Posted on 06/11/2015 6:05:28 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The United States is considering establishing additional military bases in Iraq to combat the Islamic State, the top American general said on Thursday, a move that would require at least hundreds more American military trainers to help Iraqi forces retake cities lost to the militant Sunni extremist group.
President Obama’s decision this week to send 450 trainers to establish a new military base to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, could signal the beginning of similar efforts in other parts of the country, said Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Dempsey described a possible future campaign that entailed the establishment of what he called “lily pads” — American military bases around the country from which trainers would work with Iraqi security forces and local tribesman in the fight against the Islamic State.
“You could see one in the corridor from Baghdad to Tikrit to Kirkuk to Mosul,” General Dempsey said.
The lily pads would be modeled after the training hub now being built at Al Taqqadum, an Iraqi base near the town of Habbaniya in eastern Anbar. The American troops being sent are to set up the hub primarily to advise and assist Iraqi forces and to engage and reach out to Sunni tribes in Anbar, officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Military Bases = "Lily Pads"
America = Going to Hell in a Handbasket
IM sorry didn’t we just give back a bunch of bases and pull troops out?
“LILY PADS?”
I have an idea:
Why don’t we bring home ALL our troops from all over the world, put them on OUR borders, and tell the rest of the world to fight their OWN battles?????
5.56mm
Oh no said Obama....That doesn't make sense. Pull every last soldier out.
Sounds like a history lesson to me.
They will be anti gravity lilly pads. So that no boots touch the ground.
So in essence pursue the policy that we adopted once the Versaille peace process didn’t go the way we expected it to at the end of WWI. What did that policy get us? The rise of communism, fascism and WWII.
Like it or not, for better or worse we have taken the mantle that the British empire once held. That of being a stabilizing force in the world. If we withdraw from the world, someone else will step into the void. Power abhors a vacuum. Most likely regional hegemonys will pop up and that will surely lead to another world war. What you propose sounds nice on it’s face, but is unworkable in practice. Has the last 70 years not taught us anything? When America recedes from the world stage, the world becomes more dangerous.
Obunga’s plan: Open more bases, stock them to the hilt, let ISIS overrun, capture them and kill/maim more Americans, repeat until January 2017, and walk away a great hero to his raghead jihad buddies.
No, no no and HELL NO.
There have been US military and civilian trainers and support personnel in Iraq since 2003. They were not included in the withdrawal. They just moved from coalition-run bases to Iraqi-run bases and US support centers.
I would have felt better if Obummer had sent the 101st to protect the 450 advisors.
The current strategy sounds more like Vietnam.
We wouldn’t last long if we did that.
We would have ceased to exist as a free nation, decades ago.
Military Bases = “Lily Pads” = “Strategic Hamlets”.
Iraq to become Viet Nam - when the US is finally forced out watch the millions being slaughtered just like Nam.
Obamalegacy list
If I wanted to make a decision on a home, I don’t just weigh in. Now our top brass is indecisive, go figure.
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