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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.
Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Many Topics Including The Oldest Dinar Community. Copyright © 2006-2020



Search found 3 matches for ISIL

Top anti-ISIS US envoy in Iraq after MPs vote in favor of Shiite force - Thu 01 Dec 2016, 7:15 pm

Top anti-ISIS US envoy in Iraq after MPs vote in favor of Shiite force

By [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] [ltr]14 hours ago [/ltr]
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Brett McGurk. AFP photo

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The top US envoy in the fight against ISIS arrived in Baghdad Thursday for “consultations,” days after the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution to induct the US-opposed Hashd al-Shaabi Shiite paramilitaries into the regular army.

“Landed in [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for week of consultations on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] op & longer-term efforts to support [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'s stabilization after [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'s defeat,” Brett McGurk, the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL (ISIS) said in a tweet.

Although there was no hint in McGurk’s comment that he was in Baghdad to discuss the resolution inducting the Hashd al-Shaabi into the army, the US has been consistent in its opposition to the Iranian-backed force, which has been taking part in the anti-ISIS offensive in Mosul. 

The Pentagon said on Tuesday it has not changed its position regarding the Hashd, which is also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and that it is not providing support to the group in the Mosul campaign.

"We're not providing support to the PMF at this time,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said on Tuesday. “We're going to continue to provide support to the Iraqi security forces, and that has not changed," he added in response to a comment about some of the forces in the PMF being implicated in the anti-American insurgency that followed the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Asked whether the US position will change once the Iraqi parliament’s resolution is implemented and the Hashd are formally inducted, Cook said he would have that conversation once the move has been carried out.

"We have stated clearly in the past that we will not support those PMF forces.  If there's a change in the structure, that's a determination that the Iraqis will make on their own and we'll have that conversation at a later time.  But at this point, our position has not changed," he said.

Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, commander of the anti-ISIS coalition’s ground forces, said in the first week of the Mosul operation in October that the allied forces would not support the PMF because it is not under the direct command and control of the Iraqi forces.

The Hashd al Shaabi, which says it has 140,000 fighters, began its offensive southwest and west of Mosul on October 29, almost two weeks after the start of the Mosul operation by the Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi armed forces say they have liberated 23 districts in the eastern parts of Mosul, but progress seems to have slowed as soldiers head to the more densely populated central parts of the city on the west bank of the Tigris river.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reiterated this week that he is confident his forces will recapture Mosul by the end of the year. US officials have avoided giving a timeline for the offensive, while repeatedly stressing that the operation is going as planned.

Putin Names And Shames Obama Into Bombing IS Oil Smugglers - Tue 17 Nov 2015, 4:33 pm

November 16, 2015

Putin Names And Shames Obama Into Bombing IS Oil Smugglers


The U.S. claims it wants to hit the Islamic State but in one year of bombing it never really touched one of its biggest sources of income. Hundreds of oil tanker trucks are waiting every day at IS distribution points to smuggle oil to Turkey and elsewhere. Only one such distribution point was ever bombed and that attack was  by the Iraqi air force.

Now the Russian President Putin played some "name and shame" at the G-20 meeting in Turkey and, lo and behold, the problem gets solved.

The Obama administration recently claimed it would increase attacks on the most expensive Syrian oil infrastructure which is owned by the Syrian government but under IS control. But it said it would still not hit the large truck gatherings.

While the American-led air campaign has conducted periodic airstrikes against oil refineries and other production facilities in eastern Syria that the group controls, the organization’s engineers have been able to quickly repair damage, and keep the oil flowing, American officials said. The Obama administration has also balked at attacking the Islamic State’s fleet of tanker trucks — its main distribution network — fearing civilian casualties.
But now the administration has decided to increase the attacks and focus on inflicting damage that takes longer to fix or requires specially ordered parts, American officials said.


The obvious target to stop the oil trade is to hit the trucks. Without trucks the other infrastructure is useless for IS as the oil can not be sold. With trucks destroyed the men behind the smuggling will lose all profits and leave the business. The "civilian casualties" argument does not hold. There could be warnings to avoid human damage or one could consider that these oil smugglers are dealing with terrorists and thereby accomplices. The real U.S. reluctance to hit the oil smuggling might be out of deference to the Turkish government which of course profits from such oil transfers.

Then came along Russia and its President Putin and demonstrated at the current G-20 meeting that the U.S. is not serious about fighting IS. Today the Turkish journalist Abdullah Bozkurt reports remarks by President Putin from a G-20 sideline event:

Abdullah Bozkurt @abdbozkurt
Putin in #Turkey: I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different #ISIL units by private individuals.

"This money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them”, Putin says
"I’ve shown our colleagues photos taken from space & from aircraft which clearly demonstrate the scale of the illegal trade in oil"


Putin provided that information and the photos yesterday. Obama must have been deeply embarrassed and pissed. Suddenly, a day after Putin exposed the U.S. reluctance to hit IS where it is needed, a big truck assembly was bombed:

Intensifying pressure on the Islamic State, United States warplanes for the first time attacked hundreds of trucks on Monday that the extremist group has been using to smuggle the crude oil it has been producing in Syria, American officials said. According to an initial assessment, 116 trucks were destroyed in the attack, which took place near Deir al-Zour, an area in eastern Syria that is controlled by the Islamic State.
...
Until Monday, the United States had refrained from striking the fleet used to transport oil, believed to include more than 1,000 tanker trucks, because of concerns about causing civilian casualties. As a result, the Islamic State’s distribution system for exporting oil had remained largely intact.


It seems that Putin's naming and shaming with regards to the oil smuggling was successful. We might soon see a similar effect on the financing sources he mentioned.
Posted by b on November 16, 2015 at 12:05 PM | Permalink
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/11/putin-names-and-shames-obama-into-bombing-is-oil-smugglers.html

US Military Head: More Training Weighed for Iraq Forces - Wed 10 Jun 2015, 7:58 am

US Military Head: More Training Weighed for Iraq Forces

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by VOA News June 09, 2015
The top U.S. military officer said Tuesday the overall U.S. strategy in fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq is not in question, but added President Barack Obama is considering further action, including expanding training sites for Iraqi forces.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a small group of reporters during a trip to Israel that it was still 'to be determined' whether more U.S. forces might be needed in such a scenario.
The comments come a day after Obama said during a news conference at the Group of Seven (G-7) meeting in Germany the U.S. lacks a "complete strategy" for training Iraqi security forces.
Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren agreed with Dempsey's assessment Tuesday, saying, "There is a strategy for ISIL (Islamic State group), which I think has been well-articulated."
But in responding to questions about the United States' ability to train Iraqis, Warren said the problem is getting more forces to train, 'the Iraqis need to solve this problem. … We'd like to see more Sunni tribes.
He said the Pentagon is "working through a strategy" for how to train more Iraqi forces and will present that plan to Obama when it is ready.
The U.S. has "seen great success" with U.S.-coalition trained Iraqi forces, Warren added. "Iraqi security forces that we've trained tend to perform well … (they) exercise better command and control … exercise better discipline.'
Criticism
Obama's comments to reporters in Germany, however, brought a round of criticism from many Republican leaders.
Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services committee, said Monday, 'Nearly a year after the president said, 'We don't have a strategy yet to fight ISIS (Islamic State) in Iraq and Syria, he said again, We don't yet have a complete strategy about how to combat ISIS.
"I'd like to see the incomplete strategy. ... I would not like to see ... 75 percent (of) combat missions flown in Syria return to base without firing a weapon, because we don't have forward air controllers on the ground,' he added.
"When is this administration going to figure out that if you want to destroy the enemy, you've got to be able to identify the enemy and that requires air controllers on the ground, and that means U.S. troops?" McCain said from the Senate floor.
Obama has so far ruled out that as a possibility.
Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short also criticized the president's comments Monday.
"When President Obama said 10 months ago he didn't have a strategy to combat ISIS, it was deeply troubling, and the fact he still doesn't have a final plan for the deteriorating situation in Iraq is unacceptable," Short said.
​​Republican House Speaker John Boehner said on Twitter: 'Have repeatedly called upon Pres Obama to develop a strategy to defeat [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. Now he admits he still doesn't have one.'
​​'Not the overall strategy'
When questioned at a State Department briefing Monday, spokesman Jeff Ratheky said Obama was speaking about "how to accelerate and optimize the training and equipping of Iraqi forces, including the integration of Sunni fighters and not the overall strategy to fight" the Islamic State group.
At the G-7 meeting Monday, Obama and Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met in the latest high-level effort to strategize against the militant group that swept through large areas of Iraq a year ago and has persisted in some of its biggest cities despite a U.S.-led campaign of airstrikes backing Iraqi ground forces.
The group has also taken control of areas in Syria.
Obama stressed the need to more quickly train Iraqi troops in order to succeed in fighting against Islamic State fighters, saying Abadi agreed on the desire for more security forces who are 'trained, fresh, well-equipped and focused.'
Obama said the Pentagon is working on plans to boost the training effort, and that those who have been trained are operating 'effectively.' But he said recruiting, particularly from Sunni tribes, needs to be a priority.
'One of the things that we're still seeing is, in Iraq, places where we've got more training capacity than we have recruits,' he said.
​​Up to five years
Earlier Tuesday, State Department spokesman John Kirby said it could take at least three to five years for Iraq to overcome the Islamic State group's onslaught.
Even then, the war effort "has to be owned by the Iraqis,' the retired Navy admiral said.
Kirby appeared Tuesday on an MSNBC morning talk show to try to clarify Obama's comments.
Kirby said Obama was 'referring yesterday to a specific plan to improve the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces, and the Pentagon is working on that plan right now. But absolutely, we have a strategy.'
Asked if the current strategy is working, Kirby conceded 'maybe the way we're going about that needs to be changed a little bit.'
He said the U.S. and its allies could go 'all in,' but he said if the problem is viewed only in a military context, 'it's still going to take three to five years. It's not going to happen overnight.'
Foreign fighters
In Germany Monday, Obama also reiterated the need to stop the flow of foreign fighters, saying thousands of militants are still going into Syria and on to Iraq.
'Not all of that is preventable, but a lot of it is preventable if we've got better cooperation, better coordination, better intelligence, if we are monitoring what's happening at the Turkish-Syria border more effectively,' Obama said.
'This is an area where we've been seeking deeper cooperation with Turkish authorities who recognize it's a problem, but haven't fully ramped up the capacity they need,' he added.
Abadi agreed on the need to keep more militants from joining the fight.
Warren, of the Pentagon, told reporters Tuesday the U.S. is looking for ways to work with Turkey to seal off the border region to stem the flow of foreign fighters, including 'putting direct pressure on those border crossings from the air' and friendly forces on the ground.
​​Humanitarian crisis
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) also said Tuesday Iraq faces its biggest humanitarian emergency in a generation as nearly 3 million people have fled the war-torn central and northern areas of the country, in particular the governorates of Anbar, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, Kirkuk and Diyala.
The group said they were driven from their homes by intense fighting, but help is not reaching those still stranded in no-go zones for aid agencies, Reuters reported.
Successive waves of people forced from their homes over the past year are now stranded in 'grey zones' with no access to the most basic humanitarian assistance, MSF said.
Many in the grey zones north of the city of Mosul and between Baghdad and Anbar are living in damaged buildings without sanitation, clean water, or basic healthcare, and some have been displaced several times, MSF told Reuters.
'Despite the magnitude of people's needs, the humanitarian response has been mostly concentrated in safer areas, such as the Kurdistan region of Iraq,' said Fabio Forgione, MSF's head of mission in Iraq.
U.S. and allied forces conducted 14 airstrikes in Iraq and nine in Syria against Islamic State militants during a 24-hour period ending on Tuesday morning, the U.S. military said.
The strikes in Iraq hit near Mosul, Tal Afar, Baiji, Kirkuk and Makhmur, destroying buildings, fighting positions, vehicles and a rocket system belonging to the militant group, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.
Jeff Seldin contributed to this report from the Pentagon. Some material for this report came from AP and Reuters.


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