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2014-11-11 Iraq

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Posted by Besoeker 2014-11-11 01:35|| || Front Page|| [9 views ] Top

#1 As Obama grasps for a winning policy, he is hamstrung by an expertise deficit on the two countries it now finds itself bombing. After U.S. troops left Iraq in 2011, the Obama team failed to maintain a deep roster of officials fluent in the country’s complex sectarian and tribal relationships. In the past two years, meanwhile, Obama’s two top Syria hands departed in frustration. The current U.S. ambassador to Iraq arrived in June from a posting in Amman, Jordan. His predecessor served less than two years in the country. The State Department’s new top Syria official arrived in March from Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, there is no senior U.S. military commander in Iraq today. The air campaign is managed from Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, by Centcom chief Lloyd Austin — although that will soon change, according to a Defense Department official. The Pentagon plans to send a three-star general to Iraq soon to manage the effort from there.

Back in Washington, the Iraq account in the White House technically belongs to a relatively junior national security aide. Biden stepped back from his lead role months ago, before the rise of ISIL, in part because the White House wanted to begin normalizing its relationship with Baghdad.

“The fundamental issue here is, how willing is the president to get involved?” Michael O’Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution, said. “Obama is the person setting the constraints on how much we will do.”

Posted by Pappy 2014-11-11 11:52|| 2014-11-11 11:52|| Front Page Top

Pappy - I'm in negotiations regarding the re-opening of the Mr. Bean koffee shop adjacent the Perfume Palace. Do you want in ?

Posted by Besoeker 2014-11-11 11:58|| 2014-11-11 11:58|| Front Page Top

#3 Merci, non. I still get the twitches when I think of the place. You'd be surprised at the number of startled looks one gets walking through the halls of 'E' ring as an Ensign.

At least I got treated better there than in the Senate Office buildings.

Posted by Pappy 2014-11-11 13:37|| 2014-11-11 13:37|| Front Page Top

#4 Again, the US-West is seen by Analysts as being of the STRATEGIC + LOCAL "DEFENSIVE", relying heavily on [subjectively] MilPol semi-reliable andor un-reliable Local Allies to militarily handle + defeat the Hard Boyz wid minimal US support.

THE ABOVE IS INCONSISTENT WID ANTI-US OWG GLOBALISM + POTUS OBAMA'S "RED LINES" HOW, AGAIN???

By this scope it'll be up to the Guam Police + SAR Rescue Boats + National Guard to stop the Motherly Airborne + Navy of China + its PLA when they attack WESTPAC, ... ... or in alternate the Nukulaar Hard Boyz???

China would like to take over Guam-WESTPAC + minima 1/2 of the Pacific because, among other reasons, in its view post-2015 OWG Amerika's only overseas sovereign State - HAWAII - is in EASTPAC, NOT WESTPAC.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2014-11-11 22:23|| 2014-11-11 22:23|| Front Page Top

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