The other Iraq air campaign
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The other Iraq air campaign
Iraq voices anger as US air force defends Irbil – but not Baghdad
.....Iraq's small, American-trained air force has been busy in the skies over the country, but is unable to turn the tide against Isis. "We are hitting them 24 hours a day in Tel Keyf, Khazir, Shalalat and in Mosul," said pilot Raad Faqe, a Kurd. "I have bombed Mosul myself. We do a lot of bombing but our weapons are not good. Our best weapon is the Hellfire [missile]. The problem with Hellfire, it does not cause major damage, but it is good in terms of hitting the target. I fly a Cessna Caravan 202 which is designed for transport purposes but we have converted it into a bomber."
Faqe confirmed that Iranian air force pilots were active above the skies of Iraq. "I have seen with my own eyes that the Iranians have brought Sukhoi planes," he said. "Everything in that unit is Iranian including the pilot and the mechanics. They are in Rasheed base, a huge base in south of Baghdad … the Iranians make barrel bombs and then use Antonov and Huey planes to drop them in Sunni areas. Some Iranian pilots have been shot down.
"When we go to bomb a place, the ground troops don't accompany us. We bomb a place and kill a few, then Isis disperses, but they regroup later."
The pilot said that five helicopters had been brought down by the militants, while another seven planes were put to the torch on an airfield in Tikrit........
.....Iraq's small, American-trained air force has been busy in the skies over the country, but is unable to turn the tide against Isis. "We are hitting them 24 hours a day in Tel Keyf, Khazir, Shalalat and in Mosul," said pilot Raad Faqe, a Kurd. "I have bombed Mosul myself. We do a lot of bombing but our weapons are not good. Our best weapon is the Hellfire [missile]. The problem with Hellfire, it does not cause major damage, but it is good in terms of hitting the target. I fly a Cessna Caravan 202 which is designed for transport purposes but we have converted it into a bomber."
Faqe confirmed that Iranian air force pilots were active above the skies of Iraq. "I have seen with my own eyes that the Iranians have brought Sukhoi planes," he said. "Everything in that unit is Iranian including the pilot and the mechanics. They are in Rasheed base, a huge base in south of Baghdad … the Iranians make barrel bombs and then use Antonov and Huey planes to drop them in Sunni areas. Some Iranian pilots have been shot down.
"When we go to bomb a place, the ground troops don't accompany us. We bomb a place and kill a few, then Isis disperses, but they regroup later."
The pilot said that five helicopters had been brought down by the militants, while another seven planes were put to the torch on an airfield in Tikrit........
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The [F]Utility Of Force.....
This mess requires the right strategy and a full-spectrum, comprehensive engagement plan. It is absolutely NOT Libya all over again, whereby Air Power alone can surgically tip the odds in favour of an indigenous army, fighting against oppression.
I feel this whole thing will likely go terribly wrong before the correct level of engagement by the International community has to commit and try ten times harder to make it right.
Meanwhile the clock ticks....
This mess requires the right strategy and a full-spectrum, comprehensive engagement plan. It is absolutely NOT Libya all over again, whereby Air Power alone can surgically tip the odds in favour of an indigenous army, fighting against oppression.
I feel this whole thing will likely go terribly wrong before the correct level of engagement by the International community has to commit and try ten times harder to make it right.
Meanwhile the clock ticks....
There is a chance that Iran will do a Russia and annex Shiite Iraq [whats left!] and the Kurds may do a deal with Turkey with US/UK help. ISIS will be somewhat isolated and become a den of snakes in the region. Jordan and SAudi together with Kuwait and the Gulf states will have US/UK/West/Israeli support to stop further movement at this time. Watch what happens in Yemen too...
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There is a chance that Iran will do a Russia and annex Shiite Iraq [whats left!] and the Kurds may do a deal with Turkey with US/UK help.
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Whilst there are elements of the Iraqi ****e population who would like that, the current dominating ****e Clergy in Iraqi is not in favor of that from what I understand.
And there are other complicated geopolitical matters that would be highly resistant.
And there are other complicated geopolitical matters that would be highly resistant.
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Iran to grab Basra?
Do you mean Iran to now attack the south, cut across Basra, grab the port, terminals and oil fields and refinery processing? Would they dare? Could they? Would America stop them?
I think they/we would, Robert.
Iranian Aggression in that arena would trigger the mutual defence agreement we have with Iraq. Believe it or not, our pols have offered to support them if they are attacked. IIRC, this goes back to Bush administration, and I don't think Pres Obama has repealed this. It would have made no sense to do so, since both of our governments (for all of their internal imperfections and shortcomings) do not wish for Iran to take over bits of Iraq.
No, it's not NATO Article V, not hardly, but that is one of many deals worked out. It is also in America's political interest for Iraq to remain cohesive, and to oppose Iranian expansion in the region. Has been for about 35 years, that last bit.
Iranian Aggression in that arena would trigger the mutual defence agreement we have with Iraq. Believe it or not, our pols have offered to support them if they are attacked. IIRC, this goes back to Bush administration, and I don't think Pres Obama has repealed this. It would have made no sense to do so, since both of our governments (for all of their internal imperfections and shortcomings) do not wish for Iran to take over bits of Iraq.
No, it's not NATO Article V, not hardly, but that is one of many deals worked out. It is also in America's political interest for Iraq to remain cohesive, and to oppose Iranian expansion in the region. Has been for about 35 years, that last bit.
Faqe confirmed that Iranian air force pilots were active above the skies of Iraq. "I have seen with my own eyes that the Iranians have brought Sukhoi planes," he said. "Everything in that unit is Iranian including the pilot and the mechanics. They are in Rasheed base, a huge base in south of Baghdad … the Iranians make barrel bombs and then use Antonov and Huey planes to drop them in Sunni areas. Some Iranian pilots have been shot down.
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We have spent a great deal of blood and treasure in Iraq over the last few years, and to see it all coming to nought because of this IS scourge is galling.
It's time to go back in with overwhelming force and wipe them off the map once and for all. Anything less and this will drag on for years, and certainly entice Iran to get more involved. Kill this thing now and circumvent any thought of escalation by Iran.
Bob C
It's time to go back in with overwhelming force and wipe them off the map once and for all. Anything less and this will drag on for years, and certainly entice Iran to get more involved. Kill this thing now and circumvent any thought of escalation by Iran.
Bob C
Bob
If it's coming to naught it's not just because of the IS scourge, it's mainly because the various tribes of the region and the two factions of the religion of peace appear to have inordinate difficulty in finding reasons not to slaughter each other. The fact that the Shi-ite side appears to be perfectly happy to lob unaimed barrel bombs indiscriminately into Sunni areas is a bit of a giveaway.
They're not helped by one side being funded by those nice people in Iran (and what's left of Syria) and the other by those nicely balanced folk in Saudi and Qatar.
At this point, it ain't the fault of "the West". People can burble on about Sykes-Picot and Bliar and breaking it and owning it all they want, but that's just an am-dram version of "something must be done". The fundamental bottom line is that a sizeable fraction of these folk can't actually get over their local hatreds to get on with the enjoyable business of living. Instead they'd rather compete in a "Who owns the fewest heads?" competition, funded and encouraged by their rather paranoid neighbours.
Regrettably, no outside force is going to solve this one and certainly not one based on "western" boots on the ground.
If it's coming to naught it's not just because of the IS scourge, it's mainly because the various tribes of the region and the two factions of the religion of peace appear to have inordinate difficulty in finding reasons not to slaughter each other. The fact that the Shi-ite side appears to be perfectly happy to lob unaimed barrel bombs indiscriminately into Sunni areas is a bit of a giveaway.
They're not helped by one side being funded by those nice people in Iran (and what's left of Syria) and the other by those nicely balanced folk in Saudi and Qatar.
At this point, it ain't the fault of "the West". People can burble on about Sykes-Picot and Bliar and breaking it and owning it all they want, but that's just an am-dram version of "something must be done". The fundamental bottom line is that a sizeable fraction of these folk can't actually get over their local hatreds to get on with the enjoyable business of living. Instead they'd rather compete in a "Who owns the fewest heads?" competition, funded and encouraged by their rather paranoid neighbours.
Regrettably, no outside force is going to solve this one and certainly not one based on "western" boots on the ground.
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I agree with Not a boffin.
I can't say I would be overly impressed if yet more lives of our service personnel were lost in this country, for what seems to be absolutely nothing at this point.
This 'war' is political, and it will continue to be fought on the battlefield for as long as all sides involved continue to be arrogant and disregard human life. They need to wake up and take it to the negotiating table where it belongs and it should stay.
I can't say I would be overly impressed if yet more lives of our service personnel were lost in this country, for what seems to be absolutely nothing at this point.
This 'war' is political, and it will continue to be fought on the battlefield for as long as all sides involved continue to be arrogant and disregard human life. They need to wake up and take it to the negotiating table where it belongs and it should stay.
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Not a Boffin,
I agree that this is a problem between the Sunni and Shi’ite that has been going on for 1,300 years, and it will not stop. And the naive opinion by some that this is a political war and can be solved at the negotiating table is absurd. This conflict is about the establishment of a Muslim caliphate and the genocide of all other religions.
The IS is a radical Islamic Sunni sect that is hell bent on establishing a Sunni caliphate in Iraq and the Levant for the purpose of establishing a base for the expansion of Islam and the eventual conquest of Europe and the West. That is from their own mouths.
Iran, which is Shi’ite, will probably react strongly if the IS appears to be about to take over Iraq because they will not want a Sunni caliphate on their border. That will be a confrontation the US and the West will probably not want to get involved in.
If we don’t stop this now, while it is in its infancy, we will have confront it later when it is established and in a much stronger position.
Bob C
I agree that this is a problem between the Sunni and Shi’ite that has been going on for 1,300 years, and it will not stop. And the naive opinion by some that this is a political war and can be solved at the negotiating table is absurd. This conflict is about the establishment of a Muslim caliphate and the genocide of all other religions.
The IS is a radical Islamic Sunni sect that is hell bent on establishing a Sunni caliphate in Iraq and the Levant for the purpose of establishing a base for the expansion of Islam and the eventual conquest of Europe and the West. That is from their own mouths.
Iran, which is Shi’ite, will probably react strongly if the IS appears to be about to take over Iraq because they will not want a Sunni caliphate on their border. That will be a confrontation the US and the West will probably not want to get involved in.
If we don’t stop this now, while it is in its infancy, we will have confront it later when it is established and in a much stronger position.
Bob C
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Interesting article from General Mike Rose in the DM today, saying a lot of things we have all been saying.
Always was a clear thinker !
I fear our panic stricken politicians are leading us into another bloody shambles in Iraq, by GENERAL SIR MICHAEL ROSE | Mail Online
Always was a clear thinker !
I fear our panic stricken politicians are leading us into another bloody shambles in Iraq, by GENERAL SIR MICHAEL ROSE | Mail Online
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As Sir Michael said:
"I am convinced that there is a powerful moral — and practical — case for intervening now against the Islamic State. For what we are witnessing is the terrible consequences of the so-called Arab Spring, so naively celebrated by our leaders just a few months ago. As I have watched and read news reports from this embattled and disintegrating region, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we must intervene to protect the lives of Iraqis and hold back the rising tide of the Islamic State."
But the bigger picture is to protect our own Western civilization from the Islamic state.
Bob C
"I am convinced that there is a powerful moral — and practical — case for intervening now against the Islamic State. For what we are witnessing is the terrible consequences of the so-called Arab Spring, so naively celebrated by our leaders just a few months ago. As I have watched and read news reports from this embattled and disintegrating region, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we must intervene to protect the lives of Iraqis and hold back the rising tide of the Islamic State."
But the bigger picture is to protect our own Western civilization from the Islamic state.
Bob C