IRAQ is coming apart at the seams.

[mike55]

It is a civil war, unless people dont think 1,000 killed a month is not a civil war.

 

[chikenwing]

by Bill Corcoran @ Corksphere blog. He is about as left-wing and anti-war as any blog I subscribe to but it's good to get another viewpoint. Here, he reports on something the Lame Street Media is ignoring and I fully agree with is supositions here.



Read more @ CORKSPHERE: Iraq Bloodbath: 54 Killed, 237 Wounded in Attacks against Shi’ite Pilgrims and Security Forces -- Antiwar.com

What a sad mess. I couldn't even imagine being raised in a country like that.

I'm a bit cynical, and believe the war was started not for the "good of the people of Iraq" but rather as a vehicle for making large powerful interests a lot of money. I wonder how some of the decision makers can sleep at night knowing that the money that purchased their big homes and a nice relaxing life came at the cost of destabilizing a nation and killing scores in the process.

.

A country like that?

Destabilize government.

Arm everyone.

Church rule.

Hatred of minorities.

No women's rights.

Suppress voter's rights.

No health care.

Hmmm, now where have I heard this dreadful ideology before?

From the echoes in your empty head?

 

[waltky]

Special forces rescue from ISIS results in death of U.S. soldier...

US Service Member Killed in Iraq as Hostages Rescued from ISIS: DoD
Oct 22, 2015 | A U.S. service member was killed Thursday in a helicopter assault by U.S. Special Operations troops and Kurdish commandos that freed about 70 ISIS hostages in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said.

The death of a U.S. soldier was the first combat fatality suffered by the U.S. in the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In a statement, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said that the U.S. Special Ops troops supported Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who took the lead in the raid on a village east of the flashpoint town of Hawija, about 30 miles south of Kirkuk. One member of the Special Ops team was wounded in the raid and later died while receiving medical care. Four Peshmerga fighters also were wounded and an undetermined number of ISIS members guarding the hostages were killed, Cook said. "This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution," Cook said. "It was authorized consistent with our counter-ISIL effort to train, advise, and assist Iraqi forces."

U.S. helicopters carried the assault force to the site and the Special Ops troops were with the Peshmerga at the ISIS compound, according to the statement. "Approximately 70 hostages were rescued including more than 20 members of the Iraqi Security Forces. Five ISIL terrorists were detained by the Iraqis and a number of ISIL terrorists were killed as well. In addition, the U.S. recovered important intelligence about ISIL," Cook said. The Hawija area has been a frequent target of U.S. airstrikes in an attempt to break the hold of ISIS on the region. "They cut off roads and raided the place successfully," Najmaldin Karim, the governor of surrounding Kirkuk Province, told The New York Times. "They were able to take people with them."

The raid came shortly after Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in Irbil, the Kurdish capital, to confer with Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish Regional Government.

US Service Member Killed in Iraq as Hostages Rescued from ISIS: DoD | Military.com

See also:

Pentagon Denies Combat Role in Iraq After American's Death
October 22, 2015 — The Pentagon says the U.S. is not in a combat role in Iraq, despite the recent death of a U.S. service member from Islamic State gunfire during a hostage rescue mission. “U.S. forces are not in an active combat mission in Iraq, and I can say that directly,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook responded Thursday to questions from reporters on “mission creep” and “boots on the ground.”

A joint rescue mission by U.S. and Iraqi Kurdish fighters freed about 70 hostages, including at least 22 Iraqi Security Force members, from an Islamic State prison compound in Hawijah, west of Kirkuk. The hostages were under threat of “imminent mass executions,” according to a Pentagon statement.

Hawijah, in Kirkuk governate, Iraq​

One American service member was killed while assisting Peshmerga forces under fire from Islamic State militants. The death marked the first time a U.S. service member was killed in combat as part of the year-long campaign against IS extremists.

A senior U.S. defense official said dozens of Kurdish and American fighters were involved in the rescue mission. U.S. forces were "enabling" the mission in coordination with Iraq's Kurdish regional government, the official noted, and they also recovered "important intelligence" about the Islamic State militant group.

‘Unique circumstance’

 

[waltky]

Soldier killed in Iraq rescue mission identified...

Pentagon Identifies First KIA in Fight against Islamic State
Oct 23, 2015 | The U.S. Defense Department has identified first American service member to be killed in action in fighting against the Islamic State.

The Pentagon idenfied the soldier as Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, of Roland, Oklahoma, who died Oct. 22, in Kirkuk Province, Iraq, from wounds received by enemy small-arms fire during an mission in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Wheeler was assigned Headquarters U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, according to a Pentagon statement released Friday morning. He completed at least 11 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a separate Army press release. Born Nov. 22, 1975, in Roland, Wheeler was a 1994 graduate from Muldrow High School in Oklahoma, according to the Army.

Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, of Headquarters, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C., was killed in action Oct. 22, while deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.​

He entered the U.S. Army as an infantryman in May 1995, completing his initial entry training at Fort Benning, Georgia, the release states. His first assignment was with Company C, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment at Fort Lewis, Washington, it states. In February 1997, he transitioned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Lewis, where he served for over seven years as an infantryman, rifle team leader, squad leader, weapons squad leader, and anti-tank section leader, deploying three times in support of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Army.

Wheeler was then assigned to U.S. Army Special Operations Command in 2004, and deployed 11 times in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the release states. Wheeler was fatally wounded while fighting alongside Kurdish Peshmerga forces in a U.S. Special Operations helicopter assault on a prison compound run by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in northern Iraq that freed about 70 hostages, officials previously said. Pentagon officials didn't disclose the circumstances of Wheeler's death, saying only that he was wounded during the firefight and died later while receiving medical treatment.

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See also:

US Death in Iraq Belies President Obama's 'Boots on the Ground' Pledge
Oct 22, 2015 | A U.S. service member was fatally wounded early Thursday fighting alongside Kurdish Peshmerga forces in a U.S. Special Operations helicopter assault on an ISIS prison compound in northern Iraq that freed about 70 hostages, Pentagon officials said.

The death of the American, whose service branch was not immediately disclosed, was the first combat fatality suffered by the U.S. in the campaign against ISIS and as such raised questions about the U.S. mission in Iraq and President Obama's pledge not to commit "boots on the ground" to the fight. Pentagon officials did not disclose the circumstances of the service member's death, saying only that he was wounded during the firefight and died later while receiving medical treatment. At least nine other U.S. service members have died of non-combat causes during Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), often referred to by the military as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Four Peshmerga fighters were wounded in the firefight that began at about 2 a.m. in an ISIS prison compound east of the flashpoint town of Hawija, about 30 miles sought of Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk. The Pentagon said that about 20 ISIS fighters were killed in the assault and five were captured along with intelligence materiel. About 20 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were among the 70 hostages who were rescued and flown back to Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional government, according to the Kurdish security council. "This was a unique circumstance" and not a departure from the White House guidelines limiting U.S. troops to a train, advise and assist role, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said of the raid at a news conference. After notifying White House national-security officials, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter approved the raid at the request of a "loyal partner" in the fight against ISIS, meaning the Kurds, Cook said.

Carter had the authority as part of the mission of Operation Inherent Resolve to "defend partner forces and protect against the loss of civilian life," Cook said. "He felt it was the appropriate step to take" and was "consistent with the authorities that he has. This is part of the larger effort against ISIL," Cook said of Carter. In an earlier statement, Cook said the helicopter assault "was authorized consistent with our counter-ISIL effort to train, advice, and assist Iraqi forces." U.S. troops in Iraq "are allowed to defend themselves and also defend partner forces and to protect against the loss of innocent life and that's what played out in this particular operation," Cook said. There were no immediate indications that any of the hostages were killed or wounded in the assault, Cook said. He repeatedly stressed that the U.S. troops were acting in a support role "with the Peshmerga taking the lead."

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