Obama’s new Iraq mission: No end date, but not ‘prolonged’

[candelista]

Source: Yahoo News

How long will American airstrikes pummel fighters belonging to the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)? The White House said Friday that the mission is open-ended but repeatedly promised that it will not be “prolonged.”

What does that mean? It means that President Obama wants the maximum flexibility for tackling a dangerous threat to Iraq’s viability while confronting critics in the U.S. Congress and a war-weary U.S. public.

“The president has not laid out a specific end date,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. “We’re going to sort of take this approach in which those kinds of decisions are evaluated regularly and are driven by the security situation on the ground, both as it relates to the safety and security of American personnel but also as it relates to supporting the ongoing efforts of both Kurdish security forces and Iraqi security forces.”

Prodded by one reporter to explain how an open-ended engagement could also not be “prolonged,” Earnest replied: “There are two principles at stake here, and you are insightful to notice the tension between the two.”

“I’m not in the position to offer up a specific date, but I am able to offer a specific presidential commitment that a prolonged military conflict that includes U.S. involvement is not on the table there,” the spokesman said.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-s-new-iraq-mission--no-end-date--but-not--prolonged-211650509.html

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How long? -- "Not long."

[candelista]

1. Of course it's always possible that IS will abandon jihad in a week.

But I don't think so.

[OnyxCollie]

2. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Baclava]

3. I say send in the C-130 gunships and blow up every one of those white pick-up truck convoys

That should take care of about 80% of their "army"


They look like Toyota pirates

[candelista]

4. Underestimating the enemy is why we lost in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

Not smart.

[Baclava]

5. so it's better to kill them all now before they get even stronger

so it's a target rich environment, blow them all up, I get that

but isn't that what they want?

[Ash_F]

6. I am sure that won't come back someday!

[SCVDem]

7. Who is lasing the targets?

The planes are dropping laser guided munitions. They need to have someone designate the target with a laser which the bomb or missle tracks. Drones can do this but I wonder if we don't have spooks or recon in the field.

This is similar to a tv show or movie where the bad guys are sooo bad that you are cheering for them to get it!

ISIS is like that and I have no problem killing the richest and best armed bad guys on the planet.

They asked for it!

[jakeXT]

9. Expansion of ‘secret’ facility in Iraq suggests closer U.S.-Kurd ties

IRBIL, Iraq — A supposedly secret but locally well-known CIA station on the outskirts of Irbil’s airport is undergoing rapid expansion as the United States considers whether to engage in a war against Islamist militants who’ve seized control of half of Iraq in the past month.

Western contractors hired to expand the facility and a local intelligence official confirmed the construction project, which is visible from the main highway linking Irbil to Mosul, the city whose fall June 9 triggered the Islamic State’s sweep through northern and central Iraq. Residents around the airport say they can hear daily what they suspect are American drones taking off and landing at the facility.

Expansion of the facility comes as it seems all but certain that the autonomous Kurdish regional government and the central government in Baghdad, never easy partners, are headed for an irrevocable split _ complicating any U.S. military hopes of coordinating the two entities’ efforts against the Islamic State.

The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government angered Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki when early in the crisis it sent its pershmerga militia to seize the long-contested city of Kirkuk when Iraqi troops abandoned it. Relations have deteriorated since. On Wednesday, Maliki accused Kurdish President Massoud Barzani sheltering Islamic State members. The next day, Barzani demanded that Maliki resign.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/11/4231510/expansion-of-secret-facility-in.html

[Brigid]

8. Please stop me if you've heard this one before . . .