Mosul has fallen

[Thor]

Anyone see Jordan's King Abdullah's response to the loons burning his pilot to death in a cage?

He was meeting with members of the HASC and was asked by Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr. what his response was going to be. He said that "there is going to be retribution like ISIS hasn't seen," the king quoted Eastwood's Character William Munny from the movie "Unforgiven" "Any man I see out there, I'm gonna kill him. Any son of a ***** takes a shot at me, I'm not only going to kill him, I'm going to kill his wife and all his friends and burn his damn house down."

I just heard on the news he has said that if need be "Our Army will pursue them until they run out of fuel and bullets."

So, add that to the Ninjas and it will probably not be a good summer for the loons.

It will be interesting to see if their assault on Kirkuk from Fallujah fizzles, if it does it probably means they've spent their offensive potential for a while and in the meantime folks seem to be lining up to hit them. I hear they made it to the center of town but got pushed back out.

 

[T.Lex]

Well, looks like we may have to merge this thread with the WWIII thread. (I keed.)
Obama's War Authorization Limits Ground Forces - Bloomberg View

President Barack Obama will soon give Congress his proposal for a new authorization for the use of military force against Islamic State fighters, and it will place strict limits on the types of U.S. ground forces that can be deployed.
...
The president’s AUMF for the fight against IS would restrict the use of ground troops through a prohibition on “enduring offensive ground operations," but provide several exemptions. First, all existing ground troops, including the 3,000 U.S. military personnel now on the ground in Iraq, would be explicitly excluded from the restrictions. After that, the president would be allowed to deploy new military personnel in several specific roles: advisers, special operations forces, Joint Terminal Attack Controllers to assist U.S. air strikes, and Combat Search and Rescue personnel.
Under the president’s proposal, the 2002 AUMF that was passed to authorize the Iraq war would be repealed, but the 2001 AUMF that allows the U.S. to fight against al-Qaeda and its associated groups would remain in place.

 

[mrjarrell]

Jordan has taken the initiative to move thousands of their troops over to the border to keep IS out. Now if they'd just cross the border and take the fight to them...

Jordan Moves 'Thousands' of Troops to Iraq Border: Jordanian Sources - NBC News

 

[mrjarrell]

Obama is asking congress for a new AUMF against the IS. Doesn't sound like he's going for more American boots on the ground, (leaving that to the regional actors) but is looking for more funding and an expansion of sorts.

Obama calls on Congress to authorize war against Islamic State - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

 

[T.Lex]

I disagree with the assessment that there won't be "more" boots on the ground. The exceptions are broad enough - "adivsors"? Need I say more? - to drive a MRAP through.

I will say something good about this development: it appears that he is trying to do the morally right thing by going to Congress for a vote on it. Plenty of presidents have just done something "limited" like this without worrying about it. It basically sidesteps the War Powers Act by voluntarily mostly complying with it.

Now the negative: there still doesn't appear to be a coherent, comprehensive foreign policy. This is another "hey - this might work" moment.

 

[jamil]

Maybe he should stay with trying to run out the clock. There's not much foreign policy that he's touched that hasn't turned to ****.

 

[hornadylnl]

Maybe he should stay with trying to run out the clock. There's not much foreign policy that he's touched that hasn't turned to ****.

We agree. Has there been any foreign policy over the last 50 years that hasn't turned to ****?

 

[jamil]

We agree. Has there been any foreign policy over the last 50 years that hasn't turned to ****?

Well, Reagan's was pretty effective against the Soviet Union. But not all his policies were fruitful in a good way.

 

[hornadylnl]

Well, Reagan's was pretty effective against the Soviet Union. But not all his policies were fruitful in a good way.

Maybe we should treat the presidency and the commander in chief role like we do the Indiana school superintentant and the chairman of the board position. We continually change the powers of the position depending on whether we like them or not. If we like the president, he gets to be commander in chief. If we don't like him, he doesn't get to be commander in chief.

 

[jamil]

Maybe we should treat the presidency and the commander in chief role like we do the Indiana school superintentant and the chairman of the board position. We continually change the powers of the position depending on whether we like them or not. If we like the president, he gets to be commander in chief. If we don't like him, he doesn't get to be commander in chief.

That has nothing to do with what I said. Obama is the commander in chief. I don't have a problem with having the president as commander in chief. I just have no confidence in this president. As commander in chief or as the head of the executive branch. We'd probably have been better off if he would have adopted a policy of running out the clock on every issue, as soon as he took office.

 

[hornadylnl]

That has nothing to do with what I said. Obama is the commander in chief. I don't have a problem with having the president as commander in chief. I just have no confidence in this president. As commander in chief or as the head of the executive branch. We'd probably have been better off if he would have adopted a policy of running out the clock on every issue, as soon as he took office.

So knowing the reality as it is, does it make sense to keep up the status quo in the ME?

 

[jamil]

So knowing the reality as it is, does it make sense to keep up the status quo in the ME?

Of course not. But you and I have different ideas about what would replace the status quo.

 

[T.Lex]

BBC News - Iraq-Kurdish force of 25,000 'to retake Mosul from IS'

A joint Iraqi-Kurdish military force of up to 25,000 fighters is being prepared to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS), a US official says.
According to the senior military official, the operation to recapture the northern city will probably take place in April or May.
Iraq's second largest city is currently being held by 1,000 to 2,000 IS militants, the official added.

Mosul was home to more than a million people before it fell to IS last June.

The unnamed official told reporters that no decision had been made on whether a small group of US military advisers would be needed on the ground to direct air support.
All of the fighters in the force will have gone through US training by the time of the operation, the official added.
He said the operation would be needed by May, otherwise it would be compromised by the summer heat, although he added that it could be delayed if the Iraqi forces were not ready.

To me, that's amazing. Indy has a population just shy of 1M people. (It goes to 2M if you include the donut counties.) Could 2,000 fighters take over Indy? By way of comparison, there are about 1,500 IMPD officers. Throw in MCSD and the non-Unigov PDs, and its probably over 2k LEOs.

 

[IndyGunworks]

They could if they were the only ones with the guns, and made the population so afraid of them that they had no other choice to submit.

 

[Thor]

Their problem with their taking responsibility for their own defense is that they are hamstrung by unreasonable religious beliefs that could get them killed by the local leader at any time for any offense in the past or any possible future and tribalism that says it's okay because it's them.

Tribalism will ensure they stay in the stone age. If they can't move beyond that they will stay a population that can only use other peoples tools to kill each other.

Every family in Iraq is allowed an AK (full auto) and ammo for defense of their family...it's not like there aren't enough guns over there.

 

[mrjarrell]

Turkey finally entered Syria to evacuate their soldiers and move the contents of the tomb of Suleyman Shah to an apparent safe zone. Now if they'd just get involved and actually do something substantial they'd be a big help to themselves and the others in the region.

Turkey launches rescue operation inside Syria

 

[BogWalker]

Is Al Assad still in country? I don't hear much on how the Syrian government is still holding up in face of the current onslaught. Is ISIS doing war against the other rebel groups in Syria as well?

 

[mrjarrell]

Is Al Assad still in country? I don't hear much on how the Syrian government is still holding up in face of the current onslaught. Is ISIS doing war against the other rebel groups in Syria as well?

Assad is still in the country, running things from Damascus. The Syrian Army is still fighting in the cities. And IS is fighting everyone, except in the few cases where they've made agreements not to, usually with other salafist based groups. Right now things are basically at a standstill in Syria with no major losses or gains.

 

[jdmack79]

Assad is still in the country, running things from Damascus. The Syrian Army is still fighting in the cities. And IS is fighting everyone, except in the few cases where they've made agreements not to, usually with other salafist based groups. Right now things are basically at a standstill in Syria with no major losses or gains.

From what I've seen, Assad has been making gains in his attempt to surround the rebels in Aleppo.

 

[jdmack79]