The Common Ills: Can they please stop lying?

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Can they please stop lying?

Apparently not.

CENTCOM Tweets:

Retweeted 23 times

U.S. Central Command ‏@CENTCOM 22 hours ago

#Iraq progresses in #ISIL fight; key extremist confirmed dead http://ow.ly/RAls0

23 retweets 17 favorites

Oh, yes, the fabled progress.

How long has the US and other foreign countries been bombing Iraq during the latest round of the never-ending war?

That's right: Over a year now.

And what do they have to show for it?

Well . . .

The Islamic State seized Mosul before the bombings started.

Today?

They still hold it.

When the bombings started Ramadi wasn't under the control of the Islamic State.

Now it is.

Where's the progress?

Oh, they killed X, Y and Z, did they?

Which would matter if the Islamic State -- partly due to the US bombings -- wasn't able to recruit constantly.

There is no progress.

Friday's snapshot noted the reports that intelligence was being cooked to make it appear the US was 'winning.'

That snapshot also featured Matthew Continetti (Free Beacon) offering this stark assessment:

The anniversary of the U.S. war against the Islamic State passed with little notice. It was August 7 of last year that President Obama authorized the first airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, a campaign he expanded a month later to include targets in Syria. So far this month, the president has delivered remarks on the Voting Rights Act, his deal with Iran, the budget, clean energy, and Hurricane Katrina. ISIS? Not a peep.
Obama’s quiet because the war is not going well. Despite the loss of Tikrit earlier this year, the Islamic State’s western boundary is stable, and its eastern boundary now encroaches on Damascus. The president’s air campaign is one of the most limited and desultory America has fought in decades—ranking last in daily averages of strike sorties and bombs dropped. In late July, when the Turks permitted America the use of their air bases to launch attacks on ISIS, a “senior administration official” told the New York Times that the decision was “a game changer.” In the ensuing days the number of airstrikes in Syria actually fell.

The growing number of U.S. advisers—there are now more than 3,300 American military personnel in Iraq—has been unable to repair the damage wrought on the Iraqi Army by sectarian and political purges after our 2011 withdrawal. Even as the administration brags about killing more than 10,000 ISIS terrorists, a number that strains credulity, the Caliphate has become more deeply entrenched in its territory, and inspires attacks abroad.

The following community sites -- plus Susan's On The Edge, Black Agenda Report and Dissident Voice -- updated: