Iraqi Kurds continue to gain ground against ISIL

[longknife]

We're far better off supporting them instead of the Baghdad government.


And they just freed hundreds of innocent civilians trapped on top of that mountain for months on end.


Read more @ Iraqi Kurds continue to gain ground against ISIL Al Bawaba


And the ISIL barbarians continue their atrocities – At least 1,000 Syrians feared dead in ISIL village massacre @ At least 1 000 Syrians feared dead in ISIL village massacre Al Bawaba

 

[Mindlight]

We're far better off supporting them instead of the Baghdad government.

And they just freed hundreds of innocent civilians trapped on top of that mountain for months on end.

Read more @ Iraqi Kurds continue to gain ground against ISIL Al Bawaba

And the ISIL barbarians continue their atrocities – At least 1,000 Syrians feared dead in ISIL village massacre @ At least 1 000 Syrians feared dead in ISIL village massacre Al Bawaba

Agree on supporting the Kurds, this brave people deserve their own land and have already proven effective at managing their own areas of responsibility. They are the ones protecting minorities like Christians, Shias and non IS Sunnis in contrast with most of the other regimes in the area. They have an effective fighting force with the Peshmerga and with oil could have an effective and independent economy.

The problems here are not of their making.

1) Turkey is the biggest barrier to an independent Kurdistan which it fears would encourage rebellion amongst its own Kurdish minority.
2) Iraq is dominated by Shias and this has been part of the problem in the rise of IS and also of the Kurds wanting nothing to do with Baghdad. They do not want the Kurds to break away.
3) The US strategy is to promote a united Iraq because they do not want to antagonise the Saudis by allowing the creation of a pro Iranian Shia Iraq to accompany the Assad regime which is also allied to Iran. The Saudi fears seem to be what is driving American foreign policy here at the moment. I am not sure why the Americans are so worried about what the Saudis think now that Shale gas and oil have liberated them from their energy dependence on them.

 

[longknife]

U.S. Troops Fight ISIS In Western Iraq


The original story comes from Political Pistachio @ Political Pistachio U.S. Troops Fight ISIS In Western Iraq but links to an Newsmax story @ US Troops Fight ISIS in Western Iraq Al Jazeera Says which, of course, comes from Al Jazeera, which tends to be right on when it comes to stuff like this.


Remember the “No boots on the ground” promise?

 

[Mindlight]

U.S. Troops Fight ISIS In Western Iraq


The original story comes from Political Pistachio @ Political Pistachio U.S. Troops Fight ISIS In Western Iraq but links to an Newsmax story @ US Troops Fight ISIS in Western Iraq Al Jazeera Says which, of course, comes from Al Jazeera, which tends to be right on when it comes to stuff like this.


Remember the “No boots on the ground” promise?

These reports are unconfirmed. Noone is disputing the presence of some US Military personnel but their active engagement in ground campaigns is something that would need clarifying. Probably they are talking about special forces doing targeted assassinations to erode IS Command and Control or guiding missile strikes on key positions. The bulk of the actual ground troops remain Iraqi or Kurdish and there has been no official announcements I am aware of. I wonder if British SAS are also there in a similar role..

 

[longknife]

What is so hard to accept about the possibility that US forces in Iraq are firing their weapons at ISIL forces attacking them? Or do so while serving with Iraqi forces they are their to "train and assist"?

 

[Mindlight]

It is not hard to accept from a moral point of view. The evil of IS is clear. But when did Obama wake up to the fact that this was necessary and realise that there is a mandate, albeit a limited one, from the US public, to do something on the ground about IS? He was afterall the president who said he was ending US involvement in Iraq. A decision which along with the failure of Malikis Shia experiment left the vacuum which IS has filled in the Sunni areas.