The beheadings committed by ISIS of Americans and Brits brought the US and UK into a full fledged full court press for revenge……how dare they kill innocents in the name of some religious ramblings……but yet we Americans show a lack of concern for other civilians…..
Are Americans the only people that count in this world?
Why Do Americans Hate Beheadings But Love Drone Killings? | Coleen Rowley.
Good Day….welcome to briefing 12
The situation in Syria and Iraq are not looking good for the coalition….all the efforts have been short……the forces of ISIS are not being effected by the airstrikes and we know what that will mean….now don’t we?
Item 1–The news is not good about the effectiveness pf the countless airstrikes that have been carried out so far……..especially around the Syrian town of Korbane……
The advance of the Islamic State fighters into a strategically important Syrian city is a development that U.S.-led airstrikes were supposed to preclude. But as many are suggesting, the coalition efforts to stem the Islamic State onslaught have been ineffective. This is, at least in part, because ISIS has changed its tactics.
While Kirby touted successes that included the targeting of oil refineries and other ISIS financial and communication operations, his comments come against the backdrop of a growing skepticism about the campaign. Late last month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights drew attention to accounts of civilian casualties caused by the airstrikes. This report dovetailed with word of a popular backlash against the American efforts in Syria, where they are perceived as not only aiding Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, but also harming support for the moderate rebel groups fighting there.
That brings into the conversation the deaths of civilians…….so far NO one wants to talk about that and the admin spokespeople avoid the topic like the plague.
Item 2–There are reports that ISIS may be employing CWs in their fight against Iraqi army…….
BAGHDAD — The Islamic State (IS) has been accused of using chlorine gas against Iraqi soldiers who were besieged in Anbar province. Survivors of an Iraqi army regiment in Saqlawiya, near Fallujah, say the radical group used the gas against the besieged soldiers. There were conflicting government statements about whether the gas had been used.
This would open a whole new line of rhetoric by the US…….in case public support starts to waver……especially if the civilian deaths becomes a problem for the admin in the future.
Item 3–Apparently, the former Defense Sec, Leo Panetta, has an agenda…….few people know what his deal is…..but he is talking and the pundit class is jerking off……
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was harshly critical of President Obama’s handling of the new ISIS war, saying the US could have sustained the 2011 Iraq occupation and started arming Syrian rebels even sooner than they did.
But perhaps the most eye-opening comment in has new book tour was that he believes the conflict is a “30-year war” that will extend across the world, including campaigns in Nigeria, Somalia, and Libya, among other places.
Hawking a new book will do that….make a/holes out of normal people….he would be better off staying on his Walnut farm…..
Item 4–Those ‘moderate’ rebels that we will train……..
Two weeks after US warplanes began bombing Islamic State (Isis) positions in Syria, the Pentagon leadership has yet to make critical decisions about building the proxy rebel force central to its plan for taking territory away from the jihadist army.
US military officials consider raising a Syrian rebel force crucial for the war aim of ultimately destroying Isis without committing US soldiers and marines to another bloody Middle East ground war. But the Pentagon has yet to even assign a US officer to the task of determining which rebels are trustworthy and capable enough to comprise that force.
That should give the American public confidence in the success of this operation (sarcasm)……..
Item 5–Turkey is chomping at the bit to go to war……..
In an interview today on CNN, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his nation is willing to launch a ground war in Syria with significant “boots on the ground” so long as other nations “do their part” in the war.
Davutoglu says that his nation wants a “clear strategy” in place for the war not just against ISIS, but against the Assad government as well, saying that Turkey doesn’t want a border with either any longer.
Turkey seems to be a bit too anxious for my liking…….and next is…..who will those “others” might likely be?
Item 6–In case anyone is still in the dark about the situation in the Middle East….NATO has made it clear……..
NATO Chief Jens Stollenberg today tried to downplay concerns over the new ISIS war spilling over into neighboring Turkey, insisting that as a NATO member the nation was obliged to defend it from any potential spillover.
Stollenberg made much of the deployment of anti-aircraft missiles along the border with Syria, which of course is totally irrelevant to the war with ISIS, since ISIS does not have warplanes, and presumably the Patriot missiles in southern Turkey aren’t there to prevent US warplanes engaged in airstrikes against ISIS from straying across the border.
His words almost guarantee an expansion of this war….maybe far beyond the region.
That concludes today’s briefing….events are starting to change the complexion of this conflict and further briefings will be issued as events warrant.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Turn the page!
We Americans have been programmed to understand only winners and losers….could explain the lack of interest in soccer (futbol)…….
The say there are no winners in any war….I beg to differ and this article makes the case.
I remember back in my protest days…..there was a saying…..”War is good business, invest your sons”….
Syria-to-Ukraine Wars Send U.S. Defense Stocks to Records – Bloomberg.
Just a reminder: 13 years ago today the war in Afghanistan began…..for those that forgot and those that just do not care….
We have committed our military to continuing airstrikes and many nations have joined in the operation. We are hitting them coming and going and the costs are raising quickly. But just how effective are the airstrikes from the Us and its ‘coalition’?
The start of a new week brings not much in the way of encouraging ISIS news. The latest:
- The news: Kurdish fighters battling ISIS in northern Syria say the airstrikes aimed at the militants there haven’t done much to stop the group’s advance on Kobani. Kurds put ISIS’ position as within roughly a mile of the center of the city, which sits along the Turkish border. A rep for the Kurds explains to the Guardian that upon the approach of a jet, the fighters “scatter and hide. … Fighter jets simply cannot hit each and every ISIS fighter on the ground.” Though the Pentagon shares no specifics about strike locations, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that the areas around Kobani have been continually hit in recent days.
- The significance: The Guardian sees the Kurds’ assertion as one that will “unsettle those in the US-led coalition … who have signed up to an air war as the best way of taking the fight to ISIS.” As for why Kobani matters, it falls within the stretch of land that ISIS seeks to claim between its “capital” of Raqqa and the border with Turkey, notes CNN.
- The news: The New York Times today reports on what ISIS fighters are using to wage their battle: ammunition from America and other enemy nations of ISIS. The finding comes from Conflict Armament Research’s analysis of 1,730 cartridges found in Syria and Iraq—either sized by Kurdish fighters or gathered by CAR investigators. In the former country, most of the seized cartridges were manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s, most commonly in China. The cartridges found in Iraq were mostly of US origin, and manufactured in the 2000s. More than 80% of the ammunition was made in the US, China, post-Soviet Russia, and Serbia.
- The significance: Per the Times, the data “carries an implicit warning for policy makers and advocates of intervention. It suggests that ammunition transferred into Syria and Iraq to help stabilize governments has instead passed from the governments to the jihadists.”
If the airstrikes are ineffective why continue wasting valuable ordinance and money?
Maybe we should attack them by training those ‘moderate’ rebels to act on our behalf…..whatcha think?
An idiotic idea. Why?
One, we have no earthly idea who the moderate rebels are…..or if they would be willing to be the hammer to ISIS nail.
Two, training….first, a joke at best…….and what are the chances of success with this idea?
The likelihood of Western training for the rebels comes two years and 10 months after General Sir David Richards, the then head of British military, put forward a plan to create an opposition force of 100,000 vetted volunteers.
The Independent revealed at the time how Gen Richards hosted a confidential meeting with the military chiefs of France, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE and a three-star US general to formulate the strategy. The issue was discussed by the Obama administration which decided, however, against taking it forward.
In the intervening period the moderate groups and the FSA have lost influence, territory and members to the jihadists, primarily Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra, who received lavish funding from Qatar and Saudi Arabia – two of the countries now in the US-led coalition bombing the same groups.
Shifting alliances and interchange of fighters between the rebels have made it extremely difficult to even determine who exactly is the enemy. Al-Nusra, hit by missile strikes from the US-led coalition, has been recently fighting against Isis alongside supposedly pro-Western groups. It is this “confused face of battle”, say Western military planners, which is making it harder to set up training facilities.
There you have the best proposal we have so far…..and training what more can we say…..a joke. Then there is the best pinch line so far in this war……’moderate’ rebels….we would have a better chance of finding a T. Rex in Miami……..
Thgere are too many people buying into a scenario that cannot work for the better of the region….and is working against a further participation by the US to fix the problem we created.
Please, if anyone out there sees a recipe for success in this blind endeavor….pass it on!