U.S. plans to arm Iraq's Sunni tribesmen with AK-47s, RPGs, mortars

[WhiteTara]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - The United States plans to buy arms for Sunni tribesmen in Iraq including AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds to help bolster the battle against Islamic State militants in Anbar province, according to a Pentagon document prepared for Congress.

The plan to spend $24.1 million represents a small fraction of the larger, $1.6 billion spending request to Congress focusing on training and arming Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

But the document underscored the importance the Pentagon places on the Sunni tribesmen to its overall strategy to diminish Islamic State, and cautioned Congress about the consequences of failing to assist them.

"Not arming tribal fighters will continue to leave anti-ISIL tribes reluctant to actively counter ISIL," the document said, using another acronym for the group which has seized control of large parts of Syrian and Iraq and is gaining territory in Anbar despite three months of U.S.-led air strikes.

A U.S. official said on Saturday that the document was posted this week. Click 1.usa.gov/11nsTuN to read it.

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/11/23/mideast-crisis-usa-arms-idINKCN0J701820141123

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Another step deeper into Hell.

[SamKnause]

1. Breaking News:

The U.S. plans to arm the entire globe.

The U.S. loves to stir up shit and then spread it around generously.

I AM SICK OF WARS !!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM SICK OF the U.S. squandering tax payers dollars on war profiteers !!!!!!!!!!!

[840high]

2. +100

[quadrature]

3. 2nd term... always difficult ...nt

[drray23]

4. great idea

What could possibly go wrong ? Its not like we created the talibans by arming afghans or overthrew the sha of iran and gave rise to the ayatolas. Oh wait..

[Igel]

14. Don't worry.

Remember, there's the winning strategy not of having strategic goals but of not doing stupid things.

And since the President's strategy is a winning strategy, it means that this cannot be a Stupid Thing (tm).

[EX500rider]

17. Actually the Shah was our guy...

....the CIA helped over throw the guy before him in '53.
And most of the money for arming the Mujaheddin came from Saudi and was done in Pakistan so us keeping out of it wouldn't have changed much there.

[jtuck004]

5. Why don't we drop about a billion dollars worth of books and building materials around

the place - mess it up so they can't hardly mount a decent battle against each other without moving a sack of concrete or a stack of books (in theirs and many languages). Anytime they roll out they get bombarded with paperbacks, like hail. Instead of war crimes we could be taken to a tribunal for global littering.

The guns will just be a present for our great, great grandchildren. We are never gonna get a different result if we keep doin' this same shit.

[jakeXT]

8. The bullets can't fly in that environment

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fsu-student-jason-derfuss-saved-book-bag-campus-shooting-n252536

[hibbing]

6. oh great

Gee, I'll have to look at my retirement to see how much I have in "defense" contractors.

Peace

[Shemp Howard]

7. We are arming Sunnis; ISIS is Sunni.

Of course, we are not arming the ISIS Sunnis. We are arming the non-ISIS Sunnis. But the non-ISIS Sunnis might become ISIS Sunnis if the Shia push them (the non-ISIS Sunnis) hard enough.

Got that? If not, let me simplify: We have no business being in that region.

[WhiteTara]

9. We are nuts. We are throwing

gasoline onto a roaring fire. Maybe the aim is that the raging fire burns out by them all killing each other. That's the ticket.

[christx30]

10. I don't see what could POSSIBLY

go wrong. Arming certain groups to fight others has always worked out for us every time. Every. Time.

[Shemp Howard]

12. There is a saying in that part of the world.

I against my brothers. My brothers and I against my cousins. My brothers, my cousins, and I against strangers.

So whom should we arm against whom?

[zonkers]

15. All we can do is hope ammunition has a shelf life.

[DallasNE]

11. Why Aren't The Sunni Tribesmen Already Armed

I think we know that answer. Maliki would not permit it but now he is gone. The Sunni tribesmen have a dog in this hunt, unlike the soldiers we trained for 8 years that just folded when the first shots were fired.

The Iraqi's need to defend their own country and since we broke it we need to provide arms so they at least have a chance of causing problems for ISIL. This is not putting American combat troops in harms way -- something I would be very opposed to.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

13. Points to ponder...

... are these the weapons we confiscated from the former Yugoslavians after the most recent Balkan war? Is the army paying the CIA for these weapons, of course, through a front (oh oh, I better stop here)...

[HoosierCowboy]

16. No body can protect you...

Better than you can protect yourself, if you have something to protect yourself with...

[WhoWoodaKnew]

18. I'm 100% against arming them. But...

I bet that if any of us were in a village and we saw a bunch of terrorists about to slaughter the residents, steal their women, etc we'd throw them a gun (if we had one). We'd probably fight along side them as well.

[lark]

19. The stupid has no end

Like they would have no idea how this could turn out after ISIS and Al=Quaeda started exactly the same way. Does Obama pay any attention to this or does he just sign whatever the generals ask for?