U.S. Begins Airstrikes in Support of Effort to Liberate Tikrit From Islamic State

Foreign Policy ^ | 25 March 2015 | Elias Groll

[BeauBo]

On Wednesday, after entirely sitting out the three-week offensive, U.S. forces began carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Tikrit at the request of the Iraqi government, according to Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren.

[BeauBo]

A bad week for Iran.

Their proxies in Iraq have been shifted off to the East side of the Tigris River after failing to push ISIS out of Tikrit, while the Western-backed Iraqi Army steps into the lead, with US and coalition (reportedly including France) airstrikes begin. A few nights of airstrikes and gunship patrols will make a big difference.

The US airstrikes began on Wednesday, and the Saudis/GCC began airstrikes on Thursday against the Iranian proxies in Yemen. Probably not just a coincidence.

The Saudi-led coalition, which is now at war against the Iranian-led coalition, may involve powerhouses like Egypt and Pakistan. Drawing them into hostilities, if it happens, would be huge strategic blows against Iran.

Diplomatically, it seems that the Saudis may have flipped Sudan from cooperating with the Iranians - which just by itself would have marked a very bad week for the Iranians.

Petraeus coming out and saying that Iran is the real threat to Iraq no longer seems like an isolated event. The ground has shifted under the Iranians in a major way this week - militarily, politically, and diplomatically.

[BeadCounter]

Thanks for updating.

[Uncle Miltie]

I hate ISIS.

I hate Iran.

I guess I don’t mind if we bomb ISIS today so long as we bomb Iran tomorrow.

[dfwgator]

Let all the Muzzies fight it out amongst each other and let Allah sort it out.

[eyeamok]

So let me see if I have this correct:

We are currently negotiating with Iran to give them Nuclear Weapons.
We are now bombing and fighting subsidiaries of Iran in Iraq.

Wouldn’t this be TREASON??

[lodi90]

So let me see if I have this correct:

We are currently negotiating with Iran to give them Nuclear Weapons.
We are now bombing and fighting subsidiaries of Iran in Iraq.

---

No, Obama is on the same side as Iran in Iraq. The US is now bombing and fighting in support of subsidiaries of Iran in Iraq.

[miliantnutcase]

This is one hell of a foreign policy!

[SIRTRIS]

Suddenly, Iran has an air force?

[eyeamok]

that was my original thought as well, just making sure

[aegiscg47]

You're usually able to tell who the real threat is in that area when Egypt, the Saudis, and the Gulf States start cooperating militarily against a specific country. I don't buy into the theories that the President is a closet Muslim and is trying to expand the caliphate, but rather I chalk it up to the total ineptness of the State Dept., no real foreign policy, and an overwhelming desire to try to sort things out so that they can better understand that part of the world. In that respect pacifists usually side with who they see as the stronger force, which the current administration thinks is Iran.

[cookcounty]

BeauBo: A fitting name for this post about the current chaos.

My wife came from the Arab world, and when something bad would happen, she'd put her hands to her face and cry "bo, bo, bo."

But thanks for putting some kind of sense to the current nuttiness.

[cookcounty]

The only possible positive is this: Did the US demand Iranian Qassem Suliemani and his Kuds Force back off before helping the Iraqis in Tikrit? (though Suliemani would later just come in and take Tikrit afterward, so that doesn’t make much sense)

[cookcounty]

The Sunni Arab world is going to end up HATING Obama. It’s already begun. And they will not be bought off by Obama offering Israel as a consolation prize.

[BeauBo]

I like to think that Obama administration policies are driven by a mix of total ineptness, corruption, political pandering and malign intent.

It just helps to explain their outrageous behavior.

[minnesota_bound]

Tikrit was liberated before obama became president.

[BeauBo]

“Did the US demand Iranian Qassem Suliemani and his Kuds Force back off before helping the Iraqis in Tikrit?”

Apparently so. The US is reported to have insisted that operations be coordinated (i.e. commanded) out of the command center in Baghdad (rather than Suleimani’s hooch on Camp Speicher).

Ostensibly (and objectively) this is to minimize fratricide in the air operations. Effectively however, it means that the the Shia militias and Iranian special groups are shunted aside as failures.

The new plan is that they will sit across the river or outside of town, as the Iraqi Army walks over the rubble of the last ISIS strongholds and raises the flag in victory - provided of course that the Americans come across with enough air to wrap this up.

[Old Yeller]

I don't buy into the theories that the President is a closet Muslim

He came out of the closet a long time ago. Try to keep up.

[SoFloFreeper]

Whatever Obamugabe is doing to “fight” terrorism, it is for PR purposes only.

Period.

Full stop.

End of story.

[for-q-clinton]

We should let ISIS take a city and let Iran try to “free” it. When either side starts to lose we help out so they can keep fighting each other.

[SunkenCiv]

Let the Iranians fight their own wars of conquest.