Whatever happened to hopey-changey?

7 November 2014 Last updated at 18:18 ET
Islamic State crisis: US to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq

The US is to send 1,500 more non-combat troops to Iraq to boost Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State (IS) militants, the White House says.

The Pentagon said the troops would train and assist Iraqi forces.

President Barack Obama authorised the deployment following a request from Iraq's government, the Pentagon added.

IS militants control large areas of Iraq and Syria but have been targeted by hundreds of air strikes by a US-led coalition since August.

The 1,500 additional US troops will join several hundred military advisers that are already in Iraq to assist the country's army.

A statement from the Pentagon said the troops would be establishing several sites to train nine Iraqi army and three Kurdish Peshmerga brigades.

The US military would also be setting up two "advise and assist operations centres" outside Baghdad and the northern city of Irbil, the statement added.

"US troops will not be in combat, but they will be better positioned to support Iraqi security forces as they take the fight" to IS, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

He said President Obama would also be asking Congress for $5.6bn (£3.5bn) to support the ongoing operations against IS fighters in both Iraq and Syria.

The announcement came hours after Mr Obama met congressional leaders in Washington for the first time after the Republicans won control of the Senate in Tuesday's elections.

In the eyes of the Pentagon, the Iraqi armed forces are responding well to the training they have already been given.

Its spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said they had "stiffened their spine". So the expansion of the training programme to the north, south and west of Iraq is designed to build on what is being labelled as progress.

But others may see this deployment differently. There are those who recall how, earlier this year, the US-trained and equipped Iraqi armed forces simply crumbled in the face of Islamic State militants.

Rear Adm Kirby blamed the previous Iraqi government for that, and said that the Iraqis were now making gains and that the situation was completely different this time.

The Obama administration has said its aim to "degrade and ultimately destroy" Islamic State militants, who control large parts of the country after launching an offensive in the north in June.

A US-led coalition has launched more than 400 air strikes on the group in Iraq since August, and more than 300 across the border in Syria.

The strikes have destroyed hundreds of the group's armed vehicles and several of its bases, but Islamic State has continued its campaign to establish a caliphate.

Last week, officials in Iraq's western Anbar province said IS militants had killed at least 322 members of a Sunni tribe who had tried to resist the jihadists.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29961084#

do you really have to use Republican talking points as thread titles?

When he acts like one, why not?

you, of all people, should know that the most consistent aspect of US governance is our neo-liberal foreign policy.

anyone who EXPECTED that to change should get on medication, imo.

There is a big difference between this and the Bush invasion. This time the Americans are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. (They've got some strange allies though - Iran? al Quaeda? Hezbollah? the Shia militias?)

So the neocons won and the US is in a state of perpetual war.

oskar576 wrote:

macroscopic wrote:

oskar576 wrote:

When he acts like one, why not?

you, of all people, should know that the most consistent aspect of US governance is our neo-liberal foreign policy.

anyone who EXPECTED that to change should get on medication, imo.

So the neocons won and the US is in a state of perpetual war.

Yee Gads Man! You've just figured that out! When close to half your government resources are expended on your war machine, you have to be in a perpetual state of war. What's more American likes to pretend it's some sort of world dominating power which means it has to exercise it's war machine on a frequent basis just as long as it's not against anyone too tough. (The Grenadans were just about right. It took them three days to figure out they had been invaded and, when they did, they just said "cool, pina coladas are $1.50" and carried on to the beach.) If all that isn't enough, we have their over sized egos coupled with their national paranoia which tells them the whole world is coming in black helicopters to take their moms and apple pie and treasure.

I figured it out long ago and have pointed it out several times and I'll keep on pointing it out.

have been for half a century. that predates even neoconservatism.

I figured it out long ago
Yep!

But Orwell came up with the idea!

that's all you can really do. unfortunately.

We can also push back against the US trying to take over our political system.

"No boots on the ground", eh?

Islamic state crisis: US troops sent into Iraq's Anbar

The US has deployed 50 troops to an air base in Iraq's troubled Anbar province to help in the fight against Islamic State (IS).

A Pentagon spokesman said the troops would examine site facilities and prepare support for Iraqi forces.

The deployment is the first time US troops have been sent to Anbar since US air strikes against IS began in August.

US forces left Iraq in 2011, but President Barack Obama said last week he was sending 1,500 as advisers.

Anbar, now largely under the control of Islamic State jihadists, was previously a base for al-Qaeda in Iraq and a hotbed of resistance to US forces during the years after 2003.

A spokesperson for the US military's Central Command told Reuters news agency the 50 troops would be stationed at the Ain al-Asad air base, the largest in Anbar.

Colonel Patrick Ryder added that though the troops were operating in an advisory capacity, they would defend themselves if attacked.

"A portion of the group consists of force protection personnel and any weapons US forces possess are for force protection requirements," he said.

'New phase'

On Tuesday, Iraqi forces successfully recaptured the centre of Baiji, home to Iraq's largest oil refinery, from IS militants, a senior army commander told state television.

General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said troops had retaken Baiji's local government headquarters and police station.

However a second military official told the Associated Press that intense fighting was continuing elsewhere in the town.

On Sunday, Mr Obama said the fight against IS was entering a "new phase" after four months of air strikes.

His decision to deploy 1,500 extra troops, at a request from the Iraqi government, will almost double the current US contingent in Iraq.

"Rather than just try to halt IS's momentum, we are now in a position to start going on some offence," the president said.

However Mr Obama has been adamant that US troops, which he withdrew from Iraq in 2011, will not resume combat, insisting that they are there to train and advise.

IS has taken over large parts of Anbar province as it expands its territory, currently about a third of both Iraq and Syria.

A US-led coalition has launched more than 400 air strikes on the group in Iraq since August, and more than 300 across the border in Syria.

The strikes have destroyed hundreds of the group's vehicles and several of its bases, but Islamic State has continued its campaign to establish a caliphate.

On 2 November, officials in Anbar said IS militants had killed at least 322 members of a Sunni tribe who had tried to resist the jihadists - but tribal leaders told the BBC the real toll was more than 630.

Troubled history of Anbar province

Iraq's largest province and its only Sunni-dominated one was occupied by US forces in 2003
Hostile to the US, fighting quickly broke out between US troops and the region's Sunni insurgents
The worst battle came in 2004 when thousands died as US troops and coalition forces struggled to take the town of Falluja
Fighting continued in 2005 and 2006 during which time al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) rose to prominence
The US declared victory in 2007 but AQI remained, resuming attacks in 2011 when US troops withdrew
AQI now goes by a new name, Islamic State, and currently controls much of the province[*]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30003441#