The US Air campaign against ISIS thread.

[IcanzIIravor]

Almost a year of bombings and ISIS has gotten stronger not weaker.

You have to have boots on the ground with a will to fight and the last few years have proven the Iraqi army lacks that will. Air power is only one aspect to winning an asymmetrical war like this. You need the boots on the ground to identify and follow up when strikes are carried out. One aspect to is bombing when the enemy is out in the open is one thing, bombing in the midst of a city populated by civilians is another. When 800 ISIS combatants route 30,000 trained Iraqi troops with minimal resistance it should make everyone pause and really rethink our strategy.

[Dresta]

You have to have boots on the ground with a will to fight and the last few years have proven the Iraqi army lacks that will. Air power is only one aspect to winning an asymmetrical war like this. You need the boots on the ground to identify and follow up when strikes are carried out. One aspect to is bombing when the enemy is out in the open is one thing, bombing in the midst of a city populated by civilians is another. When 800 ISIS combatants route 30,000 trained Iraqi troops with minimal resistance it should make everyone pause and really rethink our strategy.

I would be very sceptical when seeing numbers like this - reports are conflicting depending on who you ask, but ISIS and the Iraqi Army are not the only two players in this affair, as the local Sunni tribes of the Ramadi region have played a definite role in the loss, and will likely align against whatever Shia militia come their way.

[IcanzIIravor]

I would be very sceptical when seeing numbers like this - reports are conflicting depending on who you ask, but ISIS and the Iraqi Army are not the only two players in this affair, as the local Sunni tribes of the Ramadi region have played a definite role in the loss, and will likely align against whatever Shia militia come their way.

I would wager the numbers are not far off. The Iraqi army is just not a national force. There is no doubt ISIS and the local tribes have struck deals as the tribes proved during the worst days of the Iraq war what they are capable of when they grew tired of AQ indiscriminately killing regardless of sides. Fact of the matter is the Iraqi's don't think of themselves as Iraqi's. It's tribe first, tribal leader, spiritual leader and then city/town/village. Thus no matter the training if they aren't told by their tribal elders to fight they will run or melt into the population. This is what happens when a nation is cobbled together by colonial powers.

[zoom17]

U.S. to defend rebels from Assad government

http://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon...vefyre-comment

[zoom17]

So you got Turkey bombing the kurds again and now the US potentially bombing the Syrian Army and Hezbollah. ISIS and Al-Qaeda will benefit from this.

[KevinNYC]

So you got Turkey bombing the kurds again and now the US potentially bombing the Syrian Army and Hezbollah. ISIS and Al-Qaeda will benefit from this.

That's an incredibly limited view of what's going on.

Beginning with "The Kurds." Turkey is bombing the PKK, but the PKK is not "The Kurds."

Iraq's Kurdish regional government has called on the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) to "withdraw" from its territory to prevent civilian deaths, amid a campaign of Turkish air strikes targeting the group.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said the PKK "should withdraw its fighters from the Kurdish region so to ensure the civilians of Kurdistan do not become victim of that fighting and conflict".

The statement also condemned Turkey for bombing civilians, following reports that civilian homes were damaged in air strikes in northwestern Iraq, while calling on both parties to resume peace talks.

"We condemn the bombing, which led to the martyrdom of the citizens of the Kurdish region, and we call on Turkey to not to repeat the bombing of civilians," the statement said, prompting a response from Turkey, which vowed to launch a probe on the reported deaths of nine civilians.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Kilis in Turkey, said Iraq's Kurdish regional government enjoys "a very good relationship" with Turkey, which serves as "their economic lifeline".

She said the presence in Iraq of the PKK, which is considered a "terrorist organisation" by Ankara and the US, is a "thorn" on the side of the Iraqi Kurds.

"We must remember that there's a long history of conflict between the two groups," our correspondent said.

Secondly, whatever games Turkey is playing they have also begun bombing ISIS and for the first time allowing America to launch airstrikes against ISIS from bases in Turkey.

One writer for an Emirati paper said this would clearly benefit Assad.

[KevinNYC]

If you want something to facepalm look up what happened to the first group of US trained rebels.

[zoom17]

That's an incredibly limited view of what's going on.

Beginning with "The Kurds." Turkey is bombing the PKK, but the PKK is not "The Kurds."



Secondly, whatever games Turkey is playing they have also begun bombing ISIS and for the first time allowing America to launch airstrikes against ISIS from bases in Turkey.

One writer for an Emirati paper said this would clearly benefit Assad.

Oh please we all know this isn't benefiting Assad. Turkey bombed ISIS like one time focusing most of their time on the PKK who are fighting ISIS as while. Turkey isn't serious on taking on ISIS there more concerned about the kurds.

[zoom17]

If you want something to facepalm look up what happened to the first group of US trained rebels.

If you want something to facepalm the US would give these idiots air cover and would bomb the SAA for them.

[KevinNYC]

we all know

I think I'll facepalm that.

[zoom17]

I think I'll facepalm that.

Yes continue to ignore the rest of my posts and defend the government like everything you do.

[KevinNYC]

Yes continue to ignore the rest of my posts

Your posts are all about erasing the complexity of the Syrian War. Making it Turkey vs the Kurds is making it a two side black and white issue when the reality is the Turks support the Iraqi Kurds, they don't like most of the Syrian Kurds and have acitively fought a Turkish Kurd insurgent group the PKK for longer than you have been alive in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands.

Your posts are based on the idea that "we all know" what is happening in Syria. And that is just a fool's game. The truth is nobody knows what is going to happen in Syria. There's two many different players and they alliances are constantly shifting

Anthony Cordesman, a CSIS military expert, said the deal with Turkey was likely good for overall U.S. strategy in the Middle East. But, he said: "One of the problems is we keep trying to describe this as if it were black and white, and what you're really watching again is three-dimensional chess with something like 9 players and no rules.

"

and defend the government like everything you do.

You still don't know what I'm talking about here do you?

If you want something to facepalm look up what happened to the first group of US trained rebels.

Go learn about that and come back and tell me how I'm defending the government.

[zoom17]

All that is nice but my point is that the The U.S. Is being pulled deeper and deeper into the Syrian War. With this authorized use of air power to defend the US backed rebels whats stopping the rebels from attacking SAA positions and calling the US to bomb them.

[poido123]

What a mess.


ISIL isn't going away and Americas air strikes is only re enforcing the anti-western propaganda that fuels ISIS.

This needs to be a world effort, with America taking a backseat. Unfortunately, nobody else wants to deal with it.

[SCdac]

"Hundreds of civilians killed in US-led air strikes on ISIS targets"

More than 5,700 air strikes have been launched in the campaign, which nears its first anniversary this Saturday, with its impact on civilians largely unknown.

Now Airwars, a project by a team of independent journalists, is publishing details of 52 strikes with what it believes are credible reports of at least 459 non-combatant deaths, including those of more than 100 children.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...vilians-report

While I fully agree with the global fight against terrorism (dozens of countries have to fend off extremism and terrorism, many deal with it on their homeland much more than we do)... and I understand it's an arduous, painstaking, sometimes hazy process with a large toll on the civilian populations...

Where is the outrage and where are the protests?

It's frustrating how critical of other army's we are in their efforts to thwart large terrorist groups - but don't hold our army to the same standard... or at least, we don't care or make a big deal out of it... The bottom line to me is that war and battle comes with collateral damage, always has. But modern armies need to do their best to reduce civilian casualties as best as possible.