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mobby_6kl posted:I get that the Iraqi military is still a mess so "advisors" might be useful. But what was the deal with the requested airstrikes just before? Do they not have a couple of Frogfoots or something to bomb the poo poo out of ISIS ? Pardon the lateness, but I just fell across this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/world/middleeast/31iraq.html?_r=2&partner=TOPIXNEWS&ei=5099 In short, during 2009 the defense ministry 'discovered' that a bunch of Mig-21/23 were lying around in Serbia. Saddam had them sent there for repairs, but because of subsequent sanctions they could not be returned. Serbia were to repair the aircraft on a "rush basis", but I'd guess we would have heard about them by now had they returned?
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Jun 21, 2014 11:23
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Getting fooled by an obvious Photoshop eh guys, the pad is curved/bent yet 'sushi' written on it is as straight as can be.
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Jun 21, 2014 16:14
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Section 31 posted:Anyone up for holiday vacation at Mosul? I like how this was re-uploaded and labeled as if the people are a couple just deciding to vacation in Iraq. I believe this was already posted and I'm pretty sure they are reporters being turned away from entering the city for their own good by Peshmerga. Wonder why they cut the part at the end where the woman makes a joke about the driver having a new boyfriend?
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Jun 21, 2014 16:44
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Zedsdeadbaby posted:Getting fooled by an obvious Photoshop eh guys, the pad is curved/bent yet 'sushi' written on it is as straight as can be. The text is also perfectly lettered, but probably couldn't be printed since everyone is holding ring bound pads.
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Jun 21, 2014 17:27
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Tias posted:Pardon the lateness, but I just fell across this article: That's interesting, it does look like the Mig are probably still parked on cinder blocks somewhere in Serbia. I looked around and it seems they're supposed to be getting a few F-16 by the end of the year, which should work pretty well for tasks like this: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/iraq-seeks-f-16-fighters-05057/
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Jun 21, 2014 19:23
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A poster a ways back suggested Russia would make sense for involvement in Iraq. Apparently Putin agrees.quote:Putin confirmed Russia’s “full support for the Iraqi government’s action to quickly free the territory of the republic from terrorists,” the Kremlin said, adding that Putin and al-Maliki also discussed bilateral cooperation.
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Jun 21, 2014 19:33
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Rip Testes posted:A poster a ways back suggested Russia would make sense for involvement in Iraq. Apparently Putin agrees. So on top of this we have Iran offering local assistance to stabilize the situation the US destabilized, and Russia offering foreign power projection in Syria and Iraq to cool things down for good. I'm not even mad anymore. 10/10, funniest loving war in American history.
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Jun 21, 2014 21:35
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Willie Tomg posted:So on top of this we have Iran offering local assistance to stabilize the situation the US destabilized, and Russia offering foreign power projection in Syria and Iraq to cool things down for good. I wouldn't go that far since the Pig War is a thing, but it does come close.
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Jun 21, 2014 21:40
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Can anyone offer some of the mental gymnastics that'll be performed when Gulf War II is described as anything other than a crushing strategic defeat on all fronts? Like, sure, for better or worse bailing on stated objectives and abdicating the field has become America's foreign policy wheelhouse, but after a certain point even the country that brought you Vietnam revisionism where the hippies and gutless congress were the ones who lost it for us has to admit we hosed the dog harder than it has ever been hosed since maybe Fredricksburg.
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Jun 21, 2014 21:45
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Willie Tomg posted:Can anyone offer some of the mental gymnastics that'll be performed when Gulf War II is described as anything other than a crushing strategic defeat on all fronts? At a guess? The usual suspects will focus on how quickly the Mighty US-Led Coalition of the Willing toppled Saddam's regime (simultaneously puffing it up into something like a credible threat rather than a ramshackle mess), with a fair amount of time spent on just how evil a dictator he was (with not a word said about the WMDs we supposedly were so sure about) and how he clearly was in league with The TerroristsTM. Obama will, of course, be slandered as the Hanoi Jane of the piece who stabbed out brave boys in the back just as they were winning. Meanwhile, historians like me will be drinking (more) heavily, and complaining loudly to rooms of feckless undergrads who don't give a poo poo.
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Jun 21, 2014 21:53
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Willie Tomg posted:Can anyone offer some of the mental gymnastics that'll be performed when Gulf War II is described as anything other than a crushing strategic defeat on all fronts? It's no wonder that the Pentagon doesn't learn from their mistakes, they refuse to admit they've ever failed.
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Jun 21, 2014 22:00
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Look forward to future historians chastising the US for not "finishing the job" during Desert Storm when they talk about the failures of the 2000s Iraq War.
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Jun 21, 2014 22:14
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Willie Tomg posted:Can anyone offer some of the mental gymnastics that'll be performed when Gulf War II is described as anything other than a crushing strategic defeat on all fronts? Bodycount, probably.
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Jun 21, 2014 22:15
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The-Mole posted:Bodycount, probably. Not to mention how we continued to rack up the body count even after we pulled out.
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Jun 21, 2014 22:21
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How many Al-Qaeda are there in the US? Checkmate bitches 
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Jun 21, 2014 22:34
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Willie Tomg posted:Can anyone offer some of the mental gymnastics that'll be performed when Gulf War II is described as anything other than a crushing strategic defeat on all fronts? Hey now. We make better prosthetic limbs than anybody on the loving planet, and it wouldn't have been that way if we hadn't had so many of our bravest get their arms and legs blown off for nothing at all. Oh yeah, we got a ton of new science about traumatic brain injuries, PTSD, etc. Finding something positive out of The Iraq Catastrofuck would be like finding a piece of an old, somewhat-interesting souvenir in the wreckage of your burned-out home. "Oh. Look at that. An old Mickey Mouse ear. Welp, guess I'll go back to surveying the total devastation in horrified silence." Has there been a worse overt foreign policy decision in U.S. history than the one to invade Iraq?
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Jun 21, 2014 23:10
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JonathonSpectre posted:Hey now. We make better prosthetic limbs than anybody on the loving planet, and it wouldn't have been that way if we hadn't had so many of our bravest get their arms and legs blown off for nothing at all. Vietnam, arguably, at least if you include what went down in Laos and Cambodia during/after US involvement.
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Jun 21, 2014 23:30
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mobby_6kl posted:How many Al-Qaeda are there in the US? Checkmate bitches One got elected President. 
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Jun 21, 2014 23:37
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GreyjoyBastard posted:One got elected President. The Kenyan Candidate.
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Jun 21, 2014 23:39
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Iraq has apparently run out of Hellfire missiles. http://abcnews.go.com/International/iraqi-military-hellfires-battle-isis/story?id=24248493 quote:The Iraqi military ran out of Hellfire missiles six days ago, and though the U.S. is rushing more missiles into the country, Iraq has only two modified Cessna aircraft to launch them in their battle against the radical Islamic militia ISIS. I'm guessing at this point that the Iraqi plan hinges on ISIS ultimately being unable to actually hold anything and melting away back into the West after a period of time. Either way, they're in a rough place right now.
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Jun 22, 2014 01:11
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Don't tell me for a second you aren't loving the image of a Cessna packing a rack of hellfires.
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Jun 22, 2014 01:14
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Maybe the Iraqi government thinks the Futurama Killbot kill limit is real and ISIS has it?
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Jun 22, 2014 01:21
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Iraq 2 won't be considered a failure if the US gets concessions from the Iraqi government that it wants. The most obvious one would be a military base with permanent American/NATO presence. The location is perfect: right next to Iran, close to its ally Israel and another "ally" Saudi Arabia. What Americans are doing right now is not incompetence, they are waiting for poo poo to get Real Bad in Iraq and for Maliki to throw his hands in the air and give them what they want. Alternatively, Maliki can be forced out through external and internal pressure and replaced with a more pro-American figure who would give the US what they want.
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Jun 22, 2014 01:21
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Pycckuu posted:Iraq 2 won't be considered a failure if the US gets concessions from the Iraqi government that it wants. The most obvious one would be a military base with permanent American/NATO presence. The location is perfect: right next to Iran, close to its ally Israel and another "ally" Saudi Arabia. What Americans are doing right now is not incompetence, they are waiting for poo poo to get Real Bad in Iraq and for Maliki to throw his hands in the air and give them what they want. Alternatively, Maliki can be forced out through external and internal pressure and replaced with a more pro-American figure who would give the US what they want. Wait by Iraq 2 do you mean the current crisis? Because we're on Iraq 3 now, even with all that stuff Iraq 2 is still a failure
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Jun 22, 2014 01:38
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illrepute posted:Don't tell me for a second you aren't loving the image of a Cessna packing a rack of hellfires. I am almost certain some lunatic has modded one into Arma at this point.
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Jun 22, 2014 01:47
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I haven't really been keeping up with the Iraq mess, anyone mind doing a quick summary about what the hell is going on?
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Jun 22, 2014 01:52
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illrepute posted:Don't tell me for a second you aren't loving the image of a Cessna packing a rack of hellfires. Only one per wing, actually.
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Jun 22, 2014 01:53
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James The 1st posted:I haven't really been keeping up with the Iraq mess, anyone mind doing a quick summary about what the hell is going on? God is real, and he hates us.
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Jun 22, 2014 01:55
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J33uk posted:Iraq has apparently run out of Hellfire missiles. Holy crap. I had to look it up but Wikipedia says a brigade is 3,000-5,000 soldiers...
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Jun 22, 2014 02:02
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James The 1st posted:I haven't really been keeping up with the Iraq mess, anyone mind doing a quick summary about what the hell is going on? Death is certain.
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Jun 22, 2014 02:03
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Does ISIS even stand a chance with the US getting involved? I can't see them winning when the US, Iran, Turkey, SA, Russia are against them...
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Jun 22, 2014 02:04
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Zeno-25 posted:Holy crap. I had to look it up but Wikipedia says a brigade is 3,000-5,000 soldiers... In the Middle East, it's quite common to use the word "brigade" to describe company-sized units.
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Jun 22, 2014 02:05
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ThirdPartyView posted:Maybe the Iraqi government thinks the Futurama Killbot kill limit is real and ISIS has it? That's not a joking matter in Iraq, considering Iran's tactic thirty years ago of attacking with so many child soldiers that it demoralized the Iraqi army to shoot them all.
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Jun 22, 2014 02:09
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Tab8715 posted:Does ISIS even stand a chance with the US getting involved? I can't see them winning when the US, Iran, Turkey, SA, Russia are against them... Depends on just how involved those nations are willing to get. ISIS sure as hell isn't going to reform the Caliphate, but there's not really any reason that they couldn't hold a substantial part of the country for an extended period.
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Jun 22, 2014 02:09
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James The 1st posted:I haven't really been keeping up with the Iraq mess, anyone mind doing a quick summary about what the hell is going on? Imagine two sects on the edge of a cliff. Iraq works the same way.
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Jun 22, 2014 02:10
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Zeno-25 posted:Holy crap. I had to look it up but Wikipedia says a brigade is 3,000-5,000 soldiers... Yeah, don't take that too literally. Between sloppy translation and the lack of uniformity in organization from one military to the next (especially in developing countries) that could be almost any size of unit.
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Jun 22, 2014 02:22
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James The 1st posted:I haven't really been keeping up with the Iraq mess, anyone mind doing a quick summary about what the hell is going on? Americans invade Iraq, destabilize middle east Arab Spring leads to Syrian Civil war Syrian civil war is joined by Iraqi fighters, coalescing under the ISIS banner. ISIS fighters carve out a base of operations in Euphrates headwaters ISIS fighters carry out a lightning advance through the Euphrates river valley Government forces retreat to Baghdad and Shite majority provinces to the south Kurds expand their borders to incorporate traditionally kurdish cities list not comprehensive.
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Jun 22, 2014 02:45
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James The 1st posted:I haven't really been keeping up with the Iraq mess, anyone mind doing a quick summary about what the hell is going on? So it kinda start in Syria, where a bunch of the more radical fighters, esp. the foreigners, who'd been shooting at 'Mericans in Iraq went to join the party forming ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/the Levant (depends on how you interpret the Arabic)). After getting some more blooding and weaponry in Syria they poked back over to Iraq where, possibly aided by pre-planned defections/desertions and certainly aided by a long simmering but underreported turf war, the suddenly launched a lighting takeover of areas outside the traditionally Sunni strongholds. Fallujah, for instance, had been out of the government's hand for a long time but the media didn't real freak because it's Fallujah so of course it's a mess. Anyway, basically the Shia govt. were dicks to the Sunni's who happened to have a bunch of nutjob extremists on tap, now nutjob extremists are shuttling arms/supplies/fighters between Syria and Iraq at will and the Iraqi army has hit a sort of terminal tailspin. Losses, esp. ones that involve routs and desertions, have a way of compounding. Various forces- American airpower, American spec ops, Iranian spec ops, and Shia Meanwhile the Iraqi Kurds are basically saying "gently caress it" and moving even further towards true autonomy.
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Jun 22, 2014 02:45
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JonathonSpectre posted:Hey now. We make better prosthetic limbs than anybody on the loving planet, and it wouldn't have been that way if we hadn't had so many of our bravest get their arms and legs blown off for nothing at all. Did save Gabby Gifford's life. It's not worth the pain and suffering otherwise, but the improved responses from the Boston Bombing are pretty much entirely due to Iraq as well.
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Jun 22, 2014 04:51
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AATREK CURES KIDS posted:That's not a joking matter in Iraq, considering Iran's tactic thirty years ago of attacking with so many child soldiers that it demoralized the Iraqi army to shoot them all. Pretty sure this is apocryphal? They may have taken huge casualties during their attacks, but the notion that they used child soldiers as living shields or whatever is mostly propaganda trying to play up the brutality of the Iranian regime. (Which is pretty brutal, to be sure.)
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Jun 22, 2014 05:48
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