Free Republic

Maybe you could look up copyright law.
[once burned...]

2 paragraphs minus links and graphic are an excerpt of the 2-3 page article by definition.

If you are interested - you read the full monthly summary of changes with graphics and links plus the more than 200 pages of ISF OOB and reference data.
Which FR is not interested in hosting as a cross-post.

As I have repeatedly said, this is just a FYI heads up to the handfull of people still interested that happen to reside here - not for the BS artists such as yourself.

If the owners/moderators of FR have a problem with this - they can always erase my posts and revoke my log-in.
Their site to do with as they please.
To date, they have never complained - unlike your name-link that says:
“This account has been banned or suspended.”

You are aware that the US death rate [all causes] in Iraq dropped below the USMC death rate for motorcycle accidents after 2008? It was safer to be deployed to Iraq than it was to be stationed in CONUS throughout the occupation.

After 2008, deaths in Iraq [all sides/all causes] dropped below the murder rate in Venesuala - VE only has 2/3rds the population of Iraq but, more murders occur there than deaths in Iraq to all causes...

The reason the USMC started agitating to leave Iraq and go to Afghanistan in 2008 was because they are assault troops and the CMC felt they were wasting their time there.

The only reason we stayed as long as we did was we wanted to leave a tripwire to keep Iran from invading since the IA was and remains unprepared for conventional war. We left because Obama didn’t want US there.

IMoD planned on 2020 as the date they would be prepared to effectively defend Iraq - 2012 was US politics...

No.

Iraq is buying 80 percent of its weapons from the US.
US is still training the IA.
If the Russian deal goes through, it will be 10-20 percent compared to ongoing US arms deals.

The only thing Iraq did was insist that we depart per our agreement - we did.
Given the level of nationalism there - it would be inconceivable for any Iraqi politician to do otherwise.

Would the US agree to allow foreign troops to occupy US?
Would any US politician ever propose that and get re-elected?

What Iraq is - is weak. Every country bordering them out guns them in every category of weapons except infantry. And both Turkey and Iran also outnumber them in Infantry.
Iraq has signed no mutual defense treaties - they are neutrals officially without the military capacity to win or even give a good fight against any of the countries bordering.

You would be quiet and very polite too - if you were bordered by Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi, and Kuwait with Kuwait [the weakest] having more tanks and artillery than you do, not to mention having an air force which Iraq doesn’t really have.
E.G. Kuwait has over 70 F/A-18s - Iraq has yet to receive a single jet.

Our fight against the Iraqi Army ended in 2003.
In the 9 years we occupied Iraq, after May 2003, there were fewer than 8 incidents of Iraqi Army shooting at US troops.
By comparison, in Afghanistan we have had as many Green-on-Blue incidents in the last year.
The IA served alongside US against the extremists...

FYI for those interested. If you are not - then don't go to the link. It is not worth my time to re-format...

My mistake - I didn't read it first. One of my suspisions is that Turkey is reserecting Ataturk’s original plan for a confederation of Turks and Kurds with an eye to regaining 1918 borders. Using the KRG to form the Kurdish component [independent KRG] so as to remove the PKK from power in the resulting confederation. Then there is factoring in the Iranian competision with Turkey in the region. One thing is clear - Turkey is turning away from Europe.

FORMATING.

FR uses a different format to publish than my own blog.

It is a serious pain to convert and ussually mangles the links and para seperation.

So I excerpt here to provide those interested with a heads up that there is more out there.

It’s not like I get any money for this - no advertising on my site, just a hobby.

The Kurdish Regional Guards or Kurdish Regional Government are not the PKK. PKK AOR is Turkey or as the Kurdish Nationalists put it: Northern Kurdistan.

This is about an Iraqi vs Kurd confrontation in which the PKK has no say.
The Kurds are not a monolith. PKK is a seperate party from the PUK/KDP/Gorram that are the parties to watch in Iraqi Kurdish politics.

Not only that but, the PKK is a non-entity compared to the KRG force strength...

In case anyone is still interested...

In case anybody is interested in analysis vice hype.

Reality 101.

5 countries in the world build most of the military weapons.
When it comes to combat aircraft and missiles, 87% are built by those 5 countries.

US is number 1.
But the US wouldn’t sell Iraq what they wanted.
Russia is number 2.
Where did they go?

Of note: China is 3, France is 4, and UK is 5.

Most countries in that region buy from multiple sources.
Iraq has been buying most from the US.
This is Iraq’s first direct buy from Russia since the collapse of the USSR 2 decades ago...

US does not have a monopoly and if we tell some country we are not selling a type of weapon to them, they will go elsewhere.

Read it again. and look up what those are.

US refused to sell Apache to Iraq so they bought the closest thing to it that Russia had.

As to Pantsir-S1 - junk. Easily jammed command guided missiles. Sounds good and officially supposed to be the short-range cover for SA20. Since US will not sell Patriot to Iraq, looks like they are going with SA20...

And the pricetag is 3-4x more than it should be for what was announced...

Iraq has no way of knowing what is in aircraft overflying them.

Iraq has no air defense - anybody can fly what they want over Iraq.

That does not mean that Iran controls the ground...

Pure BS.

In a confrontation with Iran - You deploy the carriers out of the Persian Gulf kill zone. Well out of coastal defense missile range in the North Arabian Sea is the location for carriers in a confrontation with Iran - Gonzo Station.

Carriers are not Battleships, you don’t operate them at gun ranges. Be worried when we empty out of the Persian Gulf - not when we are doing normal ops in the Gulf...

For those still interested.

One of the turnovers is happening in the Med - this is about Syria...

In case anyone is still interested.

In case anyone is interested. Have a happy 4th of July...

FYI if anybody still interested.

70th aniversary of Midway tomarrow - have a drink to Torpedo 8.

If Iraq joins the GCC - then they are de facto allies.

Plenty of US allies have rules about not having foreign troops stationed on their soil in peacetime.

E.G. Denmark, a long-time NATO ally has had that law for 4 decades. Which is why the F16 IPs we loaned them in late 80s/early 90s were officially AmEmb/ODC personnel despite spending all their time with the RDAF at Karup AB. Since the NATO personnel were under a Danish Flag Officer - they didn’t count as foreign troops any more than those assigned to Embassies.

Saudi is another example. Officially no foreign troops - All the US Military personnel are officially AmEmb, mostly MAAG.

This is a more common cover than most reallize for the host countries’ nationalistic political reasons - I didn’t reallize how common until I did a USDAO stint in Denmark with TAD/TDY time in Riyadh when some idiot decided he wanted a 19th province.

Look at it from their POV. Would you want large numbers of foreign personnel stationed in the US? Even with the relatively small numbers in the US for training, etc; we already have US fanatics claiming we are being occupied by NATO/UN, etc...

Don’t forget the Iranians or Iraqis vs Kurds.
All 4 of those countries really do not want an independent Kurdistan...

I get inquiries from contractor security firms about ISF periodically. In most cases, they are better dialed in as to what is going on in Iraq than the USG is. The Beltway Bandits have always lived in their own fantacy world.