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In Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State is in retreat on multiple fronts
Washington Post ^ | 24 Mar 2016 | Liz Sly

Posted on 03/24/2016 9:38:24 PM PDT by BeauBo

...the militants are being squeezed, stretched and pushed back. Nowhere are they on the attack. They have not embarked on a successful offensive in nearly nine months. Their leaders are dying in U.S. strikes at the rate of one every three days, inhibiting their ability to launch attacks, according to U.S. military officials.

Front-line commanders no longer speak of a scarily formidable foe but of Islamic State defenses that crumble within days and fighters who flee at the first sign they are under attack.

“They don’t fight. They just send car bombs and then run away.

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


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Syria
KEYWORDS: iraq; isis; syria
It is looking like the legs could be kicked out from under ISIS at will.

I guess that the main players are looking to shape the end game a bit more first, and that Obama wants to save the finale until closer to the election.

Carrying that ISIS scalp into the election might give the Democrats a boost like bin Ladin's death, and weaken a Republican issue.

But Brussels, and other upcoming mass murders, may force an earlier resolution.

1 posted on 03/24/2016 9:38:24 PM PDT by BeauBo
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To: BeauBo

This is Liz Sly from the WaPo. I wouldn’t put much stock in any of this.


2 posted on 03/24/2016 9:40:43 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (America is not a dump, sewer or "refugee" camp. It's my home.)
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To: BeauBo
I don't find this totally credible. They seem to be expanding on the African continent. They are expanding in Europe, and it might be harder to flush them out than in Syria and Iraq.

I agree they might be squeezed in parts of Syria and Iraq, but there may be pressure for us to go back in. The Marine who was killed, rest in peace, was at a base where we weren't told any of our troops would be stationed.

What else are we not being told?

3 posted on 03/24/2016 9:45:03 PM PDT by Aliska ("No bank is too big to fail, and no executive is too powerful to jail." HRC 1/24/16)
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To: All

They’re all in Europe, numbers being pushed in here.


4 posted on 03/24/2016 9:47:00 PM PDT by 80skid
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To: BeauBo

The Washington Compost Heap is nothing more than
a worthless rag covering for the feckless fool on the hill. Two fools, one hill. Simple.


5 posted on 03/24/2016 9:53:02 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: BeauBo

“Comrades! Attention comrades. I have glorious news for you ... “


6 posted on 03/24/2016 9:53:38 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer; Aliska; BeauBo

ISIS there is not the problem! Islam in western nations is the real threat. They don’t fly bombers out of Syria and Iraq, they send Muslims into our midst and intend to conquer us by that means.

There is only one solution that will stop most terrorism on our soil: Ban Islam, deport all Muslims, bring US troops home and put on our borders, and institute a “pet the pig” requirement to board a plane or come into our country. Problem largely solved!

If we could get the Christians out of those hell holes, then I don’t care how much the various Muslim sects blow each other up. If Europe wants to commit suicide, that’s their problem. NATO should have been disbanded long ago.

When I hear idiot politicians and retired generals (now lobbyists for defense contractors) blather on about sending more of our good people to fight in the Middle East, I want to tear my hair out. There is no way to defeat ISIS because ISIS is Islam! Unless we’re willing to kill all of them, the only solution is to banish Muslims to Muslim countries.


7 posted on 03/24/2016 9:58:57 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: Pining_4_TX

Obama is planning on bringing us more ISISyrians. I’m sure Congress will protect us by standing up to him and saying, “Enough.”


8 posted on 03/24/2016 10:06:28 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

The way things are now, a new Republican Admin could come in and mop up ISIS in six months, making the commies... I mean Democrats, look bad. They would have to lie that on down for a long time. They can gain some political benefit however, from backstabbing their jihadi friends on the way out.

But more importantly to them, they risk a lot of blowback going into the election, from the repeated massacres that their refugee and immigrant friends are likely to commit this Summer in Europe. They must cover their butts for the election.

A few weeks offensive to capture Manbij and al Bab, shutting ISIS off from Turkey, would be checkmate. It could have already been done, but the dogs have been held back. The Kurds have been waiting a few miles from Manbij for over a month, with very little air activity.

All the initial plunder has been spent, and the Russians screwed up their oil smuggling business. ISIS is going broke, salaries have been cut in half across the board, and the new recruits are mostly going to Libya. Their top leaders are being picked off rapidly (so I guess they won’t be testifying).

Militarily, they are vulnerable. Drop a few planeloads of ammo to the Kurds, and ramp up airstrikes from a few a day to a few hundred, and they will be routed in short order. It is just waiting on the political decision.


9 posted on 03/24/2016 10:06:34 PM PDT by BeauBo
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To: Pining_4_TX
Nobody is going to ban Muslims in this country. The best we can hope for is keeping new ones out.

Maybe you are right, but if they are a problem in Europe, it's going to affect us, is already affecting us. We have probably lost people they haven't been able to find or identify what's left of their bodies yet.

If they can be confined to their original countries, yes, let them slug it out, but with more sophisticated weapons, it's hard to say. Most of the Christians are dead or trapped; I would like to get them out. Won't happen until Obama's gone, if then.

NATO has outlived its usefulness, and has become a net negative for us, seems to be more of a political tool than its original intention which is no longer warranted because Europe is lost. ISIS are Islam (Obama says no), but not all Islam are ISIS. They are intertwined with them through relationships, etc., so don't want to rat them out. When push comes to shove, most will side with their own.

We are probably still throwing too much money away on armaments and the military. I do want us to be strong but mostly as a deterrent. We cut back too far, too fast, it could be very bad on the economy. But we've got to quit arming them including our so-called friends. Selling them F-15's is good for us, I guess. But is it a good idea? It doesn't look like it.

10 posted on 03/24/2016 10:11:18 PM PDT by Aliska ("No bank is too big to fail, and no executive is too powerful to jail." HRC 1/24/16)
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To: Fungi

yep- they cover for the dims..

but they are correct- isis is currently hurting-

BECAUSE THE RUSSIANS BLEW THE CRAP out of them-!

in spite of threats from o’bummer to stop bombing them!


11 posted on 03/24/2016 10:12:40 PM PDT by mj1234
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To: tumblindice; BeauBo
Yep.

Radical leftist (pro-sodomite "marriage", anti-gun, etc. etc.) Amazon CEO and ORevolutionaryCommunistMuslim BFF, Jeff Bezos, owns Pravda.

Glorious news indeed. On with the Fundamental Transformation, Change, and Progress.

Forward!

12 posted on 03/24/2016 10:13:54 PM PDT by Mr. M.J.B.
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To: Aliska

I know it’s not going to happen, but it is the only solution. Everything else that our politicians will do is not going to do anything to stop the terrorist attacks. Sacrificing more of our good people in futile conflicts in the Middle East is going to do great harm to our military and our country. It’s a travesty.


13 posted on 03/24/2016 10:21:10 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: BeauBo

ISIS headed to Libya...but, but, but, that’s another country the CIA and State killed the leader of and overthrew. How weird is that...a recurrent theme. “We came, we saw, he died.”

Vlad had enough of the CIA’s “secret” army in Syria and waged a REAL war against ISIS. The US isn’t going to take on Vlad. Evil and stupid yes, suicidal, no.


14 posted on 03/24/2016 10:26:58 PM PDT by Mr. M.J.B.
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To: BeauBo

Yeah, riiiiight.


15 posted on 03/24/2016 10:39:37 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: BeauBo

BeauBo: I think you’re closer to the real situation than many newspaper reporters. We can destroy ISIS strongholds in Raqqa, Mosul, etc just by bombing the hell out of the cities (but Mosul has a population of around 500,000 or more, with many being held captive in that they will be killed by snipers of they try to leave, according to sources in Syria.

However, ramping up the airstrikes on every known ISIS target at one time (but over a couple of days), will take out a lot of their camps, depots, communication facilities, and just plain old tank, artillery and checkpoint positions.

It’s called “a war of attrition”, meaning that you keep the pressure on them 24/7 so that they can’t regroup, move freely like they used to, get enough supplies to keep their forces at close to 100% efficient, and keep their lines of communication open to other ISIS and Al Qaeda groups in the neighborhood.

This is when we send in the small sniper teams and commando teams to pick off their sentries (instill the fear of God in them because they know they will be killed if they main checkpoints, towers, or even drive on the roads outside of their base cities).

This is one way to break their hold on their captive populations and if enough flee the cities, then you can “carpet bomb” (selectively), use the beautiful Daisy Cutters to level specific areas (like killing a circle of cockroaches by dropping a huge telephone book on them), and if they flee en mass, it’s crispy critter time (Napalm - bring it back now) and A10 thunder runs.

Meanwhile we need to do more in Nigeria/Mali to destroy the leadership and massed troops of Boko Harum. It seems that this is happening but on what scale I do not know. News reporting from that area is pisspoor.

The same for Al Shahab in Somalia, and most Islamic terrorist groups in Libya, Tripoli, Serte, etc. When you kill them by the dozen or score, it demoralized them so we need good targeting intelligence. That is the secret to blowing the bastards to hell.

Meanwhile, Europe is going to have to close their borders to almost everyone, at least for a while (Trump was right on this approach), and we have to stop this crap of letting people who we know have fought in Syria/Iraq come back to the US. The same for the Brits, French, Italians, Belgians, etc.

If you know they are the enemy, either arrest them and jail them or kill them outright. The Europeans have to quite being so damned timid and fight this as a war because it is.

Also, we should encourage Egypt and Israel to continue their join collaboration in the Sinai Desert. That place has to be cleared out of Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Bedouin smugglers and any other troublemakers.

The best defense is a good offensive based on good intelligence, firepower, and the will to win.


16 posted on 03/24/2016 11:28:22 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

If we get a new administration that is serious about stamping out ISIS, they can be stamped hard and fast in Syria, and taken out in Iraq just a bit later. Turkey and Saudi Arabia would probably squeal like stuck pigs though.

I suspect that ISIS will be driven from their capital of Raqqa before our November election, just because of the political needs of the Democrats.

The Saudis have been the the font of the extremist Wahabbi ideology that motivates most of the many groups popping up, and the main funding source. They are like the old Soviet Union was to worldwide communist insurgencies. They are the center of gravity in the fight against islamists.


17 posted on 03/24/2016 11:53:27 PM PDT by BeauBo
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To: BeauBo

Isis is now in Europe


18 posted on 03/25/2016 2:12:52 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (No vote has been changed due to an FR post in about 2 months. Chillax.)
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