Category: Terror War

The Washington Post reports that the Obama Administration is discussing among themselves how to take a more aggressive stance against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

The White House’s top national security officials met last week and will convene again in the next few days to discuss ways to capi­tal­ize on recent and unexpected gains made by Syrian irregular forces. The administration is considering providing arms and ammunition to a wider array of rebel groups in Syria and relaxing vetting standards, effectively deepening America’s involvement in the ongoing civil war.

Their plan seems to be to only vet leaders, rather than checking the background of every soldier, and the intent is to get more weapons in the hands of unvetted troops. Yeah, I don’t see anything that could go wrong with that plan, well, except the specter of the spate of green-on-blue attacks that haunted our troops in Afghanistan a few short years ago.

The change is driven partly by frustration with the stalemated fight in Iraq, where an Iraqi army assault on Ramadi has ground to a halt and where a much-anticipated offensive to reclaim Mosul, originally planned for this year, may come only after President Obama leaves office.

The Associated Press reports that the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, claims, correctly, that Iran’s military is the best hope for the region. With Iraq’s troops joining the exodus of refugees to Europe, the Iranians are the only force in the region that will deal with the thugs of ISIS in a way that they will understand the consequences of their terror. I’m guessing that Iranian rules of engagement are somewhat less restrictive than those imposed on US or any other western forces.

AFP reports that the Hungarian legislature has given the Hungarian Army new powers to hold Europe’s frontline in the latest crisis there.

Under the legislation, the army can participate in border control and may use non-lethal force, while police will be able to enter private homes to look for illegal migrants.

“Soldiers deployed to the border can use coercive weapons designed to cause bodily harm, although in a non-lethal way, unless it cannot be avoided,” it says, referring to rubber bullets, tear gas grenades and net guns.

Last week, other legislation came into force allowing Hungary to jail anyone caught crossing the border illegally, which carries a maximum fine of five years in prison.

The Hungarians have already fortified the 175-kilometer Hungary-Serbia border which they claim has been somewhat successful in stemming the flow north of supposedly-Syrian refugees. Hungary has already had 220,000 refugees register with the government.

A reporter from the UK’s Daily Mail was able to to buy a Syrian passport and a driver’s license for about $2000 in Turkey, so that’s just one more thing the Europeans will have to sort out. Syrians are more likely to gain refugee status than other nationalities because of the civil war there.

Andy11M sends us a link to Reuters which reports that some of the Iraqis who are supposed to be saving their country from the Islamic State are, instead, throwing down their weapons and joining the refugees headed north to Europe;

A spokesman for the Iraqi defense ministry said the military was not concerned about the migration of soldiers, which he put in the “tens” out of a security force estimated to number in the tens of thousands.

“The armed forces are performing their duties. There is no reason to be worried,” said General Tahsin Ibrahim Sadiq.

[…]

“Iraq is worth fighting for but the government is not,” said a 22-year-old SWAT policeman who decided to emigrate after his brother was killed in battle earlier this year at the northern Baiji refinery where he was also posted.

“There is no concern for us at all. The government has destroyed us,” he told Reuters, saying Baghdad’s failure to reinforce soldiers had caused avoidable losses in a battle that has dragged on for more than a year.

So I wonder where he’s going to go when he discovers that the European governments don’t live up to his expectations.

John Kerry announced yesterday that the US will accept more immigrants in the next two years in order to accommodate more of the refugees from the Levant, according to CNN;

“This step that I am announcing today, I believe is in keeping with the best tradition of America as a land of second chances and a beacon of hope,” Kerry said. “And it will be accompanied by additional financial contributions to the humanitarian effort, not only from our government but from the American people. And that will become more specific in the next days.”

Many of the additional refugees would be Syrian. The U.S. had previously indicated it was going to increase to 10,000 the number of Syrian refugees the United States planned to take in next year; so far this year has taken in about 1,500 Syrian refugees.

This from the State Department which hardly lifts a finger to bring the interpreters and scouts that we used in Iraq and Afghanistan to safety here. We’re not the world’s policemen, but apparently, we’re the world’s Section 8 housing.

The New York Times reports that “the Army” is instructing our soldiers in Afghanistan to ignore the sexual abuse that seems to be part of the culture in Afghanistan. It seems to me that the order to ignore the raping of young children would come from someone higher than “the Army” and if this was the last Republican administration, this would be pinned to Darth Cheney.

Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally “boy play,” and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records.

[…]

When asked about American military policy, the spokesman for the American command in Afghanistan, Col. Brian Tribus, wrote in an email: “Generally, allegations of child sexual abuse by Afghan military or police personnel would be a matter of domestic Afghan criminal law.” He added that “there would be no express requirement that U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan report it.” An exception, he said, is when rape is being used as a weapon of war.

The article goes into the punishment of Army officers and NCOs for interceding in the filthy practice, and the death of one Marine whose father blames the policy for his son’s death. It’s a pretty long article, so I’m going to leave it where it is, but you should read it. But, I’m wondering what exactly we’re supposed to be saving those people from anyway.

Reuters reports that now, after four years of civil war, the displacement of more than 5 million people, more than a quarter million deaths, it’s time to negotiate with Assad to step down from his job as president of Syria. It’s time for negotiation.

Kerry said the United States welcomed Russia’s involvement in tackling the Islamic State in Syria but a worsening refugee crisis underscored the need to find a compromise that could also lead to political change in the country.

“We need to get to the negotiation. That is what we’re looking for and we hope Russia and Iran, and any other countries with influence, will help to bring about that, because that’s what is preventing this crisis from ending,” said Kerry.

We talked the Shah of Iran into stepping down and we put him up on a tropical island paradise. Who knows where the Haitian generals are – we paid them to leave the country and we never heard from them again. I’m sure Assad would have had a cheaper price tag in 2011 when this whole civil war thing began, but now, with all of that death and destruction behind him, it’s a seller’s market. When Assad leaves, all of those loyal government troops will pay for his betrayal of them when he gets bought out.

So, nice timing, Kerry.

Newsweek reports that the Russian Federal Security services estimate that about 1800 Russian citizens have joined ISIS;

Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said at a press conference on Thursday that it believes 1,800 Russians are involved in fighting for ISIS, Russian independent news agency Interfax reports.

Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said that prosecutors have opened criminal cases against 477 alleged jihadists and said that the majority of returning fighters moved to the Northern Caucasus region.

Reuters reports that he Russians are considering whether or not to deploy their own troops to Syria if the government there requests their assistance.

John Kerry is worried about the deployment of Russian aircraft to Syria, according to the Washington Post;

“Clearly, the presence of aircraft with air-to-air combat capacity … and surface-to-air missiles raise serious questions,” Kerry said, responding to a question after meeting with British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond. The Russians have deployed at least one such system, according to an American official, who was not authorized to discuss military matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

[…]

Kerry said the military-to-military talks with the Russians are designed to make sure there are no incidents between Russian and American forces. The discussions also amount to a tacit acceptance of the Russian buildup, after weeks of warnings from Washington against any Russian escalation in Syria.

The Russians, just a few days ago, said their intent wasn’t to engage in combat with ISIS, but to help Assad’s government fight against the rebels. Apparently, they’re considering a change to that plan. Either way, the Syrian civil war is a complete mess and there’s bound to be some screw ups, because bullets can’t tell which side you’re on.

In 2008, “Rafik Y.” was convicted in German courts of plotting to assassinate former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi. He was sentenced to eight years (including time served) in prison. He got out in 2013 and returned to Berlin. The Germans couldn’t deport him to Iraq because his offense could have resulted in a death sentence in Iraq. So they put an electronic ankle monitor on him and turned him loose after he served his sentence.

Well, yesterday, he took off his monitor and began to terrorize Germans on the street. When he was approached by a German policewoman, he stabbed her in the neck with a 3 1/2 inch knife. Her partner shot the jihadist and he died on the way to the hospital. The officer is in critical but stable condition.

Presiding judge Christine Rebsam-Bender described Yousef as “hot-tempered and aggressive” and cited his frequent outbursts, including an attack on a prison guard that broke the officer’s rib.

“Because they are Nazis!” Yousef shouted at the judge.

Intelligence services at the time estimated [Ansar al-Islam – the al Qaeda-connected group he belonged to] had about 100 members in Germany connected to a wider network of supporters across western Europe.

So, you know, it’s a good thing they didn’t deport him to Iraq because they would have executed him there. I wonder how many Rafiks there are in that group of refugees headed for Germany.

The Washington Post reported last night that Senator Lindsay Graham, one of the four Republican presidential candidates who wants to send troops to Syria and Iraq, says that he’ll send 20,000 troops to the region to prevent ISIS from expanding across the Lavant.

“President Obama has made a mess of the world,” said Graham. “Syria is hell on earth.”

Graham blames Syria’s entire crisis on a) Obama’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces — something the Iraqi government at the time demanded; b) on the Obama administration’s reticence to take aggressive action at an earlier stage in the Syrian conflict.

Of course, the reporter, Ishaan Tharoor, blames Bush. Yeah, well, I blame them all. If Congress got off their fat asses and let US oil companies drill and refine our own fuel here in this country, events in the Middle East wouldn’t affect us quite so much. If the White House would come up with a clear plan for destroying ISIS instead of pinprick attacks, we’d have more control over events in the region. Instead of blaming each other, we need to get to work and do the things that got us involved in the Middle East in the first place instead of cleaving to the politics of it all.

By the way, Graham is toast.