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Tag Archives: kurdish

The ISIS Issue…

11 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by Greg in Uncategorized

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air power, Al Qaeda, iraq, ISIS, kurdish, Kurds, military, Peace Corps, Peshmarga, president, Public Health Service, syria, Turkey, US

ISIS is on the verge of claiming another town in Syria, one that could act as a launching point for attacks into Turkey, a NATO member. The Kurdish fighters who are besieged in this town are fighting courageously, holding out against odds that overwhelmed the Iraqi defense forces. US airplanes are bombing positions around the town, providing some relief, but the issue is not air power. The issue is ground support, support that should be coming from the coalition partners, to support the Kurdish fighters. Since barack Obama has denied US combat troops entry into the mission, this requires support from the coalition partners that will operate in Syria, namely the coalition of Muslim nations that have signed on for this effort. But there are no troops coming forward, and this is a bad thing.

We know it’s bad because of the tactical issue: without more support, the town may fall this weekend. But it’s bad on the geo-political strategic level, also. The Kurds are being hard-pressed, and need assistance. If the Muslim nations, UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, came to the aid of the Kurdish people, maybe there would be an opportunity for the long broiling resentments between the two peoples to be settled. The Kurds could feel that they can broker an agreement between themselves and the Muslim nations they live in, and the Muslim nations could get support from some of the strongest, most dangerous, and most organized fighters in the region. The president should have been working to foster that kind of agreement long ago, when he said no US combat boots on the ground. By supporting the Peshmarga in Iraq, and the Kurdish forces in Syria, as well as coordinating support between the groups and the Muslim fighters, maybe something could have been salvaged. As it is, we need to support the Kurdish fighters, as they are the only ones taking a concerted stance against ISIS and their splinter groups.

I do not say the Kurdish fighters are blameless innocents. The Kurds are ferocious, and courageous, and violent. The Kurdish fighters have fought Turkish and Iraqi military to a standstill, and would stop the Taliban in its tracks. Al Qaeda never attempted to subvert the Kurdish people, because the Kurds do not believe in their form of life. For the Kurds to be able to stand as they have, reflects the Kurdish lifestyle, and the hard path the Kurds have had to travel.

The administration’s strategy of bombing the ISIS fighters to “degrade and eventually destroy” ISIS only works if we are willing to use nuclear warheads. This is an unthinkable action. The use of airpower does not guarantee that ground will be captured, fighters on the ground will be subdued or eliminated, and gains will be achieved. Air power is only effective in concert with a coordinated ground campaign. And despite the many pundits elaborating on the media outlets, a ground campaign does not require the use of hundreds of thousands of troops. A decent infantry division, backed by sufficient air power, will make a severe impact and implode ISIS in its tracks. Unfortunately, we have a new-era democrat president, who believes that, like Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton before him, the military can be used piecemeal to affect “Political Changes”, despite the fact that military forces are not chess pieces for politicians. Instead of assigning a substantial number of military troops to support the air campaign, this president sends US troops into Africa to fight a disease. This president has watched Outbreak too many times. The US military is a strategic weapon of policy used to enforce decisions by the civilian politicians, or as a means of last diplomatic resolution to discussions of strategic importance. The US military is not a police or Emergency Medical Response force used to take care of those things that the president deems a problem. Use of the military in such actions degrades the combat effectiveness of the units involved, and reduces the capability of the military to respond to true military emergencies. The activities that president has ascribed to the US military would be better handled by the Public Health Service, the Center for Disease Control, Peace Corps, or any of the myriad NGOs set up specifically already for these tasks.

This president has the lowest approval rating of any president at this time of their presidency. He makes decisions based not on the needs of the country, but on political agendas. Meanwhile, in Syria and in Iraq, thousands daily are being killed, left homeless, or are fleeing one of the most horrendous groups since NAZI Germany. Even the Taliban’s efforts are paling in significance to what Baghdadi and his goons are doing, supposedly in the name of Allah.

If Islam is a religion of peace, as the president continually espouses, why are so many people raped, maimed, and killed in its name? Why are the Kurds besieged by this peaceful religion? When will the peaceful Muslims stand up and say “Enough! This Far and No Farther!” When?

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Most Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

Our Debt to Iraq and the Iraqi People

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by Greg in Uncategorized

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Tags

coalition, debts, iraq, ISIL, ISIS, kurdish, obligation, Peshmarga, president, stability, syria

Over the last two weeks, our military has supported the Kurdish Peshmarga’s fight against one of the most brutal regimes since the Khmer Rouge. Arguably, this group is one of the most brutal seen since the 14th century. The Peshmarga have fought hard to push ISIS from the Mosul Dam, and are working to push them from Tikrit, a city the US and its coalition partners cleared prior to President Obama’s decision to leave the country. The US Air Force have attacked targets of opportunity, clearing roads and sides of roads of ISIS terrorists. However, this is not enough.

The US has an obligation to bring US military forces back into Iraq, equip the Peshmarga forces with armor and weapons, and to push the ISIS terrorists and murderers out of Iraq. We have this obligation because we toppled Saddam Hussein and we promised we would help the fledgling democracy stand on its feet. Yes, we lost nearly 4,500 in Iraq, in eight years of fighting. In the same time frame, there were nearly 350,000 deaths from automobile accidents, and over 42,000 pedestrian deaths. The military’s role is place themselves in harm’s way to insure those who would do damage to us and our allies, don’t. This is the reason for a military. The military is the hard fist used when the velvet glove of diplomacy is ignored or thrown in the face of well-meaning peoples.

We have an obligation to those who were crucified, who were torn in half, who were beheaded, who were buried alive, weeping and pleading. We have an obligation to those left behind, crying over the loss of their loved ones, and their livelihoods, people we pledged to help, to stand by. There comes a time when political maneuvering is not enough. There comes a time when those who claim to speak for humanity, who claim to be offended by obscene acts of dehumanizing atrocities, must stand against the barbarians, whether they are at our gates, or at the gates of our friends and allies. It is not enough to send in aircraft that bomb. That is too indiscriminate, and cannot reach those who have hidden, like rats and snakes, in burrows that cannot be touched with attacks from planes and drones on high. It is not enough to send in “advisors” in small numbers, who, hampered by Rules of Engagements that the enemy ignore, must ask permission from others thousands of miles away before even moving forwarding one mile or more.

No, it is time, and past time, to send in large military presences, to establish or reestablish bases, to force the savages back or kill them in their burrows. It is time, and past time, to stand with and train the Iraqi military to become a true military force, able to stand when pressed, led by able officers and NCOs who look to taking care of their men, not profiting from the logistics supplied to keep those troops trained. Now is the time to work with the Iraqi people to rebuild, and rebuild strongly, their fledgling democracy attempts, to insure no one again can push their way in and rape and pillage their country. And now is the time to pursue them over the border into Syria and complete the decimation of ISIS, lend support to the moderates who would fight against Assad, and help to bring peace to that portion of the Middle East, before the Middle East explodes beyond repair.

Our president must send troops, combat troops, in division or better size, into Iraq, into the north, to help the Kurdish government their reassert control. He must send troops into and around Baghdad, not to besiege the country, but to assist in the rebuilding of the coalition of the groups into an inclusive government. We must do this, because, despite what some, or even many, politicians claim, it is in the US’ best interests to have a stable and democratic Iraq, supporting democracy, in the region. This allows the US to become part of the Middle East peace process, gives us a platform to monitor and oversee Iran’s denuclearization program, provides the US with a stable platform for launching support for piracy and other operations in the Indian and Southern Atlantic Oceans, as well as provide Iraq and its people with a strong ally to prevent other countries or terrorist nation-states from attempting the overthrow of Iraq.

We have a large debt to pay to Iraq and the Iraqi people. We should never have left Iraq without the needed stability to continue building their country into a shining model of democracy in the Middle East. Leaving Iraq was purely a political decision. Returning to Iraq is the correct, humanitarian, and proper thing to do.

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