Today, the US Defense Dept announced:
Strikes in Iraq
Coalition forces, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government, conducted eight strikes in Iraq, using attack aircraft and rocket artillery:
-- Near Mosul, three strikes
struck an ISIL tactical unit, degraded an ISIL tunnel, suppressed an
ISIL mortar system and destroyed an ISIL weapons cache and an ISIL
assembly area.
-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes
struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 15 ISIL rocket rails, 13 ISIL
rockets, seven ISIL mortar tubes, an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL
artillery piece, and an ISIL supply cache.
-- Near Sinjar, a strike suppressed an ISIL mortar system.
-- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike struck an ISIL headquarters.
-- Near Haditha, a strike destroyed an ISIL cave entrance and an ISIL tunnel.
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.
Saturday, the US Defense Dept announced:
Strikes in Iraq
Attack, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted nine strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Baghdadi, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed five ISIL rocket rails, an ISIL bunker, and an ISIL storage facility.
-- Near Rutbah, a strike destroyed an ISIL bulldozer.
-- Near Haditha, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.
-- Near Hit, a strike produced inconclusive results.
-- Near Mosul, three strikes struck and ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL headquarters and destroyed an ISIL supply cache, an ISIL assembly area, and an ISIL mortar system.
-- Near Qayyarah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit, suppressed ISIL mortar position and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Sinjar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL mortar system and suppressed an ISIL sniper position.
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.
Every day since August of 2014, it's the same thing, the US government drops more bombs on Iraq.
And yet the White House is rarely pressed about Iraq and, of course, US President Barack Obama avoids the topic as much as he can. Jack Heretick (WASHINGTON TIMES) reports:
White House spokesman Josh Earnest dodged when ABC’s Devin Dwyer asked him why President Obama did not mention American military engagement Iraq or Afghanistan in his speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Both conflicts represent foreign policy shortcomings for Obama. He announced earlier this month he will leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan at the end of his term, despite promising that he would end that war during his administration. Meanwhile, Obama still has troops deployed in Iraq, despite declaring the conflict there to be over in 2011, as he still struggles to deal with the plague of the Islamic State.
Dwyer said that the lack of mention raised the attention of several service members he’d been in contact with since the speech. Earnest gave a lengthy answer, but none of it answered Dwyer’s question.
Barack won't talk about it.
What about the person just named the Democratic Party's presidential nominee?
Hillary Clinton won't talk either.
THE TELEGRAPH OF LONDON (via MINT PRESS NEWS) reports:
Hillary Clinton will order a “full review” of the United States’ strategy on Syria as a “first key task” of her presidency, resetting the policy to emphasise the “murderous” nature of the Assad regime, foreign policy adviser with her campaign has said.
Jeremy Bash, who served as chief of staff for the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency, said Mrs Clinton would both escalate the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and work to get Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, “out of there”.
So she wants to be president.
She's wanted to be president since at least her 2008 run.
She was Secretary of State from January 2009 to February 2013.
But we're going to have to wait until after the election to figure out what she plans to do about Iraq, Syria and the Islamic State?
In 2008, her campaign insisted she was "ready on day one."
These days?
Apparently not so much.
Last week, Mikah Zenko (FOREIGN POLICY) explored War Hawk Hillary:
By any reasonable measure, Clinton qualifies as a hawk, if a nuanced one. Though she has opposed uses of force that she believed were a bad idea, she has consistently endorsed starting new wars and expanding others.
Consider seven prominent situations in which she has had to decide whether to support the use of American military force:
[. . .]
Iraq: In 2002, as a senator for New York, Clinton voted for the authorization for the use of military force in Iraq. In her accompanying floor statement, she claimed it was to ensure President George W. Bush was “in the strongest possible position to lead our country in the United Nations or in war” and to show Saddam Hussein that the country was united. After initially defending the vote, she later adjusted, variously declaring she “thought it was a vote to put inspectors back in,” it was “based on the facts and assurances that I had at the time,” and ultimately “it was a mistake to trust Bush.” Clinton also justified the 2002 vote as simply one for compelling compliance, proclaiming, “I believe in coercive diplomacy,” in a January 2008 presidential debate. Regardless of the reasons or excuses behind her vote, the Iraq War was a foreign-policy and geopolitical disaster.
She's a War Hawk and she sticks with her kindred.
Citizen PV
The blood thirsty Peeps who brought us the wonders of #Iraqi Intervention, are backing Hilary Clinton ..: https://theintercept.com/2016/07/25/robert-kagan-and-other-neocons-back-hillary-clinton/ … ........
GoLeftNotCorporatist
#DemsInPhilly
Hey remember Iraq and Afghan well Clinton took the backing from PNAC be F***** afraid ppl #JillnotHill
Hey remember Iraq and Afghan well Clinton took the backing from PNAC be F***** afraid ppl #JillnotHillMore of the same, that's what Hillary and her fellow neocons promise for Iraq.
And more of the same hasn't been working out, has it?
Nor will it.
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir (BRADENTON TIMES) argues:
I maintain that unless the political discussion begins now between
the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government and the Sunnis (under the auspices
of the U.S.) to determine the fate of the Sunni community, defeating
ISIS alone will not end the ongoing Sunni-Shiite civil war in Iraq that
has claimed the lives of tens of thousands since 2003.
The Obama administration should, parallel to the fight against ISIS, immediately start to negotiate the future status of the Sunni Iraqis with the Iraqi government and agree on establishing an autonomous region in their three provinces—Ninevah, Salahildin, and Diyala—to run their own affairs along the lines of Kurdish autonomy in the north, with a loose connection to the central government in Baghdad.
Exactly.
But instead of attempting that, it's more bombs dropped from war planes and more stalling from Hillary about what she'd do if she were president.
Once upon time, people were expected to campaign on what they would do if elected.
Once upon a time.
Iraq is no fairy tale.
Mohammed Khuzai (IRAQI RED CRESCENT SOCIETY) notes:
Since early July, heavy fighting in Shirqat city in the Iraqi governorate of Nineveh has led to a great wave of displacement.
More than 5,000 families were forced to leave their homes and seek
refuge in Tikrit, the administrative centre of Salah Eddine province.
Many displaced families stayed in buildings and schools as temporary
accommodation, while others stayed at relatives’ houses. A camp was also
established to host displaced families between Mosul and Tikrit.
Amid increasing challenges, Iraqi Red Crescent
Society was quick to mobilize its staff, volunteers and resources to
respond to urgent needs. Since the early hours of displacement, the
National Society has formed field teams to provide relief aid and health
services to internally displaced people.
President of Iraqi Red Crescent Society, Dr Yaseen
Ahmed Abbass, who oversaw relief operations in Tikrit, said: “The
volunteers of the Red Crescent are the most capable to respond to crises
across the country. They play a significant role in all regions
witnessing human suffering.”
“We are keen on carrying on with relief operations on
ground, as the first responders in the humanitarian field in Iraq. This
requires doubling our efforts in relief operations and in the provision
of health services to ease the suffering of families enduring
hardship.”
The organization’s teams are responding in two ways
to the Shirqat displacement wave. Volunteers are providing clean
drinking water, ice blocks and ready-to-eat meals to displaced families
in camps. So far, more than 4,500 people have received meals, while
23,000 loaves of bread, 26,000 bottles of water and 655 ice blocks have
been distributed.
Also, Red Crescent teams are helping other displaced
families find accommodation and are providing them with food baskets. At
least 12,000 displaced people have until now received food baskets and
500 children were provided with milk.
Volunteers carrying out relief operations are
supported in their missions by Red Crescent psychosocial support teams,
first aid teams and awareness teams to advocate about the prevention of
communicable diseases among displaced people. Ambulances as well as
mobile clinics have also been made available to support Red Crescent
volunteers and staff in their missions; to treat injuries and to
transport cases that require urgent medical attention to nearby
hospitals.
Dr Ali Majid, the head of the health department at
the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, said: “A large number of displaced
people got injured after walking for hours to reach safe areas, and many
of them suffer traumas. They need first aid services and psychosocial
support. Many people require some kind of medical treatment as well.”
He added: “More than 10,000 people have so far
received psychosocial support, and we will continue to deliver health
and medical services to respond to the rising needs.”
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society expects the number of people displaced from Shirqat to increase in the coming months if fighting persists in the city, and along with it the scale of challenges.
Iraq
