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Posts Tagged Iraq
Photo from Baghdad humanitarian aid mission
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Warriors on 19/Aug/2010 19:48
Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Rollins, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 120th Combined Arms Battalion, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, from Rock Hill, S.C., talks with children near Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad, during a humanitarian aid mission. Photo by Mary Phillips
The U.S. Withdrawal and Limited Options in Iraq
“The U.S. Withdrawal and Limited Options in Iraq is republished with permission of STRATFOR.”
By George Friedman
It is August 2010, which is the month when the last U.S. combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq. It is therefore time to take stock of the situation in Iraq, which has changed places with Afghanistan as the forgotten war. This is all the more important since 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq, and while they may not be considered combat troops, a great deal of combat power remains embedded with them. So we are far from the end of the war in Iraq. The question is whether the departure of the last combat units is a significant milestone and, if it is, what it signifies.
The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 with three goals: The first was the destruction of the Iraqi army, the second was the destruction of the Baathist regime and the third was the replacement of that regime with a stable, pro-American government in Baghdad. The first two goals were achieved within weeks. Seven years later, however, Iraq still does not yet have a stable government, let alone a pro-American government. The lack of that government is what puts the current strategy in jeopardy.
The fundamental flaw of the invasion of Iraq was not in its execution but in the political expectations that were put in place. As the Americans knew, the Shiite community was anti-Baathist but heavily influenced by Iranian intelligence. The decision to destroy the Baathists put the Sunnis, who were the backbone of Saddam’s regime, in a desperate position. Facing a hostile American army and an equally hostile Shiite community backed by Iran, the Sunnis faced disaster. Taking support from where they could get it — from the foreign jihadists that were entering Iraq — they launched an insurgency against both the Americans and the Shia. Read the rest of this entry »
Last U.S. Combat Brigade Pulls Out Of Iraq
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 19/Aug/2010 02:04
U.S. Army soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division race toward the border from Iraq into Kuwait Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010. The soldiers are part of the last combat brigade to leave Iraq as part of the drawdown of U.S. forces. (AP Photo/ Maya Alleruzzo)
“KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait — As their convoy reached the barbed wire at the border crossing out of Iraq on Wednesday, the soldiers whooped and cheered. Then they scrambled out of their stifling hot armored vehicles, unfurled an American flag and posed for group photos.
For these troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, it was a moment of relief fraught with symbolism. Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/18/us-combat-troops-iraq_n_687019.html
Why the Afghan surge probably will not succeed as well as the Iraq surge
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 17/Aug/2010 21:49
by Omar
“Afghans, while not necessarily fond of the Taliban actions, do not seem to see huge differences between Taliban and government control. In fact sometimes they prefer the former as the Taliban can be better at governance and creating working relations with the population, largely because the government is so incompetent and corrupt. Read the rest of this entry »
The United States must not abandon Iraq?
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 12/Aug/2010 16:26
“Today, Iraq has no functioning government, and violence is on the rise: last month, 535 people were killed, the highest total in two years.
Little wonder, then, that Lieutenant General Babakar Zebari, the head of Iraq’s armed forces, has warned that an American pull-out would be premature, and that his troops will not be in a position to take control of internal security for a decade.”
Ironically, those militant Iraqis who claim to want the US out of Iraq so badly may, by their continued violence, convince the US that we need to stay engaged longer.
Saddam Hussein’s right-hand man, Tariq Aziz: US is “leaving Iraq to the wolves”
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 6/Aug/2010 01:54
Saddam Hussein's right-hand man, Tariq Aziz
“Saddam Hussein’s right-hand man, Tariq Aziz, has accused Barack Obama of ‘leaving Iraq to the wolves’ by pulling out combat troops from the country.
Iraq’s former deputy prime minister said the United States would destroy the country if it pressed on with the policy of withdrawing combat forces to concentrate on the war in Afghanistan.
The late dictator’s henchman said that he had been initially encouraged when Mr Obama was elected president, because he thought he was going to correct some of former president George Bush’s ‘mistakes’.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1300755/Tariq-Aziz-says-Obama-leaving-Iraq-wolves.html
US to end its combat mission in Iraq by the end of this month?
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 2/Aug/2010 19:33
“…the United States is on track to end its combat mission in Iraq by the end of this month, transitioning from a military to a civilian-led effort.
Though Iraq is now grappling with political uncertainty five months after a parliamentary election, and with bomb attacks in Baghdad and other cities, the president and others in his administration are highlighting the coming formal end of the U.S. combat mission.
The president said 90,000 troops will have come home from Iraq by the end of August. He noted the United States is in the process of moving millions of pieces of equipment from Iraq, and continues to close or turn over military bases to Iraqi government troops.”
In Iraq, Jieddo has succeeded in drastically reducing the carnage caused by IEDs.
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 29/Jul/2010 19:44
Photo: Tom Schierlitz; IED models: Based on actual bombs constructed by Prop House Weapons Specialists Ltd.
There was a time he [Schoenfeld] would get to know soldiers only to have them sign off from a video chat and never return.
“It was very sad,†he says. “The output of these devices was devastating.†These days, things are different.
He shows me an 8-inch-thick block of military-grade steel — “rolled homogeneous armor,†he calls it — with a 2-inch-wide hole blasted all the way through by shrapnel from a test IED charge.
New armored vehicles can take damage like this, Schoenfeld says, and the occupants can tell him about it on video afterward.
“I get people standing in front of holes like these, smiling,†he tells me. “They say, ‘Yeah: I got back out and shot the guy that did this.’â€
Rangel introduces Bill to Create Cumpulsory Draft.
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News on 28/Jul/2010 18:28
By Chelsea Schilling
“A bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., would reinstate a compulsory military draft during wartime and require U.S. citizens not selected for military duty to perform a “national-service obligation” – as defined by President Obama – for a minimum of two years.
Rangel introduced the Universal National Service Act, or H.R. 5741, on July 15. The measure was referred to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel on July 23.
Rangel introduced similar bills in 2003, 2006 and 2007. His current bill does not have a co-sponsor.
Rangel took to the floor of the House to reintroduce H.R. 5741, stating, “I have introduced legislation to reinstate the draft and to make it permanent during time of war. It is H.R. 5741, and what this does is to make everyone between the ages of 18 and 42 – whether they’re men or women, whether they’re straight or gay – to have the opportunity to defend this great country whenever the president truly believes that our national security is threatened.”
- The bill provides for a national-service obligation – either military or civilian – for every citizen and permanent resident, male and female, of the U.S., aged 18 to 42.
- Persons may be inducted to perform military service only if a declaration of war is in effect, or if the president declares a national emergency necessitating the induction of persons to perform military service and immediately informs Congress of the reasons for the declaration.
- Defines “national service” as either military or civilian service as defined by the president that promotes national or homeland security.
- Gives the president the authority to establish the numbers of persons to be selected for military service and the means of selection.
- Requires those not selected for military service to perform their national-service obligation in a civilian capacity for a period of two years.
- Directs the president to prescribe the regulations necessary to carry out the act.
- Deferments for education are only permitted through completion of high school, to a maximum age of 20.
- Deferments may be made for physical or mental disability, or under claims of conscientious objector.
Rangel: “What troubles me most about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is the total indifference to the suffering and loss of life among our brave young soldiers on the battlefield,” Rep. Rangel said. “The reason is that so few families have a stake in the war which is being fought by other people’s children.
Soldiers from Charlie Troop and Iraqi kids
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Warriors on 28/Jul/2010 01:42
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U.S. Soldiers from Charlie Troop, 1st Platoon, 1-150th Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division from Bluefield, W.Va., interact with local Iraqi youth during a meeting at the Qais Medical Clinic to discuss possible micro-grants for a dental operating chair, maternity services for locals, and access to clean drinking water for the clinic, in Radwaniyah, Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 3, 2009. While at the meeting, members of the 1-150th were able to spend time interacting with local Iraqi children, and partake of Iraqi food presented by the Qais Medical Clinic staff. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Edwin L. Wriston
Photo: Iraqi special operations forces
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 17:24
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Iraqi special operations forces run toward a Black hawk helicopter during a joint air-insertion training exercise, Oct. 2. Soldiers from the Pennsylvania National Guard's Company B, 1st Battalion, 150th Aviation Regiment, supported the training exercise. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Jones
Baghdad: Suicide bomber kills least 45 US-backed militia
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 18/Jul/2010 14:19
An injured man is treated after a suicide bomb attack killed dozens of the Sons of Iraq militia in Baghdad. Photograph: Khalil Al-Murshidi/AFP/Getty Images
“More than 40 members of the Sons of Iraq militia were killed today when a suicide bomber blew himself up as the US-backed former insurgents waited to receive their salaries.
The attack, the worst in Baghdad in two months, took place at 8am local time at a base in Radwaniya in the south-west of the capital, leaving 45 dead and dozens injured, among them Iraqi soldiers.
The death toll was sharply higher than in previous strikes against the Sons of Iraq, also known as the Awakening Council, but the attack fits a lethal pattern of targeted killings that have been occurring almost daily in Iraq for the past three months.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/iraq-suicide-bombings-kill-militia
Female suicide bombers: Al-Qaeda intends to send 25 Female suicide bombers to Diala
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 17/Jul/2010 16:33
Diala, Jun 15, (VOI) – An Iraqi local official warned that al-Qaeda intends to send 25 female suicide bombers to Diala, one day after a deadly bombing that struck soccer fans who were watching their national team win a big match.
14 female suicide bombers blew themselves up in Diala in the last six months according to intelligence tips and the province statistics Ibrahim al-Bajalan, chief of Diala’s provincial council, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).
The local official noted some of the 14 female suicide bombers were not Iraqi nationals.
The announcement came one day after a female suicide bomber targeted a crowd of soccer fans celebrating Iraq’s win in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday, killing two persons and wounding least 37 people near a cafe in Qara Taba, Diala province.
http://patdollard.com/2008/06/no-women-in-aq-al-qaeda-to-send-25-female-suicide-bombers-to-diala/
It ain’t right. It just ain’t right.
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 30/Jun/2010 23:18
Courtesy of Mike Clauer Capt. Mike Clauer was serving in Iraq when he learned that his home was sold because of missed HOA dues.
“Capt. Mike Clauer was serving in Iraq last year as company commander of an Army National Guard unit assigned to escort convoys. It was exceedingly dangerous work — explosive devices buried in the road were a constant threat to the lives of Clauer and his men.
He was halfway through his deployment when he got a bolt from the blue — a frantic phone call from his wife, May, back in Texas.
Clauer had a hard time understanding what his wife was saying. His $300,000 house was already completely paid for. Could it be possible that their home was foreclosed on and sold because his wife had missed two payments of their HOA dues?
The Clauers’ four-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot home had been sold on the courthouse steps for just $3,500 — enough to cover outstanding HOA dues and legal costs.
The new owner quickly sold it for $135,000 and netted a tidy profit.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128078864
2 reasons why the Afghan situation is different from the Iraqi surge.
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 25/Jun/2010 18:40
“…two major factors distinguish the Afghan from the Iraqi surge. First is the alarming weakness and ineptness — to say nothing of the corruption — of the Afghan central government. One of the reasons the U.S. offensive in Marja has faltered is that there is no Afghan “government in a box” to provide authority for territory that the U.S. military clears.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, after many mixed signals, eventually showed that he could act as a competent national leader rather than a sectarian one when he attacked Moqtada al-Sadr’s stronghold in Basra, faced down the Mahdi Army in the other major cities in the south and took the fight into Sadr City in Baghdad itself. In Afghanistan, on the other hand, President Hamid Karzai makes public overtures to the Taliban, signaling that he is already hedging his bets.
But beyond indecision in Kabul, there is indecision in Washington. When the president of the United States announces the Afghan surge and, in the very next sentence, announces the date on which a U.S. withdrawal will begin, the Afghans — from president to peasant — take note.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/24/AR2010062404870.html
