ME Diary - 14 August 2014

"Islamic State gunmen are continuing their sweep across Iraq and are poised at  the gates of a town just north of Baghdad – despite American air strikes   intended to thwart the extremist group’s advances. 

Commanders from the fundamentalist militia are massing near Qara Tappa just 70   miles north of the capital, according to Iraqi security sources and a local   official. 

The move threatens to broaden the front against Kurdish Peshmerga troops, who   in recent days have been routed from several battlefields across northern   and western Iraq. 

The development came as clashes erupted west of Baghdad and the United Nations   announced its highest level of humanitarian emergency for the crisis-hit   country."  The Telegraph

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 Various stupidities concerning The Islamic State and the combat situation in Iraq and Syria are being broadcast by US media. 

- It is said over and over again that IS's advance has been halted in Iraq, "blunted" by US air strikes.  This is nonsense.  The Director of Operations of the Joint Staff personally appeared in the press briefing room at the Pentagon a few days ago to insist that the small air effort underway had no chance at all of stopping IS or deterring it further gains on the ground.  An attack on a single mortar here, a truck there, is not a serious matter from the point of an aggressive and highly mobile force like IS.  Their response to the air action thus far has been to disperse their assets and units and to move quite a lot of them into towns where the US is effectively deterred from attack.  At the same time they have forbidden the locals to leave the towns.  The Israelis like to accuse Hamas/IJ of using Gazans as human shields.  This is silly.  War is a political process and one uses what weapons one has.  If Hamas or IS had an air force they would use that instead of using the negative political effects on their opponents of civilian casualties but they do not have an air force.  In reality IT is still on the march.  In the last few days they captured several towns north of Aleppo in Syria.  They took them away from other opposition groups. In Iraq they hold Anbar Province west of Baghdad and are positioned 60 miles north of the capital.  IMO, IS is consolidating its gains and establishing governnance in the territory they hold.  At the same time they are receiving volunteer reinforcments from overseas.  It takes some time to integrate new people into the force.  IMO the present situation is merely a pause that precedes a renewal of IS expansion.  pl 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/11033692/Islamic-State-continues-sweep-against-Kurds-towards-Baghdad.html

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"The White House has instructed the Pentagon and the U.S. military to put on hold a transfer of Hellfire missiles that Israel had requested during its recent operation in the Gaza Strip, the Wall Street Journal reports.

 

According to the report, during Israel's Operation Protective Edge, White House officials were dismayed to discover how little influence they wield over US shipments of munitions to Israel against the backdrop of the U.S. government's unhappiness with the widespread damage inflicted upon Palestinian civilians.

During the Gaza war, the report said, White House officials came to realize that large amounts of weaponry are being passed to Israel via direct channels to the White House, with little oversight by the political arena." Haaretz

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This is the measure of the Israeli government's contempt for the wishes of the United States' elected government.  Bibi thinks we are a trivial and easily manipulated people and feels free to abuse our friendhip as he pleases.  In this case the Israeli government sought to corrupt the functioning of the US government by going to civilians in the Defense Department and the NSC staff who would "sign off" on release of these munitions without the approval of the elected government of the United States.  Israel has a lot of friends in the civil service.  It easy to see how this was attempted.  Predictably, the congress has howled its support of Israel.  Natanyahu now says that he will out wait Obama.  pl

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.610493

http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-sway-over-israel-on-gaza-at-a-low-1407979365

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"Defense Department officials said late Wednesday that United States airstrikes and Kurdish fighters had broken the Islamic militants’ siege of Mount Sinjar, allowing thousands of the Yazidis trapped there to escape.

An initial report from about a dozen Marines and Special Operations forces who arrived on Tuesday and spent 24 hours on the northern Iraqi mountain said that “the situation is much more manageable,” a senior Defense official said in an interview."  NY Times

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Here we have an example of another hysterical emotional storm created by US media especially the 24/7 cable news.  The introduction of SF and marine recinnaissance teams to Sinjar Mountain revealed that the "genocidal disaster" so feared in the media did not really require a massive US air lift to remove the Yazidis from their perch.  For several days there was a lot of talk in Washington of an airhead to be established within which  a temporary airfield could be built.   Thank God that rather than relying on social media for intelligence as the Obama Administration tends to do, someone thought to send the hard men to have a first hand look.  pl  

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/world/middleeast/iraq-yazidi-refugees.html?_r=0

 

Comments

[William R. Cumming]

What is the condition of the Iranian, Turkish, and Jordanian and Saudi Air forces? Is my undeeerstanding correct that none of the above have ever entered Iraqi air space except possibly the Turks against the Kurds?

[oofda]

The Isrealis are clearly worried. Apparently, Bibi didn't tell his cabinet about this, and they are 'not amused'. On Morning Joe, Jim Miklaszewski, the Pentagon correspondent, opined that nothing could be done in the Pentagon without WH knowledge, and he questioned how munitions could be given to Israel w/o WH knowledge. For a so-called experienced journo, that is a dumb statement. The mechanizs was in place, just that nobody stopped to think if it was a good idea under the circumstances, and with what the USG was saying about the operation.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.610635

[John Measor]

Indeed, its amazing how the story was manipulated - reading the media I was grinning yesterday when thinking how awkward it would be for U.S. forces, KRG peshmerga, PKK forces and the supposed intervention of similar teams of UK SAS and French special forces could all meet atop Sinjar to 'assess' matters. That would be quite a conversation!

Good thing the reality of the situation was recognized and the Kurdish factions overcame their differences long enough to allow the PKK to craft a corridor for most of those trapped to egress to Syria - from where they can then be bridged back to the KRG.

Crisis averted!

The media heads all seem to miss that the Islamic State still holds the terrain, the dam, and the prisoners they chose to take; and that an officially anointed terrorist group (PKK) did the deed while everyone else sat around dreaming their dreams.

[b]

There never was a siege on Sinjar Mountain. Already on Friday/Saturday two battalions from the PKK were on the mountain range securing it and evacuation thousands of people towards their realm in Syria.

Those PKK people can be seen in this video of the downed helicopter as they help to rescue the wounded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj6WSOMxqyw
Look like a relatively orderly military operation.

The U.S. media would of course not report that the "terrorists" of the PKK were the good ones here.

[Kim Alphandary]

I really wonder what you all think about this...

Gaza, Ukraine and US preparations for urban warfare
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/08/14/pers-a14.html

Quote: In Donetsk and Luhansk, the Pentagon is overseeing something that it views with even greater interest—a full-scale siege of a modern city and a center of the industrial working class of over a million people. Combat in large cities is central to the military doctrine that is being developed by the US armed forces.

and

Quote: the report [listed below] reveals that the Pentagon has conducted “case studies” and “field work” in preparation for such interventions in: Dhaka, Bangladesh; Lagos, Nigeria; Bangkok, Thailand; Mexico City, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil … and New York City.

Megacities and the United States Army: Preparing for a complex and uncertain future
http://usarmy.vo.llnwd.net/e2/c/downloads/351235.pdf

[Ex 11B]

I really feel we are at a serious transitional phase right now. The backwash from 9/11 hysteria is now in full play. Israel may very well be on the verge of self immolation. One too many black kids has received the death penalty for having the wrong ethnicity and sassing the "man". Citizens that understand what Orwell was saying are horrified to see "Death Squads"....er I mean militarized police pointing assault weapons at unarmed citizens who have the mistaken belief that they have any rights anymore. I was taught you don't point your weapon at anything you don't intend to shoot. Apparently cops don't feel the same way.Or maybe they do and the only thing holding them back is all the recording devices prevalent today.

Israel may loose its "special friendship" and cops may loose all that free Rambo(tm)gear. Its called Hubris.
And Hubris is why the ME is on fire and fixing to blow wide open.

And I used to be a big fan of plucky little Israel against all those that hated her so. Just like I used to believe that my service was for the greater good and not just a stint as an enforcer for National Fruit and the Rothschild family. So wonderful to be young and dumb. I know how Smedly Butler felt more and more each day.

BTW, I did a couple of live patrols in the Korean DMZ with less tactical gear than the ST Louis County PD.

Transitional, very transitional.

[David Habakkuk]

A question for all members of this 'committee of correspondence', from wherever they come.

Having quoted the report suggesting that 'during the Gaza war, the report said, White House officials came to realize that large amounts of weaponry are being passed to Israel via direct channels to the White House, with little oversight by the political arena', Colonel Lang went on to write that:

'This is the measure of the Israeli government's contempt for the wishes of the United States' elected government. Bibi thinks we are a trivial and easily manipulated people and feels free to abuse our friendship as he pleases.'

I am agnostic about this. My inclination has been to think that the Israelis are suffering from a bad case of hubris, which will sooner or later backfire upon them, very badly.

However, the alternative possibility is that I have been wrong, and that Netanyahu is indeed a 'realist', whose view of the Americans as 'a trivial and easily manipulated people' is soundly based in a hard-headed analysis fed to him by people like Michael Oren etc etc etc.

I would be most interested to know what other commenters here think.

[Medicine Man]

Col.: What motivates the Kurds in general and the PKK specifically to extricate the Yazidis from their plight? Is there some sense of basic human comity between the two groups or is it more tactical thinking (enemy of my enemy, etc.)? A bit of both?

[turcopolier]

MM

The Yazidis are Kurds. pl

[ex-PFC Chuck]

What do I think? The slow-motion coup that has been underway here in the USA for 30+ years is nearly complete.

[turcopolier]

David Habakkuk

An enormous hubris bolstered by a willingness to abuse friendship that is vulnerable through naiveté. pl

[ex-PFC Chuck]

Perhaps the Israelis have been making good use of all that raw intercept data that they've been receiving for years from the NSA by making sure that our Congress critters will stay on board as they did in their recent Israeli-supportive votes. Perhaps that's why, as LBJ used to say, Natanyahu has Congress's p**kers in his pocket.

[Medicine Man]

Ah, I see. Danke.

[curtis]

I did a couple of live patrols in the Korean DMZ with less tactical gear than the ST Louis County PD

These vets state similar.

https://storify.com/AthertonKD/veterans-on-ferguson

[Fred]

John,

Yes, and ISIS just gave the Kurds the gift of 40,000 civilian refugees to feed. How many sleepers are included is another question.

[Fred]

The cops could do with less gear and more actual training. First off would be a return of actual pschological profiles of potential officers to weed out those not tempermentally suited to the job.

[Fred]

David,

This shows that Jonathan Pollard is not the only one willing to betray his country.

I think it is time for an audit of all US nuclear weapons. What else has been 'transferred' without political oversight.

[Ex 11B]

I think between congressional blackmail and all the Isreal firsters, Bibi thinks he owns us. I don't see any evidence to the contrary. The WH seems to be bucking the trend a liitle bit, but just Hellfires? Call me when he stops all arms shipments.

[Margaret Steinfels]

DH: Hubris or Realism? Perhaps both.

According to Thursday's NY Times U.S. politicians are falling all over themselves to stand with Netanyahu. I was amazed to see that even my borough president, Gale Brewer, is off to join the lemmings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/nyregion/cuomo-arrives-in-israel-as-politicians-scramble-to-book-visits-of-solidarity.html?hpw&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHedThumbWell&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

And then, there is the intimation in the WSJ story (to which I cannot link; Haaretz has a version) that the connections are direct between the militaries and that they don't need political permission or cover. That could be read to mean that Israel's control of the executive branch is equal to its control of Congress. Will be interesting to see if we hear more about who said yes to the Israeli rearming in the DOD or Pentagon, and who told the WH, they had a problem.

[The beaver]

@ex-PFC Chuck

Nah, the Israelis have some good stuff on the Congress people who accept free junket to Israel
(joking) on an annual basis thanks to AIPAC.

[VietnamVet]

Curtis

That is one of the strangest war pictures I’ve seen. Only the transformer and power line in the back right verifies that it was taken in the United States. The weapon, helmet and uniform look like an Israeli guard on the separation barrier. Clearly he is not concerned about snipers only his target. In Vietnam I would have never sat on my ass out in the open unprotected like this if I could avoid it.

The United States is making insane screwed up mistakes like at the beginning of the Civil War not 13 years into the GWOT such as going to war with Russia. I’ve concluded this is because these wars are not being fought to protect the interests of the American people but to inflict chaos on the world to the benefit multi-national war profiteers and looters. The global chaos is blowing back on the homeland.

I am sure that the military contractors and the Israeli supporters will turn on the Hellfire Missile supply line to Israel shortly if not already. This may be finally be a case of where heads roll in the government but for all the wrong reasons.

[Charles Dekle]

Fred,
My brother is a retired cop and he would be the first to agree with you. Well said.
Regards,

[robt willmann]

ex-PFC Chuck,

Correct.

[Haralambos]

All,
In my humble opinion, our ongoing wars over the last 13 years are a direct result of the abandonment of the military draft. The American populace would not have tolerated these foreign gambits of adventurism, if there were true conscription with no college exemptions for those who were "too busy at the time" or "had other things to do," if I recall one of Cheney's excuses. I recall a piece of news from the early days in the Iraq campaign, I believe, that indicated only one member of the Congress had a child serving in our Armed Forces.

[JohnH]

"Anbar Governor Ahmed Khalaf al-Dulaimi confirmed meetings with US diplomats and senior military officials, and secured a promise of not only air strikes against ISIS holdings in the province, but a military presence on the ground."
http://news.antiwar.com/2014/08/14/iraq-escalation-us-troops-headed-back-to-fallujah/

What about the absence of SOFA? Has Maliki or al-Abadi secretly signed one (which is SOP with oil contracts)? Or don't they matter as much as previously advertised?