I guess that would be news if this were a first and not a continuation.
From Saturday's snapshot:
The DHS Assistant Secretary Todd Breasseale Tweets:
This Q&A w/ @POTUS is worth a read. As a veteran of #Afghanistan & #Iraq, I appreciate this kind of myth debunking. http://www.stripes.com/q-a-with-president-barack-obama-1.411876 …
From the STARS AND STRIPES interview:
1. Mr. President, many military families wonder why there is
debate about whether or not their sons and daughters are on a combat
mission in Iraq. They are risking their lives to defend not only Iraq,
but ultimately the United States and the Western way of life. The U.S.
forces who have lost their lives in Iraq since 2014 died on the ground
fighting the Islamic State. In your own words, could you please say why
this deployment back to Iraq is not a combat mission?
In our fight against ISIL, three of our brave service members have made
the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefield—Master Sergeant Joshua
Wheeler, Staff Sergeant Louis Cardin and Chief Special Warfare Operator
Charles Keating IV. These three men were killed in combat while they
were supporting local forces in Iraq. They gave their lives to keep us
safe, and our prayers are with their families who have endured a loss
that few of us can imagine. This Memorial Day, I’ll have the opportunity
to honor these three patriots and speak to the American people about
their sacrifice.
So it is combat?
Even the White House is finally going to stop pretending?
How about when is the media going to pay attention?
Greg Jaffe and Jim Sciutto both seem surprised by today's remarks.
Notable POTUS said 3 US casualties in #Iraq died "in combat"
as WH has repeatedly said no troops in combat role
The media's a continual embarrassment. If you doubt it . . .
Veterans For Bernie
This #MemorialDay, TV host Joy Behar tells American troops, "Maybe you should let [the Iraq War] go, already"
Let the Iraq War go already?
Well, Joy's old and out of it.
She's also faux left, let's not forget.
During the reign of Bully Boy Bush, Joy couldn't bury her face deep enough into Bully Boy Bush's crotch.
She was such a right winger that she took part in the on air attack on Jane Fonda for Vietnam.
Yes, that's how disgusting Joy Behar is.
(Barbara Walters came on the following day to issue an apology.)
So, in the '00s, Joy attacked Jane for Vietnam -- thirty years or so prior.
But today she wants to say it's time to move on from the Iraq War -- the still ongoing Iraq War.
Joy really never belonged on TV.
But did she ever really belong anywhere?
In fact, were it not for her providing Fred Armisen the opportunity to do a hilarious and dead-on parody of her, her life would be a complete waste.
How wonderful for Joy that in her vapid existence an ongoing war is something to pass over and ignore.
By contrast, Tessa Stuart (ROLLING STONE) offers some facts and figures on Barack and war:
—2,499 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq so far under President Obama, according to the independent Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.
—Of those, 1,906 have been killed in and around Afghanistan, and 593 in Iraq.
—Under Obama, the United States has been at war for 2,687 days. That's longer than under George W. Bush — or any other U.S. president, for that matter.
—Obama has conducted airstrikes on seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Syria. (That's three more countries than George W. Bush bombed.)
—U.S. combat forces are deployed on the ground in three countries: Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. That's one more war than Obama inherited, and which his successor will likely have to contend with.
Apparently missing Joy Behar's memo that it was time to move on from the Iraq War, the US Defense Dept announced the following today:
Strikes in Iraq
Attack and fighter aircraft conducted 21strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Baghdadi, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb and an ISIL weapons cache.
-- Near Fallujah, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL vehicles, two ISIL mortar systems, an ISIL vehicle bomb, an ISIL weapons cache, an ISIL tunnel entrance, and an ISIL heavy machine gun.
-- Near Habbaniyah, two strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, 12 ISIL rocket rails, and an ISIL bunker.
-- Near Hit, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL heavy machine guns, and an ISIL boat.
-- Near Kisik, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL headquarters and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.
-- Near Mosul, 12 strikes struck eight separate ISIL tactical units; damaged an ISIL assembly area; suppressed three ISIL tactical units and an ISIL headquarters; and destroyed 15 ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL supply cache, five ISIL weapons caches, four ISIL vehicles, and two ISIL command and control nodes.
-- Near Qayyarah, a strike destroyed five ISIL rocket rails with rockets.
Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is a strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.
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Iraq
