janjak desalin
Junior Member
and, does so using a sandbag parapet! hmmmmmm?A rebel fighter from the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement takes position on a hill in Jabal al-Arbaeen, ...
and, does so using a sandbag parapet! hmmmmmm?A rebel fighter from the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement takes position on a hill in Jabal al-Arbaeen, ...
If Iraqi government is serious about fighting this ISIL/ISIS threat, shouldn't they be buying few dozens of gunships? Right now it looks like they only have FOUR Mi-35 (improved version of Mi-24)! Its no wonder they are getting beaten left and right.
I know they requested for the sale of 24 AH-64s in April 2013; and in January 2014 the sale, including the helicopters, associated parts, maintenance, and training, was cleared by Congress. However, the proposal was not accepted by the Iraqi government and expired in August 2014.
So now they are suffering for it. And even if that sale went through it would be years before they can get those Apache, and even more years before they can train up the pilots to use them, by then it would probably be too late.
And I think Apache is a bad choice to begin with; what they need is to buy second-hand ready-to-use Super Cobra. Compare to Super Cobra, the Apache is more expensive ($65M~$35M) compare to the Super Cobra ($10.7M); Apache also requires extensive pilot training to use its IHADSS HMD system. By comparison Super Cobra doesn't have such requirement and thus the pilot training would be much much shorter.
I think with squadrons of Super Cobras escorting the ground force providing CAS, ISIS/ISIL will just melt away!
Shocking! How people, even if they are Muslims, are sold on ISIL's use of atrocities. And such overwhelming majority.
lets face Facts here. MAD MAX is not Fiction It's the Reality on the Ground in Iraq.
The Iraqi Army does not believe and has not believed it could win on the ground since the American withdrawal. The cause of this is troops who have no motivation because of Distrust of there own Government and Commanders. boosted by witnessing the slaughter of Iraqi army units The Iraqi forces Flee, There discipline Breaks down they panic and fall back. Even when there numbers should assure victory there distrust of there commanders and lack of Faith in Iraq makes them abandon there weapons and there faith and duty.
What is the old Chinese Proverb,
“Kill one to warn a hundred.”
Rome Did it with Crusifiction, Vlad the Impaler did it with wooden posts.The US did it with massive Air strikes and burning Iraqi Tanks. ISIL does it with Sticks stones bullets rusty knives and Shear Brutality.
Baghdad is looking for someone any one to save them and is more then happy to hand over the nation to that savior. IF that means becoming a puppet to Iran So be it.
The Kurds have the will to fight and where they have fought have forced losses on ISIL but they are not going to take back all of Iraq for Baghdad. being brutally honest this is there best chance to establish a Kurdistan and frankly right now It's almost in everyone's interest to do so.
The Syrian sit rep is not much better. ISIL and Al Nusra have divided and infiltrated all the FSA and any Viable Secular militia into non existence. Iranian backed Jihadist forces pretty much have Any Syrian goverment forces wrapped around there little finger.
Iraq and Syria are Gone, In my opinion dead. Short of deployment of large scale conventional armed forces including infantry by the US and a Coalition, A event that would be impossible short of Divine intervention Best Case is A ugly picture. With The Kurds Establishing a Kurdistan line over there territory and branching into Syria
The still Under Iraqi governed portions of Iraq more or less ceded to a Iranian backed Force with a Rump Baghdad. portions of northern Iraq and Syria more or less Absorbed into Turkey and Iran with Syria divided into a few Assad/Iran Controlled city states. Maybe a few small independent city states run by Secular or non aligned or AQ groups all fighting among each other occasionally with Assad and his allies launching more despite Chemical weapon attacks
Finally a large Swath of Territory becoming the Defacto Dystopian Islamic state run by Sharia law, The Kalashnikov and The Rule of Gangs.
no amount of Air Support can change that only a Truly united front but That's not happening.