Posted on 08/10/2014 11:16:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Aided by U.S. airstrikes, embattled Kurdish forces began to reverse a string of losses on Sunday, expelling Islamic State extremists from two northern Iraqi towns.
Makhmour and Gweir, the first areas targeted in the U.S. air campaign that began Friday night, were cleared of the al-Qaeda-inspired militants on Sunday, Kurdish officials said.
“It’s thanks to the strikes that we have been able to move forward,” said Mahmood Haji, an official in the Kurdish Interior Ministry. The Kurdish television channel Rudaw showed live footage of security forces advancing in Makhmour, and later crowding around a government building in the town, where the Kurdish flag had been raised once more.
President Obama said Saturday that the American air campaign would not expand beyond the limited objectives he has outlined. He tied more extensive assistance to the formation of an inclusive Iraqi government in Baghdad.
Kurdish President Massoud Barzani on Sunday expressed gratitude for the military assistance but cautioned that regaining lost territory would not be easy.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Good! That’s a great name of one of the writers of this piece too, btw. Loveday, that’s a wonderful name! (Just hope she’s a girl!)
I distrust any article that requires two or more authors...
I can’t see why they just don’t go for the throat and drone the leadership in Mosul and Raqqa. Vice News has these guys on camera using VHF/UHF transceivers, all it takes is a bit of guesswork and translation to hit a rally.
There would be civilian casualties, but think of the reaction:
1. IS would not think themselves safe blending into the populace.
2. The populace would not think themselves safe being around IS.
3. The mujahdeen might get more recruits as a result, but if their leadership is hit, IS becomes momentarily scattered. The Kurds, Shia, and Assad would just have to strike strongly to mop them up.
I pray that IS is destroyed.
End this now.
That condition almost assures very limited assaitance.
Make that assistance.
“I didn’t mean for the bombing to actually work.”
““We are not only fighting a terrorist group, we are fighting a terrorist state with advanced weapons,” he [Obama] said in a news conference”
The media hasn’t been interested in exactly how this group became armed with advanced weapons.
The whole thing is an Obama “band-aid” to help dems in the mid-terms, he could care less about the victims. He needed his own “baby food factory”, and this is it.
Institute for the Study of War
Daily updates.
It makes me wonder why Iraq doesn’t do it themselves. They can listen in on the groups transceiver communications and shoot a missile themselves. When a leader gets blown apart in a loosely connected group like this, it tends to fall apart temporarily while the underlings fight each other for position.
I doubt anyone would object if the military went a little bit rogue and vaporized ISIS.
It would be great if ISIS is a footnote.
It would be great if ISIS is a footnote.
Iraq doesn’t have much of an airforce. A few Cesssnas armed with Hellfires, some helos, and recently 5 Russian SU25s, possibly flow by Russian pilots. I doubt they could do something like that.
I think the best we can hope for is the Kurds hold their own, and ISIS and the Shiites kill each other wholesale.
Well, as Obama said, ISIS is just the junior varsity team of jihadis. Not a real threat like Al Qaeda. Putting them in Lakers uniforms doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.
More deep thinking from “smartest man in any room”.
Thanks for the site address, have added it to favorites.
Old story with our POTUS. In 2006 he supported the Christian-killing jihadi-communist Raila Odinga in Kenya. Politicked to have him made Prime Minister despite his loss of an internationally monitored election, and invited him to his Inauguration.
Kenya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and now Iraq. Common thread: those whom Obama supports with money and weapons kill Christians.
Silent: CAIR, the Catholic bishops, who seem more focused on aiding and abetting Abortionist Obama's sick "Children's Invasion."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.