Posted on 08/14/2014 9:15:41 PM PDT by GonzoII
WASHINGTON—The U.S. military is turning its focus toward helping Kurdish forces launch a counteroffensive against Sunni militants now that the refugee crisis in the northern Iraqi mountains has abated, American officials said Thursday.
American military planners are building a coalition of countries that have agreed to take part in the effort to fly in ammunition, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades the Kurdish fighters need to uproot extremist forces that call themselves the Islamic State, the officials said.
The focus on arming Kurdish fighters represents the next stage of U.S. military operations in Iraq. Earlier, the U.S. military essentially declared victory in preventing the Islamic State from attacking thousands of Iraqi refugees from the country's Yazidi religious minority hiding in the Sinjar mountains.
[...]
Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the U.S. would now focus on helping Kurdish forces and protecting Americans working in the regional Kurdish capital of Erbil. "The threat that ISIL poses is not over," said Adm. Kirby, referring to an alternative name for the Islamic State. "We think that we've had a disruptive effect on ISIL's ability to threaten Erbil, but we don't believe that it's been completely eliminated."
France and the U.K. have publicly agreed to help with the arming effort. A number of Middle Eastern nations, which don't want their role revealed, have also agreed to provide small amounts of weaponry, U.S. officials said.
[...]
The Iraqi government has provided Kurds with several planeloads of weapons, including a half-million rounds of ammunition, several thousand mortar rounds and about 500 rocket-propelled-grenades, said U.S. officials. "That could be enough to get them going," one American official said.
[...]
U.S. jet fighters and armed drones continued to hit Islamic State forces near Erbil on Thursday. American aircraft destroyed three armored vehicles, including a U.S.-made MRAP...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
FUBammy. And the Muzzie Broz....
The “refugee crisis abated” because -— they DIED!
Finally. The Kurds have been asking for help for a long time. I guess the mass killings of the Christians and other minorities in the area got Obama off his duff. At least for the moment.
(excerpt)
Galvanized by the brutality of Islamist militants marauding through Iraq, the United Nations Security Council appeared set to approve a resolution on Friday aimed at severely weakening them by choking their sources of money, weapons and foreign recruits.
The resolution, which demands that the militants “disarm and disband with immediate effect,” would authorize the use of economic or military force to ensure compliance, the strongest tool at the Council’s disposal under the United Nations Charter.
We should have been helping the Kurds years ago.
Good news. Heartening to hear that at least some lethal aid is getting to the Kurds.
It’s about time. Actually, ISIS has the right idea about some borders, but unbelieveably evil methodology. Many borders were deliberately planned by colonial powers to enclose enemies and keep power through divide and rule. Actually there should be an international commission to help countries redraw lines and fairly allocate underground resources.
Bump. America should withdraw its support for Islam. Colonial European powers are outdated.
That may bring the fence sitters of the fence.
How are these U.S. military “experts” going to help the Kurds, send them emails or put boots on the ground?
Amen ... Time to make Thunder and Lightening on 'em!!
Being that it is time and can see November from here is a good time to remind all people that hate America (aka democrats) to vote ... Remember your vote is recorded and with the technology of today your name is known the same as republican voters names are known. Level field.
What this article describes is the de facto partition of Iraq and Syria.
All the outside parties noted have made the realization and are now contributing to the implementation.
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