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Wow I knew they were taking hostages in Lebanon but I didn't know they were taking diplomats and Ambassadors, we should learn by now that handing out money to people that hate us DOES NOT HELP, Pakistan can be a recent example.
Iranian Weapons 'Killing Our Troops' in Iraq, U.S. Says
WASHINGTON -- The United States is negotiating with Iraq to extend the U.S. military presence, as the number deadly attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq by militiamen trained and armed by Iran is on the rise.
Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iranian-backed Shiite militias "are killing our troops" in Iraq with sophisticated weapons that include lethal armor-piercing versions of IEDs and rocket-boosted mortars.
Fifty-one American troops have been killed in Iraq since President Obama declared an end to combat operations there last August, and the fighting has wounded 244 U.S. soldiers. Roughly 46,000 troops remain advising and training Iraqi army and police forces, but they are due to be withdrawn by Dec. 31.
The potential extension of the U.S. military presence in Iraq has been bitterly opposed by Muqtada al-Sadr, the fiery Iraqi cleric and militia leader. He has repeatedly vowed to "escalate armed resistance" if the Americans stay on. Sadr's militia has long had close ties with Iran.
In a meeting with reporters Thursday, Mullen said Iran is "shipping high-tech weapons in there -- the forensics prove it." He said top Iranian officials "know about it," but he declined to say the anti-U.S campaign was being directed by Iran's leadership.
"Iran is playing an outsize role" in Iraq as the shaky government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki struggles to stem the growing violence, Mullen said. "That has to be dealt with. It's killing our people."
Asked if U.S. forces could go after the Shiite militias, Mullen did not rule out a counter-offensive. "Anything we do would clearly be focused on our inherent right of self-defense," he said.
The U.S. military personnel in Iraq are largely engaged in training Iraq security forces and assisting with capabilities the Iraqis lack: intelligence analysis, logistics, medical care, and air operations assisting in battlefield evacuation, border control and air defense. U.S. Special Operations Forces also are active in the country, working in conjunction with Iraqi commandos on counter-terrorism missions to capture or kill top terrorist leaders.
All American military personnel are to be withdrawn from Iraq by Dec. 31 under the terms of a formal agreement signed by Iraq and the United States during the Bush administration. Senior U.S. officials have said the United States will comply with the agreement unless Iraq formally requests that some forces stay on, and Washington agrees to the extension.
Privately, senior officials have expressed concern that Iraq could slide into civil war as deadly violence among Shiite and Sunni militias grows. Last week, the 82nd Airborne's 1st Brigade rehearsed at Fort Bragg an airborne combat assault into Iraq in case such a mission has to be mounted during a crisis.
"Negotiations are on-going" about extending the U.S. troops beyond December 31, Mullen said, "and they're hard." He said both Iraq and the United States recognize there are "gaps" in the capabilities of Iraq's security forces. "We clearly see some areas" where the United States could help, he said, using the existing forces to continue training and advising Iraq's forces.
Iranian Weapons 'Killing Our Troops' in Iraq, U.S. Says
After another Obama term, the US won't be worth salvaging.God help us.Not political will. Obama intends on this path. Do not think an intelligent man such as Obama is lacking in the political will in this case. There's enough information to let out and he's keeping it in.
I say this is intentional, and on the back of his ME policies.
Well, 2012 is when we find out which way the American political wind will blow. If he wins again and gains back the house then he will cement many his policies with concurrent policies attached and this will take quite some time for the Republicans to regurgitate.
After another Obama term, the US won't be worth salvaging.God help us.
Well, 2012 is when we find out which way the American political wind will blow. If he wins again and gains back the house then he will cement many his policies with concurrent policies attached and this will take quite some time for the Republicans to regurgitate.
Considering the Constitutional Scholar in Chief doesn't much give a damn about the Constitution, I'm not as optimistic as you are.After another Obama term, the US won't be worth salvaging.Well, 2012 is when we find out which way the American political wind will blow. If he wins again and gains back the house then he will cement many his policies with concurrent policies attached and this will take quite some time for the Republicans to regurgitate.
Oh yes it will. It will just be harder to deal with. America is far too strong for one two term President to ruin.
The constitution would have to be changed. America runs like molasses on the political front regarding internal legislation for a reason.
BAGHDAD -- The U.S. will not "walk away" from the challenge of Iran's stepped-up arming of Iraqi insurgents who are targeting and killing American troops as they prepare to leave Iraq, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday.
Panetta also pointedly pressed Iraqi leaders to appoint a defense minister, after more than a year of indecision, and to make up their minds about asking the U.S. to keep a military presence here beyond December.
"Damn it, make a decision," he told a group of soldiers on his first visit to Iraq as Pentagon chief. He was responding to a soldier who asked whether Iraqi leaders are ready to properly govern their country. Panetta said the Iraqi indecision was frustrating to the American government, but added that political complications are part of being a democracy.
Panetta and the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, expressed worry about increasingly deadly attacks on U.S. troops by Shiite militias using weapons that Panetta and others assert are supplied by Iran.
"We're very concerned about Iran and the weapons they're providing to extremists in Iraq," Panetta said.
"We cannot simply stand back and allow this to continue to happen" he said. "This is not something we're going to walk away from. It's something we're going to take on head-on."
Panetta said Iraq must more aggressively go after the Shiite militias that are using what he called Iranian-supplied weapons. And he said the U.S. is determined to act on its own to "go after those threats" from Iranian weapons.
"We're doing that," he said.
Asked later in an interview with a group of American reporters what unilateral action U.S. troops had taken against the Iranian-armed militias, Austin suggested that the emphasis was on defensive actions such as patrolling the perimeter of U.S. troop positions.
"We'll do what we need to protect ourselves," Austin said. Pressed to say whether Panetta was correct in saying the U.S. was acting unilaterally against the Iranian problem, he said, "I won't discuss our operations."
Three rockets fired from a mainly Shiite neighborhood hit Baghdad's Green Zone during Panetta's visit, Iraqi police said. No casualties were reported.
Panetta was visiting the U.S. military's Camp Victory on the capital's western outskirts at the time of the attack on the Green Zone, the heavily secured district in central Baghdad that is home to the U.S. and other embassies as well as Iraqi government offices.
In his pep talk to the troops on the sprawling compound outside of Baghdad that houses the U.S. military headquarters, Panetta appeared to slip on the politics of the Iraq war, which was started by the Bush administration in March 2003 on grounds that then-ruler Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Some in the Bush White House also suggested a Saddam link to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. by al-Qaida a connection that President Barack Obama and other Democrats have called wrong and unproved.
Iran has declared war against us. But we just pretend they're not doing anything.
Disgusting.
So you're saying we deserve it.Iran has declared war against us. But we just pretend they're not doing anything.
Disgusting.
Well we did help, The Shah and Saddan kill millions of Iranians and Bush had a covert program to terrorize them and bring down their government.
Considering the Constitutional Scholar in Chief doesn't much give a damn about the Constitution, I'm not as optimistic as you are.After another Obama term, the US won't be worth salvaging.
Oh yes it will. It will just be harder to deal with. America is far too strong for one two term President to ruin.
The constitution would have to be changed. America runs like molasses on the political front regarding internal legislation for a reason.
So you're saying we deserve it.Iran has declared war against us. But we just pretend they're not doing anything.
Disgusting.
Well we did help, The Shah and Saddan kill millions of Iranians and Bush had a covert program to terrorize them and bring down their government.
