorized "targeted airstrikes" if needed to protect U.S. personnel from fighters with the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The U.S. military also could use airstrikes to prevent what officials warn could be a genocide of minority groups by the Islamic State fighters.

The U.S. aircraft dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on a "mobile artillery piece" used by ISIS at about 6:45 a.m. ET Friday, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said. The commander of U.S. Central Command made the decision to strike under authorization granted him by Obama, Kirby said.

The Islamic State has advanced toward what officials call U.S. interests in Iraq's Kurdish region in the north this week, taking towns from the Kurdish fighting force, known as the Peshmerga. READ MORE.......

[dfwgator]

“Gentlemen....We’ve got to do something to protect our phoney-baloney jobs.”

[georgia peach]

That is an interesting take on this.Thank you.

[kjam22]

Hold all calls..... we have a winner.

[b4its2late]

Limited airstrikes means limited ISIS casualties.

[kabar]

U.S. warplanes patrolling the skies over northern Iraq have a "green light" to go after perceived ISIS threats to the Kurdish capital, Irbil, or to minority populations, said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

A subtle expansion of mission from what Obama said last night. A welcoming expansion.

[kabar]

Diplomatic cover. Limited is a subjective assessment.

[McGruff]

BREAKING: US airlines banned from flying over #Iraq on.rt.com/znuorh

Guess no-one wants another Ukrainian incident.

[SecondAmendment]

> But didn’t Obama say George Bush should not have gone into Iraq?
> Why is it OK for him?

Easy, GWB had an (R) after his name instead of a (D).

[kjam22]

Wolf Blister is in “oh my GOD” mode about whether or not we’re gonna need boots on the ground to destroy ISIS. The blathering idiot hasn’t figured out that its a political objective and the mission is not to destroy ISIS.

[precisionshootist]

Anything Obama does with the military will be extremely limited.

I don't think he will ever send troops to war. If he does that there will be some this time that will DEMAND to see Obama's birth certificate and the white house knows he does not have one.

The white house got away with covering up the truth about Obama's past the first time but too much has been made public since then I believe even the white house knows if a group of military men challenge his legitimacy as Commander N Chief, Obama is toast.

The truth about this man is going to come out

[ken5050]

The worst case danger here is that ISIS ( which has a lot of captured US weaponry that the Iraqis abandoned) gets lucky..manages to down a US plane..captured the pilot, and then executes him..

[what's up]

Hillary invaded Libya for so called humanitarian reasons.

But George Bush is some kind of monster for toppling Saddam for the same reason?

Weird logic.

[scouter]

... if a group of military men challenge his legitimacy as Commander N Chief, Obama is toast.

I think that's exactly what happened here. After denying that they had authorized the air strikes that had already occurred, and after saying that there is no military solution, the White House suddenly does an "about face" and authorizes air strikes.

Think about it... some brave and honorable pilots had had enough and did what needed to be done without authorization (and perhaps against direct orders). Their careers may be toast, but they're probably OK with that, if that's the price they had to pay to do the right thing. There was a mutiny, however small, and the after-the-fact "authorization" to conduct "limited" air strikes is Obama's attempt to cover up that fact.

May there be more.

[353FMG]

And how many of these muzzie refugees will be ISIS fighters joining the many already stationed inside the country?

[demshateGod]

Could you imagine how beneficial this would have been when those greasy, hooded rapists were driving their Toyotas across the desert?

[Sivad]

Not to worry. The current unpleasantries in Iraq will vaporize
as soon as the American MSM realizes that Obama is again stuck
in an over-his-head quandry. They will divert attention to some
new crisis or event and the American public will forget about the
40K Christian civilians and others under the threat of genocide
by the ISIS devils. Obama saved, problem solved.

[demshateGod]

He’s busy trying to figure out how he can parlay this into fundamentally transforming America. “How can I use this to get revenge on White America?” That’s all he thinks about beside enriching himself.

[precisionshootist]

"More of your foolishness: The police were never called about that incident. They “were in the area...” Kyle testified that the police were in the area but no one testified that the police were called. YOUR bias is showing loud and clear."

I never thought of that possibility. You might be right.

I was just thinking Obama has enough politically reliable allies in the military now to pull off sending in two planes but that's about it. He couldn't do anything large scale or that involves boots on the ground.

[rfreedom4u]

I wonder how the determination is being made as to what to target? Are we taking suggestions from the Iraqi government? Satellite photos? What?

Or have we inserted some special ops teams to “light up” the targets? Inquiring minds want to know.

[dfwgator]

So he’s just going to air drop supplies, that will either fall into the hands of ISIS, or will result in people stampeding over each other to get to the supplies.