Did they want the Iraqis to win a great victory over the Islamic State all by themselves? Or did they want the Islamic State to take Ramadi? We need answers, but almost certainly aren’t going to get them from a press that covers for Obama at every turn.
“U.S. Saw Islamic State Coming, Let It Take Ramadi,” by Eli Lake, Bloomberg, May 28, 2015:
The U.S. watched Islamic State fighters, vehicles and heavy equipment gather on the outskirts of Ramadi before the group retook the city in mid-May. But the U.S. did not order airstrikes against the convoys before the battle started. It left the fighting to Iraqi troops, who ultimately abandoned their positions.
U.S. intelligence and military officials told me recently, on the condition of anonymity, that the U.S. had significant intelligence about the pending Islamic State offensive in Ramadi. For the U.S. military, it was an open secret even at the time.
The Islamic State had been contesting territory in and around Ramadi for more than a year and had spoken of the importance of recapturing the city. The U.S. intelligence community had good warning that the Islamic State intended a new and bolder offensive on Ramadi because it was able to identify the convoys of heavy artillery, vehicle bombs and reinforcements through overhead imagery and eavesdropping on chatter from local Islamic State commanders. It surprised no one, one U.S. intelligence official told me.
Other observers were willing to speak on the record about how many had seen the Islamic State’s assault on Ramadi coming. “The operations on Ramadi have been ongoing for 16 months,” said Derek Harvey, a former intelligence adviser to David Petraeus when he commanded the counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq. Harvey said many observers had seen the Islamic State’s series of probing attacks and psychological operations aimed at the Iraqi army and local tribes: “Everyone knew that Ramadi for some reason was a major focus.” He conceded that he did not know the exact timing of the Ramadi offensive beforehand and acknowledged that he was surprised at how effective the operations were….
Zimriel says
Our duly elected government didn’t do anything to save Palmyra either. Here’s the Guardian calling for such strikes on 16-17 May, implying they hadn’t happened:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/17/destruction-palmyra-history-worst-cultural-atrocity
Bamaguje says
This doesn’t look good for Obama administration… and borders on downright reason.
It’s almost as if ISIS knew the U.S. wouldn’t do anything, hence they brazenly amassed forces and equipment in plain view of U.S air reconnaissance.
Did traitor Obama have some sort of understanding with ISIS… to hold back U.S. forces?
David, Thailand says
Doesn’t matter what it looks like for the United States. Barry Hussein is interested only in his own ideology, only part of which involves castrating America in the eyes of the world.
More important, to good Muslims that fool the people into electing them, is to ensure that when his time comes, he will be granted eternal youth and vitality, feast at a three hundred course banquet, and then presented with a palace, eighty thousand infidel servants, and seventy-two houris whose beauty and pulchritude will endure forever, and whose virginity is renewable at pleasure.
Susan says
I really don’t think he would be interested in the virgins, more likely the prepubescent boys.
Arizona says
OH,thats funny,castrating america in the eyes of the world,hahaha,I got news for you,THAT happened 40 years ago,AMERICA has become the shit hole of the world,and their scared to death about it,WE are the last ARMED NATION ON EARTH,and the entire population are COWARDS,they might have guns now,BUT NOT MUCH LONGER,when their SLAVE MASTERS tell them, THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS…THEY WILL,and oboozo and the police gangs and military know it,THE FIGHTING SPIRIT HAS LEFT AMERICA, its gone, NEVER to return…….TORTURE,RAPE AND DEATH are the futures of the people who think slavery is just a comic book story……….
pitchpole says
Bamaguje says
“It’s almost as if ISIS knew the U.S. wouldn’t do anything,…..”
Ding ding ding, we have a winner!
silvergreycat says
update…
*White House: US won’t be ‘responsible’ for ‘security situation’ in Iraq*
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/28/white-house-isis-strategy/
silvergreycat says
update 2…
*Who Lost Ramadi?*
http://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2015/05/27/who-lost-ramadi/?singlepage=true
Don McKellar says
Here’s the dilema:
Either Obama should have walked away totally from Iraq, making it very clear that Iraq was now completely responsible for itself. And then a complete cut. Let the chips fall where they may.
OR
Continue to back them fully, destroy forces like ISIS wherever they pop up.
INSTEAD
Obama has done neither and, as has been the case during his entire failed presidency, he has left a complete mess. And he continues to putter around. Not sure what to do. Trying desperately to refocus attention on his beloved Global Warming fighter legacy thing which he wants to concentrate on during his last few years in office. Absolute delusional insanity — or — crafty Islamic deception to advance Islam? Which one is it? It’s one or the other.
katherine says
When the Imam-in-chief can allow his State Dept. and Homeland Security to smuggle future Jihadis into the country from Mexico ( and get caught red-handed ) you do not need to ask which side he’s on – it’s too obvious.
Angemon says
I believe Obama is doing the former while trying to pretend he’s doing the latter.
Gart says
I agree. I think US ground troops at this time could spell disaster. You would have to defeat IS very quickly, which is very unlikely considering how spread out they are. Does anyone really think the US can enter Syria? What would Iran Russia or China say about that? What would happen if the US forces in Syria or Iraq were again attacked from what is now considered its allies, just like after 2003? The Iraq’s should be defending their own country, they need to step up.
somehistory says
This is not surprising. The beast of islam, exp the isis leg of it, is getting help to grow and gain power and authority. Other legs, teeth, horns, are also busy in iran, pakistan, Africa.
But satan only appears to be winning. He and his *children* will lose in the final battle..
Daniel Triplett says
As a veteran of the Fallujah and Ramadi campaigns, I’ll tell you personally this is heartbreaking and infuriating. Back in ’05 and ’06, we fought really hard and took a lot of risks to take that ground. At least I made it back alive. I saw so many of our finest and bravest Americans come out of there in black body bags. Then fly home chained to a C-5 cargo deck in a flag-draped aluminum box, and be repatriated to the inconsolable wailing of their mothers, widows, and orphans. This is so sad to watch. Everything we did, for so many years, gone. A complete waste of our time, blood, and American money.
There will always be a vigorous debate on the merits and value of Operation Iraqi Freedom. But nothing George W Bush did was ever going to change Iran’s ultimate ambitions for nuke weapons. We can all agree, at least, that Iran must not be allowed to have them.
So in the end, OIF was at least necessary for that. If we’re going to fight the inevitable war with Iran conventionally, we must have forward basing from which to launch our missions. We must strategically hold the territory in Iraq. And we did, until Caliph Ohammad handed it back to the enemy free and clear in 2011. Now he’s going to make the same strategic blunder with Afghanistan.
But as I’ve said before, the best, and only strategy, from my point of view, is to withdraw all friendly forces altogether from the ME, then use nukes to strike one random Muslim target every three days until all Muslim governments surrender Islam, making the practice or promotion of it a capital offense within their borders. We don’t need any boots on the ground for that. We don’t have enough gold or military anyway to invade and occupy every Muslim sovereignty on the globe.
A nuclear warhead is simply a more efficient weapon in the arsenal of righteousness. It’s just a large bomb. There’s no reason at all not to use them. It’s nothing but baseless counter-productive propaganda that’s characterized these necessary weapons as “immoral.” If we don’t use them, a lot of innocent people are going to get nuked by the bad guys when they get them, which they will.
We don’t have time to screw around with this Islamic dick-dance anymore. It’s time to get serious about taking it to the enemy with nuke weapons, in short order.
This has to be intentional aiding and abetting of Islam on Obama’s part. He has plenty of professional Military and Intel Officers telling him the real deal. He just chooses to ignore them. This traitor is the most successful Muslim since the 7th Century. We need the best legal minds in the Pentagon and Capitol Hill to figure out a legal plan to remove the Caliph and Crazy Uncle Joe from power ASAP. We don’t have time to wait.
Bezelel says
Daniel Triplett, Thank you for your service. It wasn’t a complete waste of effort. We can only speculate on what would have happened if we did nothing and as for our military’s performance, it has been better than we deserve considering the degeneration of the voters and persons elected to lead. I’m not authorized to send a nuclear strike but if I were it would be on the table. Actually there are neutron bombs. The soviets called them the ultimate capitalist weapon because they kill people but leave most buildings intact. They have a shorter 1/2 life as well. We both know this quest to appease the mythological moderate muslims game is not over yet. Remember, life is like an analogy.
Daniel Triplett says
Thank you Bezelel. Serving America has been the greatest privilege of my life.
And you’re right, we do have the finest military in the World. If they’re removed from their leash, there’s nothing they can’t do. The less the politicians micromanage them, the better. LBJ picked out ALL the bombing targets during his Thursday afternoon luncheons with the SECDEF. In contrast, Bush 43 selected just two targets total. He essentially just laid out some general objectives, then let the military do its job.
Obama is even worse than LBJ. He sends Susan Rice over to the Pentagon to tell them how to do their jobs. It would be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous.
You know your weapons well. Yes, the neutron bomb is a brilliant weapon, and the brainchild of Sam Cohen, a physicist who also worked on the original Manhattan Project. Below is a link to an interesting interview with him from 1997, where he succinctly explains how it works, and discusses his frustrations with the political obstacles for its development.
As you said, the neutron bomb has no significant blast wave, therefore very little damage to infrastructure. It leaves little residual fallout also, which means the land doesn’t become contaminated for decades. He tested the first one in the ’59-’61 period, but dovish politics prevented its commission until Reagan, with his outstanding strategic vision, built 1000 of them, after a meeting with Cohen, who explained their immense tactical value to him.
Unfortunately, foolish Bush 41 decommissioned all of the 1000 weapons that Reagan built. So now, as far as I know, we have none.
The problem is, virtually every other nuclear state not hamstrung by politics has them, and lots of them. The technology and resources to build them is much simpler than the standard strategic hydrogen type bomb. They can be built with red mercury, and don’t need the plutonium. Even South Africa has them. Israel has hundreds of them. For Israel, the neutron bomb allows them to stop advancing Arab armies and tank columns, without damaging the limited land it has to exploit for agriculture.
This is a fascinating and quick read:
http://www.manuelsweb.com/sam_cohen.htm
Anyway, I’m sure you’ll agree that we just don’t have enough of a conventional military to defeat the widespread Islamic problem. And our dovish public attitudes in the US don’t conflate to other countries who are desperate to get them, like N Korea, Pakistan, and Iran. Once Iran gets them, all the other Muslim countries will want them too of course.
We need to solve the Islamic problem now, before Iran gets them. I’m praying Netanyahu strikes them hard with nukes, because we don’t have time to wait until 20 JAN 2017 just for the chance to get a patriot POTUS.
Netanyahu is on record saying if Israel has to fight Iran in a one on one conventional war, Israel can only stall Iran’s nuke program by two years. So, even Netanyahu knows that the Iran problem won’t be solved conventionally. Their facilities are dug in too deep, and we don’t even know for sure where all of them are. I hope he uses nukes soon. Some Intel analysts estimate Iran already has at least one bomb. They’re just waiting to amass dozens of them and perfect their ICBM technology before launching the Apocalypse.
Oppressaphobe says
O.K. so who on this blog knows how to get the ball rolling for impeachment due to treason?
Can somebody throw up a website and get some support for this action?
We may have to wait until after the election because of the little boys in the republican party but ponder this…
even if there is no will to impeach this president for treason against the United States of America, we can keep up the effort and follow this man and his family to their graves to get justice for the havoc they have wreaked on the country. Instead of creating another Clinton Crime Family out of the Obamas, we NEED TO PUT THEM ON NOTICE THAT WE WILL NOT FORGET THE CRIMES AND THE INSULTS TO OUR COUNTRY AND OUR FAITH FROM DAY ONE!!!
If we don’t do this, like we failed to punish Bill Clinton, then you will have a President Michelle Obama, with a full cast of Holders and Jarretts, etc…Oprah might be Secretary of State (not so bad compared to Kerry).
Point is America, your chickens really have come home to roost because we did not hold Bill Clinton responsible for selling our jobs and sullying our reputation and honor.
Now we have his murderous wife wanting back in!!!
Daniel Triplett says
I wish I knew the legal answer, but I don’t. Congress doesn’t want to impeach him, because they don’t want to replace a dangerous fool, with a crazy fool. When FoxNews asked Rep Trey Gowdy why they don’t impeach Obama, he replied, “Have you met Joe Biden?”
Perhaps if we could connect both of them to treason, we could impeach both, but I’m not a legal scholar. There was so much fraud involved with the 2012 election: With swing states having lots of people voting multiple times, dead people voting, some precincts without even one vote for Romney, and of course the IRS fraud that suppressed all the “Swift Boat” type adds attacking Obama, I wonder if there’s enough to make some hay out of all that. Of course there’d be if the GOP had done that, but it never seems to work the other way around.
I can’t believe how far our country has fallen that Hillary is polling so high. The lack of moral clarity and strategic vision in our population is frightening. She has zero accomplishments, and nothing but a resume full of scandal. The only thing she has going for her is a vagina and her husband’s last name.
Gary says
ISIS started with car bombs in Ramadi and eventually took the town. Now…. The car bombs are going off in Baghdad.
The PUNKS of Islam do not view the west as any threat as they roll across the Middle East.
Matthieu Baudin says
Mr Obama would not wish Bagdad to fall in the closing period of his term in office; likewise Mr Putin would not like Damascus to fall in the coming months. While Kurdish forces have put themselves into the fight, it seems like a lone struggle. Without foreign boots on the ground, Syrian government forces need to be brought into a coordinated coalition defence of Syria and Iraq. This is a diplomatic challenge for the U.S. and Russia if they wish to take it up and surely it could be achieved.
William Lucas Harvey Jr. says
“U.S. Caution in Strikes Gives ISIS an Edge, Many Iraqis Say”.
.
As the Obama Administration uses “Caution” in Airstrikes, to “Protect Civilians”, it IS Actually Protecting Obama’s Islamist “Civilian Friends”.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/world/middleeast/with-isis-in-crosshairs-us-holds-back-to-protect-civilians.html?_r=0
http://www.speaker.gov/general/editorials-president-obama-must-change-course-against-isil-offer-real-strategy
vlparker says
“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam”
“The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer”
“We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country.”
Barack Hussein Obama
mortimer says
Those are some of my least favorite quotes of all time…grrrrrrrrrrr. Obama has botched the whole Near East by dumb remarks like those in his foreign policy. His naivety has been mind-boggling.
All American pols need to inform themselves about Islam by reading Robert Spencers books.
Godwin says
“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” Obama said. Then the future should belong to AQ, Taliban, ISIS, MB, Wahhabi and Boko Haram.
mortimer says
Doesn’t make any sense! Why would airstrikes not ‘nab’ the ISIS advance when they came into the open and were identifiable convoys? SOMEONE WAS ASLEEP AT THE SWITH!
This real estate will cost plenty to retake. They missed an opportunity to hammer the advancing ISIS fighters and vehicles. WHY?
This blunder is the result of poor leadership at the top.
Jack Diamond says
Congressional hearings.
Westman says
This is the same scenario we saw toward the end of the Vietnam War; a US trained force unable to stop an Ideologically driven enemy.
The current enemy has no sense of the value of life, not even their own. The Iraq Army provides the only stable employment so it is representative of people who need money for families rather than professional soldiers or warriors for an ideological cause.
So the conflict is between those who don’t care about dying vs those who highly value their lives. The outcome of an equal number of combatants on each side is already determined before the battle begins. Add to that the superior weaponry of ISIS and the Iraqis don’t have a chance.
It takes more soldiers who care about life to defeat those with a death wish; one to one ratios will not work. The Iraqis must also be better equiped and supported by draconian air support, boots on the ground, and a willingness to permit extensive collateral damage. A “No Prisoners” effort toward ISIS and its supporters would have them facing the same terror they offer. Nothing less will be effective.
The US is crippled by a language barrier and a refusal to see the conflict is based on Islamic Ideology. It’s deja vu all over again.
Davegreybeard says
@Westman
“This is the same scenario we saw toward the end of the Vietnam War; a US trained force unable to stop an Ideologically driven enemy.”
You are on the right track, Westman.
I was there, lived, slept and fought alongside the South Vietnamese troops as part of a U.S. Military Advisory Team (MAT.)
The SVA were there, in the field, because they were being paid to be there. To their (and our) great detriment, there was no ideological indoctrination involved at all – I mean none. So they had no reason to fight except a meager paycheck. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) had daily political lectures, exercises, group chants, etc. to fix very clearly in their minds exactly what they were fighting for.
What we should have done is taught our Vietnamese brothers the beauty of human freedom and the advantages of our system of government – but we did not and so they (and we) failed.
The outcome was predictable. The men, who had clearly defined ideals to fight for, fought with much more spirit, vigor and imagination than those who merely showed up for minimum wage.
So until we are confident enough in our own ideals of human liberty and republican government, to teach it to our “allies” and INSIST that they learn it by heart, we will continue to fail at these endeavors.
Oppressaphobe says
We have all wasted so much precious time trying to decide what this traitor really is and you know what, it doesn’t matter- It only matters what he does but I will tell you what his predominant trait is:
You could call him Muslim, but the radicals would kill him, of course.
You can call him anti-American, and you would be right, even though we scratch our heads because he IS THE PRODUCT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM.
But what most aptly describes Obama is that his mother or grandmother should have spanked his little ass because he is ultimately A SPOILED CHILD AND A NARCISIST.
Try to deny it–you can’t! Once you see this you will never waste your time trying to understand him again.
He said if he had a son he would look like Travon Martin. No! Obama IS Travon Martin. A spoiled little thug that nobody ever could control, cept maybe Michelle.
He pretended to represent the young in America, and they related to his narcissism and spoiled rottenness because we have a lot of spoiled kids in this country. What do you think Ferguson and Baltimore are?
THEY ARE NOT VICTIMS–THEY ARE SPOILED CHILDREN!!! PLAIN AND SIMPLE
America needs to stop spoiling and pampering their children because Obama is the result of bad parenting. Forget all the fancy labels like Socialist, Muslim,Radical.
HE, LIKE THE REST OF THE YOUTH IN AMERICA, IS A SPOILED BRAT..
And this liar does not represent the best of our young people at all. Obama actually represents himself and the OLD ESTABLISHMENT. Look at the money he rakes in! Is this what the best of America’s young people are all about? No I don’t think so at all. He uses climate change to make himself look YOUNG. He is not young at heart-he actually represents the worst of capitalism but he played his cards just right.
Think about this and let’s get our heads on right about the problem we have so we can actually solve it. We cannot leave our children a world like this because we were too lazy to think and act intelligently.
mezcukor says
Obama wants ISIS to do the job for him:get rid of Assad and then all hell brakes loose. ISIS will have a border with Israel. God protects and saves Israel
Lex Loathar says
The reason the US did nothing is the fact that ISIS (Al Queda or whatever flavor of the month name they are) are financed by the US and Zionist entities and are doing what they are paid to do.
Kepha says
@Lex; Pppppftttthhhhhhsssssppppppllllllk! to you, troll.
Dave says
America is ISIS! ISIS was created by the U.S. As a proxy army to be used there, and here to further their goals! It’s funny to watch people go OMG ISIS popped up out of nowhere. Yes, with U.S. Arms and vehicles, and other equipment! Along with “accidental” air drops!
It’s no accident that the borders are wide open! It will not be “just chance” that terrorists slip through, and start attacking Americans, in America! What are you going to do!
Devon Drake says
“Barach Hussein Obama’s ISIS Baby-rapers” can not be harmed. He worked too hard to create them. He had to murder both Stevens and Qaddafi to weaponize them.
particolor says
And since the Reinstallation of The New Moon god Things are going Swimmingly !! 🙁
Kepha says
My guess is that the O knows he’d never get away with more US boots on the ground; while the CIA, DOD, and such know that any intelligence shared with Iraq will probably leak to IS within 24 hours. It’s a lose-lose proposition.