More on this story from yesterday, for those of us who do not have access behind the New York Times paywall.
[NYTIMES] A secret Pentagon directive It's a secret, so don't tell nobody...
orders planning to try to destroy a militia group backed by Iran, but America’s top general in Iraq cautions of the risks.
Every military operation balances risks with gains. So does every business. So, sometimes, does a marriage.
The Pentagon has ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of American combat in Iraq, issuing a directive last week to prepare a campaign to destroy an Iranian-backed militia group that has threatened more attacks against American troops.
But the United States’ top commander in Iraq has warned that such a campaign could be bloody and counterproductive and risks war with Iran. In a blunt memo last week, the commander, Lt. Gen. Robert P. White, wrote that a new military campaign would also require thousands more American troops be sent to Iraq and divert resources from what has been the primary American military mission there: training Iraqi troops to combat the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
The Pentagon directive and General White’s response ‐ both classified internal military communications ‐ were described by several American officials with direct knowledge of their contents. The exchange comes amid a simmering fight inside the Trump administration over policy toward Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
and the course of America’s war in Iraq, which began just over 17 years ago.
| Rudaw adds: |
So don't tell nobody...
by the US Department of Defense orders commanders to plan for a campaign to destroy Kataib Hezbollah, a militia in Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) which has threatened and carried out rocket attacks against US forces.
Related:
Iraq: 2020-03-27 Norway extradites Kurdish Islamist preacher to Italy
Iraq: 2020-03-27 US Embassy in Baghdad announced today that is providing $670,000 to help Iraq fight the novel coronavirus
Iraq: 2020-03-27 Protesters in Tahrir Square, in central Baghdad, get out of their tents as security troops tried to storm the square
Iraq: 2020-03-27 Norway extradites Kurdish Islamist preacher to Italy
Iraq: 2020-03-27 US Embassy in Baghdad announced today that is providing $670,000 to help Iraq fight the novel coronavirus
Iraq: 2020-03-27 Protesters in Tahrir Square, in central Baghdad, get out of their tents as security troops tried to storm the square
