Posted on 08/12/2014 6:31:36 PM PDT by kristinn
The U.S. is weighing a military mission in Iraq to rescue thousands of Yazidi refugees, a move that risks putting American forces in direct confrontation with Sunni fighters for the Islamic State.
The proposal is still under development and hasn't been approved by President Barack Obama. U.S. officials said the rescue mission is one of many options the U.S. military is weighing after dropping food and water to dying refugees over the past six days.
"People are looking at ways to do something more than just drop water and supplies," one senior U.S. official said. "You can only do that for so long."
Since last week, the U.S. has sought to halt the militants' advance on the Kurdish city of Erbil and to relieve Yazidis trapped by the fighters on a barren mountain range through a campaign of airstrikes and aid drops.
A rescue mission could expose U.S. forces to direct fire from the militant group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and that is a risk Mr. Obama may not be willing to accept.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon continued to lay the groundwork for a rescue by sending another 130 military advisers to northern Iraq to develop options the Pentagon can present to the president. The team will be made up of U.S. Marines and members of American special operations forces who have expertise in difficult missions.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Presiding over a genocide while on a golf vacation at Martha's Vineyard will not look good for Obama's legacy.
Obama has gone from ignoring ISIS to sending advisors to Iraq to bombing ISIS to now looking at engaging ISIS on the ground to effect a humanitarian rescue of the Yezidis.
A rescue mission would involve ground forces to secure the landing zones and sort out who gets rescued first, screening for bomb-wearing infiltrators, recon missions on the ground and exposing aircraft to ground fire. Like I said, tough call for Obama.
Why can’t they just airlift in a Marine company, and provide air support? Wouldn’t that work?
Why not give the peshmerga heavy weaponry and provide air support in exchange for them rescuing the Yezidis?
Oh, he'll be OK.
His propagandists make Joe Goebbels and the Nazis's look like amateurs.
Plus, thanks to Universal Suffrage, the domestic communists can count on 47% of the vote no matter what happens.
The Pentagon has sent an additional 130 military advisers to northern Iraq to help plan the evacuation of thousands of displaced people trapped by Sunni militants on Mount Sinjar, Defense Department officials said Tuesday, raising the possibility that a larger American force may eventually be needed in the rescue attempt.
While military officials said the Pentagon planned to continue aid drops of food and water, United States officials said they believed that some type of ground force would be necessary to secure the passage of the stranded members of the Yazidi group. The military is drawing up plans for consideration by President Obama that could include American ground troops in what is expected to be an international effort to rescue the refugees, a senior administration official said.
Mr. Obama has insisted, most recently on Monday, that he will not send American ground troops back to Iraq. But as the Yazidi crisis has deteriorated, American officials say they have become increasingly convinced that a humanitarian corridor will have to be established soon, with troops on the ground to help ensure safe passage for the displaced.
“No decisions have been made as to the composition of such a force,” a senior administration official said.
SNIP
‘We Left Hundreds Behind’: Inside the Helicopter Rescue of Iraq's Stranded Yazidis (Saigon 1975)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3192167/posts
Yet the media and Republicans continue to let this guys get away with the LIE.
We have nearly 500 on the ground that have been officially announced for embassy protection and this new mission.
That's not including the Specops there lighting up targets for the Navy Fighters...and other missions.
Obama is a poster boy reason that Presidents should not be granted the right to make military decisions. I dislike how we’ve reached a point where we no longer have military men in the Presidency. We shouldn’t have to wait on Obama to do what we need to do to run our military.
Has the regime even mentioned them as of yet?
THE ADMINISTRATION SHOULD NOT BE DISCUSSING THIS OPENLY. DUH!!!!
Fox News report said as many as 70% of those left on the mountain (some have escaped into Syria) have died.
“We shouldn’t have to wait on Obama to do what we need to do to run our military.”
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I agree but, if we had a real, pro-military President in the WH, we would not be having these MANY issue and problems. The electorate was warned about Obama BEFORE he was elected. They did not listen. Elections have serious consequences. We knew this one would.
Former presidents delegated military decisions to 5-star generals didn’t they? I think Roosevelt gave Ike the right to make his own military decisions, of which I assume the president was kept aware. But of course total war is different than nibbling about the edges.
I thought there wasn’t an “American military solution” to this...
I have great pity for the plight of the Yazidis but if we are to put boots on the ground again, let it be to save the Christians who are being treated so kindly by goat sodomizing moon worshiping bastards.
Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
True, but it's worse than that, because he's purging the leadership ranks and introducing PC LGBT nonsense into the military at the same time he cuts its funding.
Obama says it was Iraq who caused him to pull out because they wouldn’t agree not to prosecute American soldiers. Has that changed? Hell no!
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