ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

delft said:

BTW The targets are in North Iraq but are attacked from a flattop in the Persian Gulf which must be farther away than the US bases in Turkey. Why are no aircraft from those bases used? Does Turkey objects? Does Saudi Arabia objects?

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US aircraft fly from where they are ordered to fly from.

Those orders are based on the mission requirements and goals, on equipment availability and mission capabilities, on operational issues, and on agreements with allies.

At this point we do not know all of those details, and the tempo is, to this point, so low t does not have significant impact in any case.

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

During WWII UNN sailors were shown videos of Imperial Japan in Nanjing and in the West it was the concentration camps everyone knew what they were doing why they were there

This is for humanity this is for humanity's sake a unified front needs to be established against ISIS

Seen all those ships at RIMPAC? What are they for just exercises? Well now is the time for action

If everyone helps Iraq can become a Japan or Germany

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

Jeff Head said:

Not so. Effective, successful strategies have shown how it is done.

The Kurds and Iraqis already have far more than enough boots on the ground.

Get and read the books I pointed out.

With US, or other air power, and using those tactics, the Iraqi government can and should employ them.

Will they?

Who knows. I pray they will.

But it is a fallacy to say it cannot be done.

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Let's say it's very unlikely to be done.

The question is the morale of Iraqi and Kurdish forces, not number of boots. Kurds have better morale, but they are not fighting for an united Iraq, they are fighting for their own dream of autonomous Kurdish state supported by their own oil revenues. Kurds didn't get involved until they took control of oil rich city Kirkuk after Iraqi army ran off. Now, ISIS is attacking them as well as Iraqi army.

Kurds are not going to expend their own resources and men to win grounds for central Iraqi government when they need them to secure their own turf and prepare for possible conflicts with central government when ISIS are gone.

Also, ISIS forces are not just made of some fanatical inexperienced new recruits. They have a core group of combat veterans from Syrian conflict and Iraqi insurgency. When you have troopers with dubious morale going up against fanatics, hard men who are willing to chop heads off prisoners, the negative psychological impact on Iraqi army's willingness to fight is very grave especially when there is still rooms to run. Air power alone doesn't hold grounds. You still need men, dependable men.

If we were to take the long-term view, it's safe to say ISIS can only be defeated in Syria.

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

Anyone who thinks the Kurds or Iraqi army can take on ISIS is hugely misguided

Kurds have their own agenda here this needs a international concentrated response Iraqi army might as well not exist

It's a good chance for Saudi and Iran to work together

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

The West is missing a golden opportunity to befriend the Kurdish people. The Kurd many be suspicious of trusting the West again after the first Gulf War. Just think of the strategic value to the West, or The USA.

I am of course speaking as someone that knows very little of the complex relationship between Turkey and the Kurdish people. I do not know if Turkey would support an independent Kurdistan. However if Turkey was amicable towards an independent state, then the possibility of having a strong ally in the region would be worth it. Turkey could benefit from the transportation of petroleum from Kurdish oil fields. US develops a strong military partnership with Kurdistan and could establish an airbase in Kurdistan. American aircraft could fly to many of the hot spots in a shorter time and would save having to have a carrier force constantly in the Gulf.

Hillary Clinton recently gave an interview in which she criticized the President Obamas “soft” foreign policy. Interestingly enough she spoke in terms reminiscent of the Cold War, where the US and the West have “…..a moral obligation to fight radical Islam for the sake of the world”….. This could be an opening to establish strong ties in the area and have allied nations with common interests work together.

If this strategic advantage is feasible, and can be implemented, then whoever is the next President will have a nice base in beautiful, geographically strategic, Kurdistan. Hoping we can work with the Turks and the Kurds to do business across the border, and help to bury some old hatchets.

Just a thought.


I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

Erdogan just ended a 3 decade war between Turkey and Kurds and now Turkey is giving full rights to Kurds including all the reforms he promised so yes Turkey is on board with Kurds situation

The biggest investor the biggest business projects in all Northern Iraq is coming from Turkey, all Turkish businessmen are in Northern Iraq building shoping centres and highways

Erdogan likes infrastructure just look at the projects he has initiated and competed inside Turkey he's doing same for Iraq

My only issue is the current government it doesn't want to move over and will not allow anyone else in power Malaki is a stubborn as hell he will not share power

Iraq governments need to do what Ottoman Empire did that is to administer Iraq in 3 separate states Kurdish North, Sunni Middle and Shia South that model world for century's

Does anyone know how much money America spent on training the Iraqi army over the last 11 years? What did that lead too? They can't even secure the outskirts of Baghdad this government has to go it's not representative

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

It seems that the Kurdish Peshmerga's has gotten their butts kicked by ISIS. That's why the US needs to bomb in order to secure the Kurdish area's in Iraq. The Kurds of Iraq have become soft. They haven't really fought anyone since 1991. And in the past 2 decades there has been an economic boom in that region and most people in Iraqi Kurdistan today are now enjoying or aspiring to a middle class lifestyle rather than fighting in the mountains.

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

There are limitations to the Peshmerga's capabilities critically they lack a Air Force. they have a limited number of Helicopters primarily utility types Hips, S333, suposedly kiowa's, and EC120 Colibri. Without combined arms Air and land power the capabilities of a mechanized force are limited. they need air power. The USN has been brought in to aid that but only at Obama's Whim.

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

Where is all the US equipment that IS captured from the Iraqi Army? Since there doesn't appear to be a US desire or focus on neutralizing those assets it is probably a safe assumption that IS must be using them against Assad in Syria.

Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos

Washington Post accuse Turkey of supporting ISIS

In Turkey, a late crackdown on Islamist fighters

REYHANLI, Turkey — Before their blitz into Iraq earned them the title of the Middle East’s most feared insurgency, the jihadists of the Islamic State treated this Turkish town near the Syrian border as their own personal shopping mall.

And eager to aid any and all enemies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey rolled out the red carpet.

In dusty market stalls, among the baklava shops and kebab stands, locals talk of Islamist fighters openly stocking up on uniforms and the latest Samsung smartphones. Wounded jihadists from the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front — an al-Qaeda offshoot also fighting the Syrian government — were treated at Turkish hospitals. Most important, the Turks winked as Reyhanli and other Turkish towns became way stations for moving foreign fighters and arms across the border.

“Turkey welcomed anyone against Assad, and now they are killing, spreading their disease, and we are all paying the price,” said Tamer Apis, a politician in Reyhanli, where two massive car bombs killed 52 people last year. In a nearby city, Turkish authorities seized another car packed with explosives in June, raising fears of an Islamic State-inspired campaign to export sectarian strife to Turkey.

“It was not just us,” Apis said. “But this is a mess of Turkey’s making.”......................

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