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| Iraq |
| Pentagon Chief Says Iraqi Army 'Showed No Will to Fight' in Ramadi |
| 2015-05-25 |
| [AnNahar] Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Sunday that Iraqi forces "failed to fight" in Ramadi, which has fallen to Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... bad boys, adding the troops lacked the will to defend themselves. IS jihadists took control of the strategic city, the capital of Anbar province, a week ago, in Baghdad's worst defeat in almost a year. Carter said the city fell to the bully boyz because Iraqi forces -- despite strength in numbers -- were not mentally ready for battle. "What apparently happened was the Iraqi forces showed no will to fight. They were not outnumbered, and they vastly outnumbered the opposing force, and they failed to fight and withdrew from the site," Carter told CNN. "That says to me, and I think to most of us, that we have an issue with the will of the Iraqis to fight ISIL and defend themselves." In the wake of Ramadi's capture, U.S. officials announced that 2,000 AT4 anti-tank weapons were on the way to Iraq to help Iraqi troops counter massive boom-mobiles. But Carter said training and equipping the army was of little use if the troops lacked the necessary morale. "We can give them training and we can give them equipment and we can't obviously give them the will to fight," he said. But he said he remained optimistic that the situation could improve. "If we give them training and equipment and support and some time, I hope they will develop the will to fight because only if they fight can ISIL remain defeated," Carter said. Iraqi forces on Saturday retook territory from the Islamic State group east of Ramadi, their first counterattack since the jihadists' capture of the city. Three days after taking Ramadi, the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra also fell to the IS bad boys, putting its archaeological treasures in peril and positioning IS for a possible drive on Damascus. Despite the recent losses, Carter said the US-led air campaign against the group, which already controls large swathes of Iraq and Syria, is still working. But he said the air campaign must be buttressed by Iraqi forces on the ground. "Air strikes are effective but neither they, or really anything we do, can substitute for the Iraqi forces' will to fight," Carter said. "They are the ones that have to beat ISIL and keep them beaten." Some have suggested that Washington put forward air controllers on the ground to help pinpoint air strike targets. Carter said that decision had not been made, although he allowed that the strategy could change. "If there comes a time when we need to change the kinds of support we are giving to the Iraqi forces, we'll make that recommendation," he said. "Our efforts now are devoted to providing their ground forces with the equipment, the training and to try to encourage their will to fight so that our campaign enabling them can be successful." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 It could give us a new motto, "Political Appointees Lead the Way!" It's late, but I think Matt just grabbed Snark of the Day. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2015-05-25 23:04 |
| #5 VPOTUS Biden is on post-Carter damage control ... * TOPIX > JOE BIDEN PHONES IRAQ PM TO REINFORCE US SUPPORT [to Iraq's Govt-Army] IN ISIS FIGHT. VPOTUS BIDEN TO IRAQ PM = D *** NG IT, WE IN AMERIKA REALLY LOVE OUR NEW CO-SUPERPOWER SIBLING - WE REALLY REALLY REALLY DO! [LATE GREAT ED SULLIVAN here]. VERSUS * DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAQ INTERIOR MINISTER: "IRAN [Iran-n-Only-Iran] SAVED OUR COUNTRY"! * RELATED SAME > ONLY IRAN HAS CONFRONTED ISLAMIC STATE, IRANIAN PARAMILITARY CHIEF [MGEN Soleimani]SAYS. * BIGNEWSNETWORK > IRANIAN COMMANDER [IRGC Quds Force MGEN Qassem Soleimani]: OBAMA "HAS NOT DONE A DAMN THING" TO STOP ISLAMIC STATE | US [POTUS Obama] HAS NO WILL TO FIGHT ISLAMIC STATE GROUP. Has MGEN Soleimani said "D **** NG IT"??? Not good news - AGAIN - for Guam-WESTPAC + US Allies in East Asia, i.e. per the East-South China Sea + Taiwan. VERSUS * DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Business Insider] US NOW FACES A DILEMMA IN THE ISIS FIGHT. Formal anti-ISIS/ISIL US-IRAN Alliance??? Well, ya know, the US + Iran being SSSHHH ...CCCC OWG Globalist Co-Superpower Siblings ... ... ... And all that. But I digress ... |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-05-25 21:20 |
| #4 Clearly what the Iraqis are missing is Secretary Carter's inspirational leadership on the battlefield. It could give us a new motto, "Political Appointees Lead the Way!", and a new action flick, "Wow, They Really Were Expendable". |
| Posted by: Matt 2015-05-25 12:02 |
| #3 Unfortunately, I do not believe a word Carter says. He is a political tool of a political regime who despises the military and the country it defends. Very simply, you can not expect Shia troops to defend a Sunni city against ISIS, especially if the Sunni do not want them there. So far ISIS' victories have been in Sunni areas. Actually, my reading is that the Iraqi Army was overwhelmed by the IS. The 30 car bombs were used very effectively to eliminate points of resistance. e.g.: IS used 10 car bombs to shatter one side of the Army base's defenses. The rest of the assault force poured in behind them. The Gold Force (Iraqi commandos) stayed and fought, but were cut off and enveloped. They eventually fought their way out. Many Iraqi soldiers "died with their boots on." They deserved better from the Iraqi national leadership and from the White House lawyers that had to pre-approve every bomb, every rocket fired during the battle. Al |
| Posted by: frozen al 2015-05-25 11:08 |
| #2 So, an army rife with political appointees and careerists can't quite seem to be effective in leadership in convincing people to 'die on that hill' (see also - Nigeria). I doubt that the Beltway population has anything to learn from that. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-05-25 09:02 |
| #1 http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/dempsey-iraqi-forces-not-driven-from-ramadi-they-drove-out-of-ramadi BRUSSELS, May 20, 2015 – Iraqi security forces weren’t “driven from” Ramadi, they “drove out of Ramadi,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today. |
| Posted by: BernardZ 2015-05-25 07:26 |