For several weeks now there has been a running battle in Iraq….Fallujah to be exact……the process has been slow but slow…..some say they are winning….I will not clarify that statement because everyone has their own opinion on this…all I can do is let you know what I know……
ISIS has had several setbacks or if you want defeats…..and that is good news right?
While the administration continues to publicly tout their progress in the ISIS war in both Iraq and Syria, claiming that the Islamists are suffering massive territorial losses and major defeats on the ground, a growing number of US officials are warning that the group isn’t at serious risk yet.
The comments in many ways mirror a recent UN report on the ISIS war, which similarly concluded that the “setbacks” they are suffering on the ground aren’t amounting to much, and that the group remains in a strong position regionally.
Is any of the so-called “successes” really gone to do any good?
President Barack Obama and some administration officials have hailed recent military gains against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but other U.S. officials and outside experts warn that the U.S.-backed air and ground campaign is far from eradicating the radical Islamic group, and could even backfire.
While Islamic State’s defeats in Iraq and Syria have erased its image of invincibility, they threaten to give it greater legitimacy in the eyes of disaffected Sunni Muslims because Shi’ite and Kurdish fighters are a major part of the campaign, some U.S. intelligence officials argue.
A second danger, some U.S. officials said, is that as the group loses ground in the Iraqi city of Falluja and elsewhere, it will turn increasingly to less conventional military tactics and to directing and inspiring more attacks against “soft” targets in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.
Source: Gains against Islamic State not yet enough, could backfire: U.S. officials | Reuters
So just how would you think that the US will handle this Iraqi situation?
From “no boots on the ground” in Iraq to 4,100 US troops officially there, and 5,000 there by most realistic estimates, the US has added a huge number of troops to the ISIS War in Iraq over the past two years. President Obama’s reluctance to see that buildup publicized has meant a lot of very small deployments, just adding up to a large on in aggregate.
Quoting Pentagon officials in the Washington Post, Josh Rogin suggests that the top commanders in Iraq, despite having just gotten a few hundred more troops not that long ago, are pushing hard for “dramatically” more ground troops to be sent to the country.
Throughout this war, the military leadership has been pushing for more troops, and faster deployments, and increasingly they appear to be willing to publicly complain about Obama’s slow reaction. With the November elections looming, this could well turn the war into a major campaign issue.
There you go…the answer today is the same answer from 1968 from Westmoreland…..”Need More Troops”……
That is always the answer to these types of situations……? MORE TROOPS!