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2015-06-02 Iraq
Petraeus sez 'ISIS formidable and Iraqis have no stomach for the fight'
[Daily Mail] Former CIA director David Petraeus has said that Islamic State cannot be defeated by the armed forces alone and that there needs to be a dual approach using both politicians and the military.
Foggy Bottom warm glow. Anyone feel it besides me ?
The retired general described the terror group as 'a formidable enemy' that cannot be dealt with 'force of arms' alone.

Gen Petraeus commanded US troops in Iraq and devised the strategy behind the 2007 and 2008 surge in troop numbers in the country which eventually led to them securing support from Sunni tribesmen against al-Qaeda.

Iraq's US-backed army is now battling to retake territory which has since been seized by ISIS.

Petraeus scandal parapraph redacted.

Gen Petraeus said 'industrial-strength' extremists cannot be dealt with 'just force of arms', he said in an interview with the BBC.

He said: 'It is really a conventional army that also has elements of an insurgency, and indeed significant terrorist elements as well.'
A hybrid force then, a downside you predicted regarding the Obama total troop pull-out, but failed to remind anyone of, either here or elsewhere.
But when asked to compare ISIS with its forerunner, al-Qaeda, he said that the terrorist group 'had much greater roots in Iraq and much greater numbers than ISIS'.

He said the fact that ISIS had recently captured the key city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, was 'a strategic loss' but that he believes it will be retaken 'in a matter of weeks or less'.

'You cannot deal with an industrial-strength extremist problem just with force of arms,' he said. 'You have to have that political component as well.'

He added that political changes need be made, starting with the fundamentals: 'The Sunni Arabs have to be given incentives to support the new Iraq rather than to oppose it'.

Gen Petraeus said that the strategy to combat the militants must be refined and augmented and must involve a 'political component'.

He added that he believes Iraqi forces can defeat ISIS as long as they have the right leadership and support.

'During the surge and in the years after the surge, Iraqi forces fought and died for their country at vastly higher numbers than did US and coalition forces. We know that they can fight,' he said.
Posted by Besoeker 2015-06-02 05:42|| || Front Page|| [11137 views ]  Top

#1 I disagree. They can be defeated by armed forces alone. Those armed forces have to have the will to go no holds bar apeshit. Not worry about the UN , Hrw, or the media.
Posted by chris 2015-06-02 06:53||   2015-06-02 06:53|| Front Page Top

#2 He's no longer in the Army.

New day.... new handler.
Posted by Besoeker 2015-06-02 06:55||   2015-06-02 06:55|| Front Page Top

#3 ...however, as a GO, he's subject to recall as are some of the others who've been 'retired'. Any serious contender for the throne should be making lists of combat qualified and proven leaders to refill the upper echelons so DoD can get back into the business of defense and out of social engineering.
Posted by Procopius2k 2015-06-02 08:01||   2015-06-02 08:01|| Front Page Top

#4 Iraq is basically tribal. Religion, whatever perverted form is believed in, is fairly high on the list of things in which to fight. "Country" is somewhere down on the list of priorities for which to fight.
Posted by JohnQC 2015-06-02 09:07||   2015-06-02 09:07|| Front Page Top

#5 ..down below loot, slaves, and whiskey.
Posted by Procopius2k 2015-06-02 09:12||   2015-06-02 09:12|| Front Page Top

#6 Anyone talking about trying to reestablish the Mideastern national boundaries established by the Sykes-Picot Treaty immediately loses all credibility with me. There will never again be the Iraq - or the Syria- of the 20th Century. Future national boundaries will take into account religious, tribal, and ethnic identities.

I could seriously get behind a widespread effort to create a united Kurdistan - formed from Kurdistan territory in Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran.

There will presumably be a Shia state - that might as well be called Persia-Babylon.

There will be a Sunni entity in what was formerly Northwestern Iraq, Southern Syria- and possibly Jordan and parts of western Saudi Arabia

We should get the hell out of the picture - and let the barbarian Muslims slug it out - and let the chips fall where they may.
Posted by Lone Ranger 2015-06-02 10:14||   2015-06-02 10:14|| Front Page Top

#7 ..however, as a GO, he's subject to recall as are some of the others who've been 'retired'. Any serious contender for the throne should be making lists of combat qualified and proven leaders to refill the upper echelons so DoD can get back into the business of defense and out of social engineering. Posted by Procopius2k

Good copy P2k. Unfortunately, I suspect we've already trek'd past that checkpoint :-(
Posted by Besoeker 2015-06-02 10:20||   2015-06-02 10:20|| Front Page Top

#8 May have to rebuild with middle rank and below combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan--that could take some time.
Posted by JohnQC 2015-06-02 10:54||   2015-06-02 10:54|| Front Page Top

#9 "No will to fight" seems to be the meme du jour. Battlespace preparation for the next big pivot?
Posted by SteveS 2015-06-02 11:46||   2015-06-02 11:46|| Front Page Top

#10 'Meme du jour' indeed. Iraq is under the bus.
Posted by Besoeker 2015-06-02 11:54||   2015-06-02 11:54|| Front Page Top

#11 Iraq is under the bus.

Sorry, Besoeker?
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2015-06-02 13:09||   2015-06-02 13:09|| Front Page Top

#12 Yes, quite sorry. The investment of young 19-27 year olds was rather staggering.
Posted by Besoeker 2015-06-02 14:43||   2015-06-02 14:43|| Front Page Top

#13 Let me rephrase it "Sorry enough to continue?"
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2015-06-02 14:45||   2015-06-02 14:45|| Front Page Top

#14 
Posted by  2015-06-02 15:01||   2015-06-02 15:01|| Front Page Top

#15 So, defeat/exterminate ISIS. And then what?
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2015-06-02 15:27||   2015-06-02 15:27|| Front Page Top

#16 Good question! Take a break, re-fit, re-arm, get ready for the next tumor to surface, under an entirely new name, in an entirely new place. No great intellectual mystery to the Muslim modus-operandi. You are no doubt better informed on their hatred and tactics and I.
Posted by Besoeker 2015-06-02 16:35||   2015-06-02 16:35|| Front Page Top

#17 You are no doubt better informed on their hatred and tactics and I.

That's why I'm happy to let them kill each other and destroy the infrastructure.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2015-06-02 17:15||   2015-06-02 17:15|| Front Page Top

#18 Anybody really watch the interview and listen to his words? Carefully pre-scripted as many 'talking heads' from FOX are. Sounded like he was talking from the same "carefully nuanced" playbook as Harf.

With Kerry pulled/'out-on-medical-leave'/'put-to-pasture',JJ and DHS under stress, and Harf reassigned I wonder if Biden is going to resign to 'spend-more-time-with-my-family'?
Posted by Skidmark 2015-06-02 19:06||   2015-06-02 19:06|| Front Page Top

#19 As per #7, see WAFF [paraph] > POSTER THREAD: HYPOTHETICAL POSSIBLE NEW SHAPE [Map] OF SYRIA AND IRAQ.

Post-Partition OR post-Federalist Cantonization.

> ALAWITE STATE [Remnant of Assadian Syria].
> SUNNI STATE = ISIS/ISIL "CALIPHATE"?
> KURDISH STATE.
> SHIITE STATE.

Anti-ISIS Iraqi Rebels = anti-Assad Syria Rebels = FRUSTRATED WID THE BAMMER'S = USA'S INABILITY OR UNWILLINGNESS TO SUPPORT THEM.

* FYI FREEREPUBLIC ARTIC = claims Syria's Druse/Druze may flee to Israel given repor growing weakness or instability of the Assad regime.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2015-06-02 22:23||   2015-06-02 22:23|| Front Page Top

#20 turn your attention to the WMD effort in Iran. Give them a deadline, which of course they will ignore, and destroy the lot.

Isn't their main uranium refining facility underneath a mountain, Besoeker?
Posted by trailing wife 2015-06-02 22:30||   2015-06-02 22:30|| Front Page Top

#21 OTOH TOPIX > [Fox News] PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FOREIGN POLICY MESS.

Again, as I believe him to be a dedicated Anti-US US OWG Globalist, leading the charge for US-led Anti-US OWG-NWO, the Bammer is doing it INTENTIONALLY = DELIBERATELY.

* SAME > [NRO Online] WHEREAS PREVIOUS US PRESIDENTS FOSTERED US STRENGTH, OBAMA REVELS IN [US = PCorrect-Deniable] WEAKNESS.

See above.

* SAME > [Daily Star] "BLESSED" BY BAD OPPONENTS, THE ISIS KEEPS WINNING.

* INDIA TIMES > WHY THE ISIS' FAVORITE TACTIC OF OVERRUNNING CITIES IS BRILLIANT, DEVASTATING, AND INSANE ... ...

But SSSHHHHH .... CCCCCCCC it WORKS.

Multiple Multi-ton Car/Vehicle Bombs booming simultan at one time agz selected priority = hard Iraqi Army targets.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2015-06-02 22:51||   2015-06-02 22:51|| Front Page Top

17:02 Melancholic
16:27 Gravilet Snanter4154
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