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AP Analysis: US-led airstrikes produce few gains
The Associated Press ^ | Oct 7, 3:14 PM EDT | Vivian Salama

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 ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Syria
KEYWORDS: airstrikes
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To: Red Badger

George W. Bush and Barack Hussein Soetoro Odinga Soebarkah Mohammed Choomgang Obama are two different entities.


21 posted on 10/07/2014 12:46:33 PM PDT by NorthMountain
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To: Red Badger
The Taliban and ISIS 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.

22 posted on 10/07/2014 12:47:00 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: keat

Blowing up empty garages and rusty Toyota pick-ups is hardly the recipe for military victory


23 posted on 10/07/2014 12:52:15 PM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: thetallguy24

Operation Pinprick. That’s what they should call this “war games” playtime action.

On second thought, delete “Pin” in the designation.


24 posted on 10/07/2014 12:55:41 PM PDT by alloysteel (Most people become who they promised they would never be.)
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To: keat

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.


25 posted on 10/07/2014 12:58:41 PM PDT by ScottinVA (We either destroy ISIS there... or fight them here. Pick one, America.)
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To: Bubba_Leroy
No bump for Barry.

 photo NoBump_zps0f7244e8.jpg

26 posted on 10/07/2014 1:01:41 PM PDT by keat
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To: FatherofFive
Worst President Ever.

...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.

27 posted on 10/07/2014 1:04:27 PM PDT by ScottinVA (We either destroy ISIS there... or fight them here. Pick one, America.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Those Northern Alliance Turkmen/Hazara/Tajik guys were decent warriors with plenty of experience and weren’t prone to panic like the Iraqi army.


28 posted on 10/07/2014 1:04:53 PM PDT by buwaya
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To: keat
Well, we did manage to burn up about 100 or so cruise missiles.

Just consider it Obama Administration's contribution to unilateral disarmament

29 posted on 10/07/2014 1:06:35 PM PDT by rdcbn (21 plus)
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To: keat
If that were a picture of an EKG, it would be diagnosed as ventricular fibrillation! Ineffective, irregular heart beats that require immediate medical attention!
30 posted on 10/07/2014 1:07:08 PM PDT by ExTxMarine (PRAYER: It's the only HOPE for real CHANGE in America!)
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To: woodenickel
A bomb group of B-17s could end this whole thing in a weekend if 0 was serious.

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.

31 posted on 10/07/2014 1:19:33 PM PDT by skimbell
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To: FatherofFive

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...


32 posted on 10/07/2014 1:23:38 PM PDT by huldah1776
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To: keat

øbama’s War.


33 posted on 10/07/2014 1:26:11 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: FatherofFive

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


34 posted on 10/07/2014 1:44:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: keat

No.....really.....everything Obama touches turns to gold.


35 posted on 10/07/2014 1:51:31 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: keat

The targets are GOP candidates not ISIS.


36 posted on 10/07/2014 2:38:27 PM PDT by NoLibZone (The bad news: Hillary Clinton will be the next President. The Good news: Our principles are intact.)
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To: FatherofFive

He knows how it works, he just isn’t on YOUR side.


37 posted on 10/07/2014 2:40:00 PM PDT by dforest
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To: keat
Obama will announce later today that the mission against ISIS has changed from Degrade and Destroy to Hamper and Harass.

... shortly followed by "Shrug Shoulders and Give Up".

38 posted on 10/07/2014 3:03:58 PM PDT by Gritty (Obama wants to wage war by measuring it out in teaspoons - Ralph Peters)
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To: keat

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.


39 posted on 10/07/2014 3:24:13 PM PDT by 3Fingas (Sons and Daughters for Freedom and Rededication to the Principles of the U.S. Constitution)
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