Defense officials are saying that the limited airstrikes against the Islamic State are having the desired effect in that their advances against Kurds have been slowed and the Kurds are taking back some of the places they lost recently. I like that, because the peshmerga will fight the war the way it should be fought – not hamstrung by some stupid ROE. Operation Viking Hammer redux.<\/p>\n
Reports are also that the CIA is working with resupplying the Kurds instead of passing equipment and weapons through the State and Defense Departments which means that the Kurds will actually get the stuff like they should have all along. From Fox News<\/a>;<\/p>\n Lt. Gen. William Mayville Jr., director for operations with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described a stay-the-course approach during a briefing with reporters Monday afternoon. He spoke four days into a renewed U.S. airstrike campaign in northern Iraq meant to drive back militants with the Islamic State (IS), the group formerly known as ISIS.<\/p>\n Mayville said Air Force and Navy aircraft have conducted 15 \u201ctargeted strikes\u201d to date and \u201chelped check\u201d IS advances around the cities of Sinjar and Irbil.<\/p>\n He said the strikes have \u201cslowed\u201d the group\u2019s \u201coperational tempo and temporarily disrupted their advances towards the province of Irbil.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he said, \u201cthe strikes are unlikely to affect [IS\u2019] overall capabilities or its operations in other areas of Iraq and Syria.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That makes total sense. We’re beginning a combat operation with no intention of affecting the outcome. As if Clauswitz never existed or wrote a word. This is a similar situation as the early days of the Afghanistan War when US aircraft supported Northern Alliance operations against the Taliban, but at least the US had the intention of having an impact on the battlefield. I don’t get this crap…is it just so we can be participants from a position where we can still blame someone else if they lose?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"