Obama Admin: Americans Fighting in Iraq... Are Not Fighting in Iraq

[American_Jihad]

More B/S from Obama admin...

Obama Admin: Americans Fighting in Iraq... Are Not Fighting in Iraq
"U.S. forces are not in Iraq on a combat mission and do not have 'boots on the ground,'"
October 26, 2015
Daniel Greenfield

Every time you think Obama's people have hit Peak Orwell, they find a way to push it a little further.

American soldiers weren't on the ground in Libya... because they were wearing sneakers. They're not fighting on the ground in Afghanistan... because they're there as advisers. So when they get into firefights, it's just advising.

Also when they're killed fighting on the ground in Iraq... it's just enhanced military support.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday that the United States would continue to participate in military missions similar to one earlier this week in which an American soldier was killed, but refused to call the ramped up support “ground combat.”

Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed during the rescue of 70 hostages in Iraq whose “mass execution was imminent,” Carter said.

While he mourned the loss of Wheeler, Carter affirmed that the U.S. would enhance its support of anti-Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL) missions in the Middle East, especially in unique cases such as “raids.”

Wheeler was the first American soldier to die in combat in Iraq since November 2011.

"Combat" is a term that Carter and many military officials have studiously avoided using over the past few months in an effort to comport with President Obama's vow to keep U.S. troops out of combat in Iraq.

"It doesn't represent us assuming a combat role," Carter said at the press briefing at the Pentagon. "It represents a continuation of our advise-and-assist mission."

We're just shooting at people and being shot at. It's not a combat role.

...

Obama Admin: Americans Fighting in Iraq... Are Not Fighting in Iraq

 

[Bleipriester]

 

[American_Jihad]

CBS/AP October 25, 2015, 3:04 PM
Dramatic rescue of ISIS hostages shown on helmet cam
Video:

IRBIL, Iraq - The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq released a video Sunday showing the joint raid of a prison by U.S. and Kurdish peshmerga forces in which they released 70 hostages held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS.)

Pentagon officials confirmed the footage's authenticity to CBS News, which can be seen in the above video player.

The helmet camera footage shows the Thursday raid of the prison which was controlled by ISIS militants in the town of Huwija, 9 miles west of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

A line of panicked men in traditional ankle-length garments are seen running past the camera, some with their hands up, as Arabic-speaking men scream at them, "Let's go! Let's go!" Gunfire rings out non-stop in the background. The soldiers as seen walking through a dark room with ISIS' trademark black flag draped on the wall. The rescued hostages are then frisked for weapons and led away.

Officials later said about 20 of the rescued hostages were members of Iraqi security forces.

Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, of Roland, Oklahoma, was killed during the raid, officials said. He was the first American to die in combat since the U.S. launched Operation Inherent Resolve last year.

The raid marked the first time U.S. troops were involved in direct ground combat in Iraq since the war against ISIS was launched in August 2014.

U.S. officials said the plan for the rescue mission had called for the U.S. troops, who are members of the elite and secretive Delta Force, to stay back from the prison compound and let the Kurds do the fighting. The Americans transported the Kurds to the scene aboard five U.S. helicopters.

The predawn raid involved 30 U.S. Special Operations Forces, including Delta Force commandos and Kurdish fighters.

The American forces were there to advise and assist, not to be an assault force -- but that role changed when the U.S. troops saw the Kurdish Peshmerga get pinned down in a heavy exchange of fire with ISIS fighters.

"That call was made on the ground," said a U.S. defense official.

It was the first time that Kurdish Peshmerga forces asked for U.S. assistance in a hostage rescue. While they suspected that ISIS had imprisoned some of their fellow Kurds at the prison complex, the commandos were surprised to find that the vast majority of the hostages were Sunni Arab civilians from the local town along with 20 Iraqi security forces.

They also discovered that ISIS held some of their own fighters hostage, accused of being spies and scheduled for execution.

The raid raised questions about President Obama's vow not to put U.S. soldiers into combat in Iraq. But Pentagon Spokesperson Peter Cook said the Special Operations forces were only assisting the Kurdish fighters.

"In that support role, they are allowed to defend themselves and also defend partner forces and to protect against the loss of innocent life," Cook said.

...

Dramatic rescue of ISIS hostages shown on helmet cam

 

[Cross]

Ashton Carter: U.S. to Begin 'Direct Action on the Ground' in Iraq, Syria


OCT 27 2015, 7:38 PM ET
Ashton Carter: U.S. to Begin 'Direct Action on the Ground' in Iraq, Syria

"We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground," Carter said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee, using an alternative name for the militant group.

 

[waltky]

Whadaya think the mission of special ops is??...

US Spokesman in Iraq: 'Of Course it's Combat'
Oct 29, 2015 | WASHINGTON -- U.S. troops in Iraq are in combat. That’s what the Baghdad-based spokesman for the American-led, anti-Islamic State coalition told reporters Wednesday.

Pentagon officials have hesitated to label the role of U.S. forces against the militants in Iraq and Syria as combat in the week since Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler was killed in a firefight during a raid on an Islamic State prison compound outside of Hawijah in the Kirkuk province. But Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, was more direct Wednesday, speaking with reporters at the Pentagon through video conference. “We’re in combat,” Warren said of the roughly 3,500 U.S. troops in Iraq. “Of course it is; that’s why we all carry guns, that’s why we all get combat patches when we leave here, that’s why we all received imminent danger pay. So, of course it’s combat.”

In June, as President Barack Obama announced he would send more U.S. troops into Iraq’s heavily contested Anbar province, he emphasized “American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq.” The raid in which Wheeler was killed Oct. 22 has raised questions of mission creep more than one year into Operation Inherent Resolve. Wheeler was the first U.S. service member to die in Iraq since the American withdrawal in 2011. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said more such raids could be conducted, but they did not “represent us assuming a combat role.”

Warren said raids with “capable, willing and able” partners should be expected. But a return to full-scale ground combat operations such as the United States conducted in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 would not happen. “You’re not going to see … a large presence of U.S. forces out there at every level with the entire Iraqi army,” he said. “… We’re talking about raids, a very specific term -- a combat action that is conducted to achieve a certain objective and then the forces are immediately removed. That’s a very key doctrinal point that’s important to make.”

US Spokesman in Iraq: 'Of Course it's Combat' | Military.com

See also:

US SpecOps Reportedly in Covert Combat for Months Against ISIS
Oct 29, 2015 - U.S. special operations forces reportedly have carried out several covert combat missions against ISIS over the past year, contrary to the Pentagon's insistence that operations like last week's raid of an ISIS-held prison in northern Iraq was a "unique" circumstance.

Bloomberg View reported that a special operations task force staffs an operations center in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil to support such missions. The report, which cited U.S. and Kurdish officials, claimed that the task force has worked in recent months to identify and locate senior leaders of ISIS. Members of the group also participated in last week's raid, during which Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler was killed. Wheeler became the first American to die in combat since the launch of anti-ISIS operations last year.

At a Pentagon briefing in Baghdad Tuesday, spokesman Col. Peter Warren answered a question about whether U.S. forces in Iraq were in combat against ISIS in no uncertain terms. "We're in combat," Warren said. "I thought I made that pretty clear. ... That is why we all carry guns. That's why we all get combat patches when we leave here, that's why we all receive [an] immediate danger badge. So, of course we're in combat."

Last week, Cook said the raid on the ISIS prison in the town of Hawija was "consistent with our counter-ISIL effort to train, advise and assist Iraqi forces," using a different acronym for the terror group. He also said the rescue was a "unique" circumstance, but declined to say that it was the only time U.S. forces have engaged in a form of ground combat in Iraq. Instead, he noted that U.S. troops are "allowed to defend themselves, and also defend partner forces, and to protect against the loss of innocent life."

MORE

 

[American_Jihad]

More boots on the ground: Obama authorizes special ops to fight ISIS
In a 'unilateral' action, the Obama Administration is sending Special Operations troops into Iraq to combat Islamic State militants.

By Maddy Crowell
December 1, 2015 4:46 PM

President Obama’s policy on sending troops into Syria has always been a defiant “no.”

Until last month, that is, when Obama ordered several dozen Special Operations troops into Syria to help train Kurdish fighters against the Islamic State.

In the wake of the Paris attacks, Hillary Clinton delivered a speech in New York last week where she spoke for an hour but her message was short: “The time for delay is over. We should get this done.” Clinton urged Congress to take stronger military action against the Islamic State.

Obama famously called the Paris attacks an “act against humanity” and offered France air support and military intelligence. But speaking at the G20 Summit, Obama refused to send more troops into Syria, saying that boots on the ground “would be a mistake.”

Until now.

...

More boots on the ground: Obama authorizes special ops to fight ISIS

 

[American_Jihad]

There Are No American Soldiers in Iraq
Obama and Hillary’s phony ISIS war will get Americans killed.
December 4, 2015
Daniel Greenfield

Americans used to laugh at the bereted Iraqi Information Minister screaming, “I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad”, even while they could be seen moving into the city.

Now Baghdad Bob’s rhetoric has been transplanted over from Baghdad to Washington D.C.

Last year, Obama said, “I want to be clear: the American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission.” A good way to get stinking drunk is to drink a shot every time Obama precedes a blatant lie with an “I want to be clear.” And this time was no different.

The year before that he told the American people, “I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria.”

No word on whether soldiers in the "Specialized Expeditionary Targeting Force" will be wearing sandals or slippers as they carry out raids into Syria to free hostages and capture ISIS terrorists.

Obama had assured Americans that the mission “will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.” Did he annex Syria and Iraq as new states while Congress was in recess?

Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton recently said that putting troops on the ground is a “non-starter”. She told CBS that she “cannot conceive of any circumstances where I would agree to do that.” Then she condemned Republicans for calling for “thousands of combat troops”.

As opposed to the 3,000 that were sent there under Obama.

But officially there are no American soldiers in Iraq. There are American advisers in Iraq. Democrats send thousands of heavily armed advisers. It’s the Republicans who are crude enough to send soldiers. Republicans start wars. Democrats have police actions, peacekeeping missions and weekend retreats.

Sometimes they have No-Fly Zones. Hillary Clinton used a No-Fly Zone to invade Libya, kill its leader and turn over half the country to Muslim terrorists leading to the murder of an American ambassador.

But that wasn’t a war. It was an “intervention”. Like the kind you have for a compulsive liar who can’t stop lying, stealing and starting wars and then lying about them.

Now Hillary Clinton wants a No-Fly Zone for Syria. When asked what she would do if Russian planes violate it, she responded, “That would not happen, because we're going to put up a no-fly zone where the Russians are clearly kept informed.”

In the condescending space of liberal foreign policy, the Russians violate airspace because they haven’t been “clearly informed”. It’s inconceivable that they would violate it after being informed.

And maybe handed a shiny new Reset button.

The Russians probably violated Israeli and Turkish airspace because they weren’t informed where the borders were. This summer they flew over to the California coast and radioed saying, "Good morning, American pilots. We are here to greet you on your Fourth of July Independence Day.”

Probably Putin probably hadn’t been “clearly informed” where California was.

What happens if Putin decides to violate Hillary’s No-Fly Zone? Either our pilots will have authorization to shoot down Russian planes or the No-Fly Zone becomes a Pretty Please Don’t Fly Here Zone.

This is a problem since American “advisers” are being embedded with militias that are targeted by Turkey and Russia. If they come under attack, will Hillary authorize air support? Or will they be left to die on the ground just like the Americans in Benghazi were while she polishes her talking points?

Considering the way the war has been fought so far, expect a No-Fly Zone in which everyone goes on flying and bombing while President Clinton II talks up her successful zone that everyone ignores. Just as she talks up her fake Hamas truce and her work “bringing peace” to Northern Ireland.

...

The press, Obama and Hillary have joined him in an imaginary world far away from reality in which you win wars by loudly asserting that your lies are reality and reality is a lie. But war is the ultimate test of reality. Bullets don’t care about your fantasies and bombs aren’t interested in your ideology.


The American tanks couldn’t be stopped by all of Baghdad Bob’s crazy lies. ISIS can’t be stopped by any of Obama and Hillary’s crazy lies. Not even if they tell them in “creative and agile” ways on Twitter.

There Are No American Soldiers in Iraq

 

[sealybobo]

More B/S from Obama admin...

Obama Admin: Americans Fighting in Iraq... Are Not Fighting in Iraq
"U.S. forces are not in Iraq on a combat mission and do not have 'boots on the ground,'"
October 26, 2015
Daniel Greenfield

Every time you think Obama's people have hit Peak Orwell, they find a way to push it a little further.

American soldiers weren't on the ground in Libya... because they were wearing sneakers. They're not fighting on the ground in Afghanistan... because they're there as advisers. So when they get into firefights, it's just advising.

Also when they're killed fighting on the ground in Iraq... it's just enhanced military support.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday that the United States would continue to participate in military missions similar to one earlier this week in which an American soldier was killed, but refused to call the ramped up support “ground combat.”

Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed during the rescue of 70 hostages in Iraq whose “mass execution was imminent,” Carter said.

While he mourned the loss of Wheeler, Carter affirmed that the U.S. would enhance its support of anti-Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL) missions in the Middle East, especially in unique cases such as “raids.”

Wheeler was the first American soldier to die in combat in Iraq since November 2011.

"Combat" is a term that Carter and many military officials have studiously avoided using over the past few months in an effort to comport with President Obama's vow to keep U.S. troops out of combat in Iraq.

"It doesn't represent us assuming a combat role," Carter said at the press briefing at the Pentagon. "It represents a continuation of our advise-and-assist mission."

We're just shooting at people and being shot at. It's not a combat role.

...

Obama Admin: Americans Fighting in Iraq... Are Not Fighting in Iraq

How we doing now in Iraq?

The Islamic State terror group's self-declared caliphate may be dead, but its leaders are hanging on in Syria and Iraq, dreaming of the day when they can again direct attacks on targets around the world.

The conclusion is part of a sobering assessment in a newly released quarterly United Nations report on ISIS which warns the epicenter for the terror group's budding renaissance is Iraq, "where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and most of the ISIL leadership are now based."

"The leadership aims to adapt, survive and consolidate in the core area and to establish sleeper cells at the local level in preparation for eventual resurgence," the report cautioned. "When it has the time and space to reinvest in an external operations capability, ISIL will direct and facilitate international attacks."

In the meantime, the report warns the terror organization, "has continued its evolution into a mainly covert network," since the fall of Baghuz, the last territory it held in Syria, this past March.

While the assessment that Baghdadi is operating mostly out of Iraq is new, the other warnings are similar to concerns voiced by U.S. officials and others dating back to last year.

Trump wants US military to stay in Iraq to 'watch Iran'

 

[sealybobo]

More boots on the ground: Obama authorizes special ops to fight ISIS
In a 'unilateral' action, the Obama Administration is sending Special Operations troops into Iraq to combat Islamic State militants.

By Maddy Crowell
December 1, 2015 4:46 PM

President Obama’s policy on sending troops into Syria has always been a defiant “no.”

Until last month, that is, when Obama ordered several dozen Special Operations troops into Syria to help train Kurdish fighters against the Islamic State.

In the wake of the Paris attacks, Hillary Clinton delivered a speech in New York last week where she spoke for an hour but her message was short: “The time for delay is over. We should get this done.” Clinton urged Congress to take stronger military action against the Islamic State.

Obama famously called the Paris attacks an “act against humanity” and offered France air support and military intelligence. But speaking at the G20 Summit, Obama refused to send more troops into Syria, saying that boots on the ground “would be a mistake.”

Until now.

...

More boots on the ground: Obama authorizes special ops to fight ISIS

Trump Orders An Additional 1,500 Troops To The Middle East