Breaking: Obama considering airstrikes in Iraq

[Chef Ramsay]

Here we go again but under a humanitarian banner. So, who could possibly oppose that?

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is considering airstrikes and emergency relief airdrops to help 40,000 religious minorities in Iraq who are trapped on a mountaintop after threats by Islamic militants, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Obama has been looking at a range of options, from dropping humanitarian supplies on Mount Sinjar to military strikes on fighters from the Islamic State who are at the base of the mountain, a senior administration official told the newspaper.

The Islamic State's Sunni militants, an offshoot of al Qaeda who have swept across northwestern Iraq in recent weeks, have even come within a 30 minutes drive of the Kurdish capital of Arbil. They inflicted a humiliating defeat on Kurdish forces over the weekend and prompting tens of thousands from the ancient Yazidi community to flee the town of Sinjar for surrounding mountains.

Some of the many thousands trapped on Sinjar mountain have been rescued in the past 24 hours, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said earlier, adding that 200,000 had fled the fighting.

More...http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/us-iraq-crisis-usa-airstrikes-idUSKBN0G71XJ20140807

[bryant.coleman]

Bad tactic. If Obama is serious about countering the ISIS, then he should give high grade advanced weaponry to the Kurdish Peshmerga troops who are fighting the ISIS in Northern Iraq.

[Bitsaurus]

But but I thought the Iraq war was over 

This is turning into Afghanistan 2.0

[Daniel91]

Bad tactic. If Obama is serious about countering the ISIS, then he should give high grade advanced weaponry to the Kurdish Peshmerga troops who are fighting the ISIS in Northern Iraq.

I also think that airstrikes will not be enough to stop ISIS.
Giving high grade advanced weaponry not just to Kurds but also regular Iraq army is the only way (and the best strategy) to stop terrorist in Iraq.

[bryant.coleman]

Giving high grade advanced weaponry not just to Kurds but also regular Iraq army is the only way (and the best strategy) to stop terrorist in Iraq.

No. The Iraqi regular army is a bunch of cowards, who will abandon their weapons and run away if an ISIS flag is spotted anywhere in the 10 km radius of where they are standing. Already the ISIS has captured a lot of weaponry from the regular army. I don't want that to continue. 

[pedrog]

No surprise, that's the US answer for everything...

United States has a really bad record for foreign policy.

[onlyu]

But but I thought the Iraq war was over 

This is turning into Afghanistan 2.0

Thinking the same. Isn't Iraq war over?

[redhawk979]

Bad tactic. If Obama is serious about countering the ISIS, then he should give high grade advanced weaponry to the Kurdish Peshmerga troops who are fighting the ISIS in Northern Iraq.

I also think that airstrikes will not be enough to stop ISIS.
Giving high grade advanced weaponry not just to Kurds but also regular Iraq army is the only way (and the best strategy) to stop terrorist in Iraq.

A lot of the equipment ISIS has (tanks, weapons, etc), they managed to take from Iraqi army members who fled their positions. Where did Iraq originally get that equipment? Oh right, us.

If you look at Americas history, you'll learn we have a poor track record of shit coming back to bite us years later when we arm a foreign group.

[michaelwang33]

Bad tactic. If Obama is serious about countering the ISIS, then he should give high grade advanced weaponry to the Kurdish Peshmerga troops who are fighting the ISIS in Northern Iraq.

This would not be smart. This is asking for it to end up in the hands of terrorists. I think Obama should never of pulled out of Iraq as they simply did not have the security to do so yet.

The US is going to eventually have to commit troops to Iraq m

[IacceptBTC]

Bad tactic. If Obama is serious about countering the ISIS, then he should give high grade advanced weaponry to the Kurdish Peshmerga troops who are fighting the ISIS in Northern Iraq.

This would not be smart. This is asking for it to end up in the hands of terrorists. I think Obama should never of pulled out of Iraq as they simply did not have the security to do so yet.

The US is going to eventually have to commit troops to Iraq m

I doubt Obama will send troops back to Iraq until at least after the election.

I am personally surprised that Obama is doing anything at all about Iraq considering how he is handling other international conflicts.

[TaunSew]

The headline is false.  Apparently there's confirmations on twitter that aircraft is already flying and bombing in Iraq.  ISIS social media is saying its' taking huge causalities from bombardment.


It somewhat echos what the US media said when the US was redeploying its' Navy to the Black Sea and sending help to the Ukrainians, the help was sent before it was even announced as 'being considered'.

It makes me wonder if the US military is the Kwantung Army.  It can do whatever it want and Obama has to accept it. The Kwantung Army was a Japanese Corp which invaded Manchuria without the permission of the Japanese Diet (democratic council), the Diet was forced to accept it and the Kwantung army soon became the de facto ruler of Japan.
 

[bryant.coleman]

The headline is false.  Apparently there's confirmations on twitter that aircraft is already flying and bombing in Iraq.  ISIS social media is saying its' taking huge causalities from bombardment.

Those are not the US fighter jets, but the Belorussian second-hand Sukhoi jets. And they are being operated by the Iraqi Air Force. Belarus had sold a few second hand Su-25s to Iraq two weeks ago.