Posted on 10/07/2014 12:28:58 PM PDT by keat
BAGHDAD (AP) -- After two months, the U.S.-led aerial campaign in Iraq has hardly dented the core of the Islamic State group's territory. The extremist fighters have melted into urban areas when needed to elude the threat, and they have even succeeded in taking new territory from an Iraqi army that still buckles in the face of militants.
In neighboring Syria, days of airstrikes have been unable to stop militants on the verge of capturing a strategic town on the Turkish border.
The limited results show the central weakness of the campaign: There is only so much that can be done from the air to defeat an extremist force that has swept over much of Iraq and Syria. The Islamic State fighters have proven elusive and flexible, able to reorganize to minimize the blows. And more importantly, there are almost no allied forces on the ground able to capitalize on the airstrikes and wrest back territory from the militants.
The exception: Iraqi Kurdish fighters, the most effective forces in Iraq, have made some modest gains the past week.
That only highlights how others have proven unable to do the same. The Iraqi military is undermined by corruption and command problems. A new Iraqi government has being trying to woo support from more Sunni tribesmen, whose fighters are seen as vital against the Sunni extremists, but so far there has not been a flood of support. In Syria, rebels supported by Washington are in no position to move against the extremists, and Syria's Kurds are not as well armed as Iraq's.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
George W. Bush and Barack Hussein Soetoro Odinga Soebarkah Mohammed Choomgang Obama are two different entities.
That's right. The Taliban conquered an entire country from the remnants of the mujahideen who had outlasted the Soviets. It had an air force. It had funding from wealthy (non-governmental) Gulf Arabs. In other words, they were different, but similar.
Blowing up empty garages and rusty Toyota pick-ups is hardly the recipe for military victory
Operation Pinprick. That’s what they should call this “war games” playtime action.
On second thought, delete “Pin” in the designation.
IMO, Joe Biden expressed the only good idea in his entire life when he suggested Iraq be separated into three sovereign states: Kurdish north, Sunni west and Shia central and south. Iraq has never had a sense of true nationality.
...Who refuses to listen to the advice of the general officers who know how to prosecute a war. But this dipshit insists he's the smartest guy in the room. Meanwhile Christian and Kurdish children continue to be murdered by bloodthirsty, subhuman savages.
Those Northern Alliance Turkmen/Hazara/Tajik guys were decent warriors with plenty of experience and weren’t prone to panic like the Iraqi army.
Just consider it Obama Administration's contribution to unilateral disarmament
We need to just light these scummy muzzies up for real. Women and children my sass.
Most of the women are as whacked as the men males, and the kids can't wait to get big enough to cut somebody's head off.
Bottom line, when you mean to get rid of a nest of rats, you don't let the females and young rats go. Send 'em all to allah.
Dresden had some merit.
No clue how the world works.
He doesn’t but whoever is making the decisions sure does. If you wanted to make it look like you were being aggressive after beheadings for the best optics, what would you do? Minimal targeting for maximum INeffectiveness. I’ll tell you, our pilots and fighters are so disgusted with this crap.
Also, watch for a major change after the elections. If the RINOs take the senate, it will be crunch time. We will see the most blatant tyranny the US has experienced since King George. They’ve had 6 years to plan the details, but have been working on this since Wilson and went underground during McCarthy. If only...
øbama’s War.
We need a new sign,, like ‘Kilroy was here’.
UHhhh. Kilroy wasn’t here! But the food police were!!
Some say incompetent, others may say he lack gravitas,
I say, a tool is a tool.
Too bad the Nobel foundation can’t get there money back from him. And Gore and the unipcc
No.....really.....everything Obama touches turns to gold.
The targets are GOP candidates not ISIS.
He knows how it works, he just isn’t on YOUR side.
... shortly followed by "Shrug Shoulders and Give Up".
This is not a bombing campaign. A bombing campaign involves the use of heavy bombers and thousands of sorties like the run up to Gulf Wars I and II. I believe the ISIS/ISIL are vermin and need to be exterminated. What we are doing right now is hardly a pin prick.
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