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Exclusive: Pentagon Doubts Its Own ISIS War Plan
Daily Beast ^ | Feb 20 2015 | Nancy A. Youssef

Posted on 02/21/2015 10:51:36 AM PST by Whenifhow

That didn’t take long. Less than a day after the U.S. military announced its Spring offensive against ISIS, seasoned military officers said the plan was unworkable. Skepticism about the U.S. and Iraqi military plans for the next phase of the ISIS war begins inside the Pentagon.

Less than 24 hours after U.S. military officials publicly detailed their plans for a spring offensive on ISIS-held Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, many within the Pentagon privately questioned whether that timetable was plausible. They said that they were dubious that their partners in the Iraqi military—the troops supposed to lead the offensive—would be capable of conducting such a campaign by then.

“I really doubt it is going to happen that soon,” said one military officer who, like several others, served in Iraq between 2003-2011 and spoke on condition of anonymity. “And if it does, it will take months.”

snip

Critics inside the U.S. defense community note that the battle for Mosul could be much harder than the coalition’s fights so far to reclaim cities from ISIS. It took 112 days for a capable Kurdish ground force and U.S.-led air campaign to win back the small northern Syria city of Kobani.

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: clownsinside; isis; islaminside; nomoreamerica; nomorepatriots; obamaforeignpolicy; obamaisis; pentagon; pentagonisis; war
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To: Whenifhow

The pentagon freaked when ISIS called and wanted to know which road the Marines would be taking into Mosul... Valerie wanted to send maps...

Also the State Department put in a request for troops to hand out job applications...

It went downhill from there...


21 posted on 02/21/2015 11:53:19 AM PST by GOPJ (If you can't get on the high horse for men burned alive and children raped, what's the horse for?)
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To: Whenifhow

Is Geraldo heading up the Pentagon’s PR?


22 posted on 02/21/2015 12:57:16 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: Whenifhow

If the U.S. military considers itself incapable of defeating a ragtag group of ISIS volunteers in Mosul even after months of preparation, there’s no reason to discuss potential U.S. military operations anywhere in the world.

If Vladimir Putin wants to take over Ukraine, who will stop him? At least up till now it was possible to have a rational discussion on the extent to which the U.S. should aid the Ukrainians. But that’s an absurd issue now since we know the U.S. can’t even be sure of defeating a few ISIS terrorists in Mosul let alone a Russian Army brigade or two in Kiev.

The president of Ukraine should understand that he has no choice but to surrender to Russia and save his people from inevitable slaughter.

And Americans should realize that reading about U.S. foreign policy is no more enlightening that reading about the foreign policy of Monaco or Lichtenstein, because without a military that can be taken seriously, the U.S. has no more influence over foreign affairs than those two countries.


23 posted on 02/21/2015 1:37:21 PM PST by Bluestocking
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To: Whenifhow

Yo When.. I bet ValJar is having a hissy fit. How dare anyone doubt her military expertise?


24 posted on 02/21/2015 2:09:04 PM PST by willibeaux (de ole Korean War vet age 85)
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To: molson209

Mol... or ValJar’s. :-)


25 posted on 02/21/2015 2:12:29 PM PST by willibeaux (de ole Korean War vet age 85)
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To: Politicalkiddo

Napalm comes to mind.


26 posted on 02/21/2015 2:31:53 PM PST by Dutch Boy
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To: Whenifhow

-——seasoned military officers——

wonder who those officers are?


27 posted on 02/21/2015 2:42:52 PM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: Whenifhow
We've been down this road before. Second Battle of Fallujah, anyone? There we telegraphed our intentions, allowed the enemy to entrench, and ended up in house-to-house fighting that was the bloodiest of the war. With one difference: our assault troops were principally combat-hardened Marines, not raw Iraqi troops in their first battle.

For students of military history, by the way, the numbers are astounding. The assault force outnumbered the defense force by only about 3/1, attacked into the face of prepared positions, and inflicted a 15/1 kill ratio. There really aren't enough superlatives for that. It still took six weeks.

I'd love to know if 2000 is a good number for ISIS assets or if it's something the public affairs folks pulled out of their nether regions. I'd suspect it might be more given the influx of foreign fighters, especially since they still have two months to get there at least, but in any case, that's very roughly comparable to those at Fallujah (3500-4000). This is not likely to be pleasant for anyone involved.

28 posted on 02/21/2015 3:00:43 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Cry if I Wanna

The Iraqi soldiers know the Sunni/Shia division is permanent. They are unwilling to die for the Kurdish region they know also is permanent.

Mosul is at the boundary. Time will provide the solution to which side it goes


29 posted on 02/21/2015 3:22:32 PM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: Whenifhow

Pentagon plan?? - More like an Obama and Jarrett plan sent to the Pentagon.


30 posted on 02/21/2015 3:34:18 PM PST by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: elpadre

And yet where are senior military people resigning to run for Congress and blow the whistle?


31 posted on 02/21/2015 3:37:16 PM PST by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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