Good day and I would like to report that this week will be a short with the celebrating of the holidays
Item 1–The slow build-up of US troops in the fight with ISIS continues…..
There are about 1,600-1,700 US ground troops in Iraq right now, but by the end of January it is expected to be nearly twice as many, according to the most recent Pentagon announcement.
Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby today announced that 1,000 paratroopers will be sent to Iraq in late January, and that another 300 troops from other services will be sent in January as well.
Slow but steady build up of US troops……this keeps it off the MSM radar…
Item 2–What is the cost of the war so far?
Constantly trying to downplay the massive cost of the new ISIS war in both Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon today issued a statement claiming the “total cost of operations” has been $1.02 billion since the war began, an absurdly low number considering what’s involved.
At present, the US has some 1,700 ground troops in Iraq and has carried out 1,371 airstrikes across both Iraq and Syria, including scores of attacks with Tomahawk cruise missiles, which by themselves cost $1.5 million each.
Item 3–US officials are claiming that ISIS is back on its heels……..
US officials claim Islamic State extremists have lost their momentum in fighting in Iraq and Syria and have been demoralised by heavy casualties inflicted by American air strikes
A senior US official said Isis had suffered particularly high casualties as a result of its determination to capture Kobani, sending many fighters to the border town, where they could easily be targeted by US planes. As a result, the official claimed, Isis fighters in the Isis Syrian stronghold of Raqqa were increasingly reluctant to go to Kobani and were growing disillusioned with the leadership.
“It was presenting itself as an unstoppable movement,” he said. “That kind of unstoppable momentum has been blunted, to say the least. We have killed over 1,000 of their fighters, particularly in Kobani, and that gets to Raqqa because they wanted to take Kobani and had been making the biggest flag they had ever made and they were going to put it up there because to them this is a war of flags.
News out of the region is NOT recognizing this optimism…….
Item 4–Has US Troops entered into the fray in Iraq?
US ground troops were confirmed to have been joined Iraqi forces in attempting to repel an ISIS attack on the strategic Anbar Province town of Baghdadi, northwest of Ramadi.
The Iraqi police confirmed US troops from the al-Assad airbase joined the battle. Some 350 US troops are stationed at the base, deep in ISIS territory, and officials have often presented attacks on ISIS near the area as “self-defense.”
Self -defense?
Tomorrow’s briefing will be the last until next week…that is unless large happens and needs covering…..
Thanx for your time and attention…..
Turn The Page!
Good info on troop count.
They have approval for 3100 troops, but it looks like they don’t have that many over there yet…
It’s best if they help around the edges, but let the Iraqis and Kurds do most of the grunt work….
And that way it is more like we just want to help out instead of take over the country.
No kidding, a Republican would beef up the U.S. presence and try to colonize the place….
I will keep watching…..what about the $1 billion it has cost already?
This comes from Reader Supported News:
The $22 million cost of the bill pales in comparison to the $770 billion cost of the Afghanistan war, or the $818 billion cost of the Iraq war, both of which Coburn repeatedly voted for. Both of those wars are costing the American people $10.5 million every hour, yet Coburn is making noise about a price tag that amounts to two hours of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Thas from a blog post a did maybe a week ago.
So, they claim the 2 campaigns together cost $10.5 million per hour, or…252 million per day….