Posted on 03/24/2016 5:20:39 AM PDT by huldah1776
BEIRUT — Iraqi forces backed by American airstrikes opened an operation Thursday seeking to drive the Islamic State out of a string of northern villages where U.S. troops twice came under attack over the past week and a U.S. Marine was killed.
Iraqi officials said it was the prelude to an offensive aimed at recapturing Mosul, the biggest city under Islamic State control and a longstanding priority for the Pentagon.
But Kurdish and U.S. military officials described a far more limited operation to clear the Islamic State from villages near Makhmour, about 40 miles southeast of Mosul and around 30 miles south of the Kurdistan regional capital of Irbil.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Please pray for our boots throughout the day and when you wake up in the wee hours cause you can't sleep.
Tiny victims of Islamic State's chemical arsenal: 1,500 people need treatment after mustard gas attack on Iraq village which killed girl, three
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3507572/Mercy-flight-young-girl-wounded-ISIS-mustard-gas-attack-northern-Iraq-Victim-1-500-people-scalded-terror-group-s-weapon-mass-destruction.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
The Kurds’ push for self-rule in Syrian Kurdistan
"The notion of a federal system has been floated by Philip Gordon and James Dobbins, former officials in the Obama administration, and has been discussed not only among the Kurds but also in Washington as a potential solution for Syria, at least until a longer-term political solution is agreed to. Russia has also endorsed the concept."
http://ekurd.net/kurds-self-rule-syrian-kurdistan-2016-03-24
And for R&R for our special forces
Iraqi Kurdistan plans to invest millions to lure tourists
http://ekurd.net/iraqi-kurdistan-invest-tourists-2016-03-24
What a waste when there is no will to win. I pray for our soldiers in harms way under the command of this effeminate muzzie POS!
Who in the White Mosque will be the FIRST leak critical
intel to the ENEMY of America?
They probably have a wall picture framing and heralding
the “Leaker of the Month (for Islamic Terror)”.
My understanding is that the Marines that were killed were in a forward area embedded with Iraqi troops.
The staging of those Marines was a closely held secret to everyone except the ISIS fighters who knew they were there, most likely because someone they were embedded with let it be known where the US marines were.
Our tactics (and Rules Of Engagement) have sucked complete and total A$$ since we set out on a course to “win hearts and minds”.
Operation Obama Ass-Cover is underway...
Screw winning their hearts and minds.
I want their guts and brains scattered all over the landscape.
L
Is the the Whitehouse going to announce the day and GPS coordinates?
huh! wouldn’t be surprised.
In Afghanistan they’re fighting, too. Their “AF” is actually in the mix.
Afghan army helicopters pound militants amid ongoing clashes in Nuristan
http://www.khaama.com/afghan-army-helicopters-pound-militants-amid-ongoing-clashes-in-nuristan-0431
I read about the “embedding”, too. As a former 1/8 Marine mom this makes me sick, but Jarrett must be so proud.
http://www.theisraelproject.org/iranian-backed-militias-and-us-forces-share-military-base-in-iraq/
According to a report in Bloomberg View, the US military is sharing a base in Iraq with Iranian-backed Shiite militias, who have killed American soldiers in the past. Some have expressed concern that this puts American soldiers at risk since it allows the militias to spy on US operations at the base. Senate Armed Services Chairman, John McCain (R-AZ), has denounced the sharing of the military base, declaring, “It’s an insult to the families of the American soldiers that were wounded and killed in battles in which the Shia militias were the enemy.”US air support has aided Shiite militias, allowing them to take over areas conquered by ISIL. Because the lines between the Iraqi Security Forces and the militias are blurred, weaponry provided to Iraqi forces sometimes ends up in the hands of the militias, who have been accused of perpetrating atrocities against the Sunni population. In its annual report on terrorism, the State Department asserted that Iran’s support for terror is “undiminished” and noted that many of the Iranian-backed Iraqi militias “have exacerbated sectarian tensions in Iraq and have committed serious human rights abuses against primarily Sunni civilians.”
The militias are led by the leader of the Iraqi Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who is a close associate of Quds force head Qassem Suleimani and is believed to have planned the bombings of the US and French embassies in Kuwait in the 1980’s. Al-Muhandis was sanctioned in 2009 by the Treasury Department for destabilizing Iraq. Many of the Iranian-backed militias have also been fighting alongside Assad’s forces in Syria. This is an inherent contradiction in US foreign policy since the Obama administration has indicated that the Assad regime has lost its legitimacy and must step down to make way for a political transition.
winning hearts and minds has petraeus written all over it.
ValJar.
The Marines were from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit on the USS Kearsarge (LHD 3).
Thanks. Think about them often with news being so poor.
The faith of the parents of the greatest generation had to be tremendous. I was talking to a friend about a man I had worked for. An army cook who had been at normandy. He was away from home his whole deployment. Four years.
forgot about Marines.mil I lived in Jville for a couple. Used to sit on the back steps of the old housing duplexes and wave to the guys in the Ospreys.
http://www.26thmeu.marines.mil/
Plus facebook. I have a slow internet connection so i get to see the pics for a few until it tells me to sign in. :)
Task Force Spartan rains steel on ISIS
By U.S. Marine Corps · Updated 11 hours ago
ISIS infiltration routes are hit with steel rain as Marines conduct fire missions in Iraq
Thanks. That mound of dirt is comforting./s Maps, details. I have a headache. Fire Base Hell is more like it.
From Camp Lejeune’s Facebook page...
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