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Torpor posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmfsYYbv6G4 FSA & YPG coalition emblem in the top right? That's a new one.
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May 16, 2015 07:44
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Iraq isn't a functional state and many of the locals around Ramadi support Isis. The only thing shocking about Isis in Ramadi is that they weren't running it already. If any non Iranian intelligence service was capable of doing anything useful or competent in Iraq then the last fifteen years of Iraqi history would look very different.
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May 16, 2015 08:13
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Morsi just got sentenced to death.
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May 16, 2015 10:49
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The whole Egyptian revolution and counter revolution has been a farce of the highest order.
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May 16, 2015 10:54
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Brown Moses posted:Morsi just got sentenced to death. Moments like this make me wonder if the Egyptian 'spring' was doomed from the very beginning, or if there could have been something like real reform had the MB not hosed up by ruling in so high-handed a manner.
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May 16, 2015 11:13
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Al-Saqr posted:This opinion is based on nothing, but The fact that ISIS is fast approaching it's 1st year anniversary and not already crushed to bits makes me entirely convinced that there is some kind of intelligence service bullshit going on, I mean, they haven't even been put on the backfoot in any majorly significant way other than tikrit, and now they've got loving Ramadi, there's no way they should have any kind of offensive ability anymore given the forces allayed against them, I am kind of suspecting that something is up, either something like the Pakistani ISI's equivalent of backing the Taliban is going on, or someone is keeping ISIS alive somehow to put pressure on the Iraqi government. They have a ton of private backers, especially in the Gulf states, and the porous front lines and 'borders' make it easy for volunteers and material to keep coming in. As long as their opposition on the ground is a shambles they are not going to be crushed. The air strikes are a major nuisance, but not enough to eliminate them.
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May 16, 2015 11:25
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Best Friends posted:Iraq isn't a functional state and many of the locals around Ramadi support Isis. The only thing shocking about Isis in Ramadi is that they weren't running it already. If any non Iranian intelligence service was capable of doing anything useful or competent in Iraq then the last fifteen years of Iraqi history would look very different. Bingo. ISIS is a rational decision for many Sunnis because they are getting the poo poo murdered out of them by Iraqi militias.
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May 16, 2015 11:33
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They're a poultice on the world, drawing the pus into one location.
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May 16, 2015 13:00
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The Insect Court posted:Moments like this make me wonder if the Egyptian 'spring' was doomed from the very beginning, or if there could have been something like real reform had the MB not hosed up by ruling in so high-handed a manner. The problem is that even if Morsi had the purest of intentions, he needed to rule in a high-handed manner in order to remove the power of the old/new autocratic regime.
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May 16, 2015 13:03
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Egyptians were the farce.
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May 16, 2015 13:37
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Brown Moses posted:Morsi just got sentenced to death. oh come on
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May 16, 2015 13:38
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V. Illych L. posted:oh come on 
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May 16, 2015 13:48
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U.S. special forces apparently are now good to run ops in Syriaquote:US special forces have killed a senior Islamic State member and captured his wife in a raid in eastern Syria, the Pentagon says. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32764995
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May 16, 2015 13:51
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For one second i was confused and i was wondering why they were talking about the Abu Sayyaf group from the Philippines. Too many father of the swordsmith around i guess.
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May 16, 2015 14:00
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J33uk posted:U.S. special forces apparently are now good to run ops in Syria More likely they were being held by Syrian security and it was a caged shoot orchestrated to something something body parts thrown into the Euphrates. I wonder why didn't they just blow him up with a drone which seems more Obama's metier. Asset retrieval? Wife defecting? Semi mysterious, probably won't really be explained. farraday fucked around with this message at 14:12 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 16, 2015 14:09
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farraday posted:More likely they were being held by Syrian security and it was a caged shoot orchestrated to something something body parts thrown into the Euphrates. The NSC spokesperson has a bit more info: https://m.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/16/statement-nsc-spokesperson-bernadette-meehan-counter-isil-operation-sy-0 quote:Last night, at the President’s direction, U.S. personnel based out of Iraq conducted an operation in al-Amr in eastern Syria to capture an ISIL senior leader known as Abu Sayyaf and his wife Umm Sayyaf. During the course of the operation, Abu Sayyaf was killed when he engaged U.S. forces. If I had to guess why not a drone strike, a combination of the White House wanting to see what intel it could get from him and his wife. And maybe they didn't want to hurt the Yazidi girl, since protection of religious minorities is a key stated reason for US operations. It would look bad.
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May 16, 2015 14:18
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Brown Moses posted:Morsi just got sentenced to death. Unbelievable.
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May 16, 2015 14:26
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The Insect Court posted:Moments like this make me wonder if the Egyptian 'spring' was doomed from the very beginning, or if there could have been something like real reform had the MB not hosed up by ruling in so high-handed a manner. die just die e. this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you purge the military after a successful revolution god drat
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May 16, 2015 14:30
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William Bear posted:The NSC spokesperson has a bit more info: Seems kinda thin. Anything like this is a high risk operation despite the fact it seems to have been pulled off flawlessly. Regardless of the undoubted trauma the girls gone through, this sin't the sort of thing you put together on the fly, regardless of what Hollywood would have us believe and the risk is not only to the men but exposing sources of how we're getting intel on their high level people. A commando raid raises far more questions on that front than a drone strike and it seems to me that there's probably a specific tangible reason we sent in troops instead of just blowing him up, regardless of who else was in the building.
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May 16, 2015 14:31
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farraday posted:Seems kinda thin. Anything like this is a high risk operation despite the fact it seems to have been pulled off flawlessly. Regardless of the undoubted trauma the girls gone through, this sin't the sort of thing you put together on the fly, regardless of what Hollywood would have us believe and the risk is not only to the men but exposing sources of how we're getting intel on their high level people. A commando raid raises far more questions on that front than a drone strike and it seems to me that there's probably a specific tangible reason we sent in troops instead of just blowing him up, regardless of who else was in the building. intelligence assets in the area?
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May 16, 2015 14:32
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farraday posted:Seems kinda thin. Anything like this is a high risk operation despite the fact it seems to have been pulled off flawlessly. Regardless of the undoubted trauma the girls gone through, this sin't the sort of thing you put together on the fly, regardless of what Hollywood would have us believe and the risk is not only to the men but exposing sources of how we're getting intel on their high level people. A commando raid raises far more questions on that front than a drone strike and it seems to me that there's probably a specific tangible reason we sent in troops instead of just blowing him up, regardless of who else was in the building. They were trying to capture him: quote:The American troops were trying to capture Abu Sayyaf, who the administration said was involved in the Islamic State’s militant operations and helped oversee its “illicit oil and gas operations – a key source of revenue” for the network. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/white-house-us-special-forces-kill-key-islamic-state-leader-118017.html?hp=l1_3 Seriously you guys are overthinking this.
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May 16, 2015 14:33
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Dr. Tough posted:They were trying to capture him: Point of order, Obama's entire drone strike program is based on the killing of high value targets not capturing of them.The fact they were trying to capture him is probably true, but it hardly explains why. It's not like we haven't been blowing up other high value ISIS targets.
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May 16, 2015 14:39
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It's also only the second time US forces have stepped foot in Syria as far as I know. The last one was easily explained because it was an attempt to break Foley and Sotloff out of prison in Raqqa. Not sure what's so special about this guy that they wanted him that bad, but I imagine a bit more than "oil operations overseer" will come out now that everyone is going to be digging into his history.
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May 16, 2015 14:49
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farraday posted:Point of order, Obama's entire drone strike program is based on the killing of high value targets not capturing of them.The fact they were trying to capture him is probably true, but it hardly explains why. It's not like we haven't been blowing up other high value ISIS targets. Well he had information that they wanted, or possessed objects that they wanted. Also there was a hostage. The US has also captured high value targets before, like the guy in Libya who planned the Benghazi attack. This isn't nearly as strange or odd as people are making it out to be.
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May 16, 2015 14:50
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Dr. Tough posted:Well he had information that they wanted, or possessed objects that they wanted. Also there was a hostage. The US has also captured high value targets before, like the guy in Libya who planned the Benghazi attack. This isn't nearly as strange or odd as people are making it out to be. I'd like to believe the US cared about a random Yazdi hostage, I don't, but I'd like to. And comparing ti to someone involved with  BENGHAZI only highlights the strangeness it doesn't explain it.
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May 16, 2015 14:56
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Al-Saqr posted:I dont know, I'm not even going to pretend that I have any idea, but I'm speculating that someone somewhere in other countries must be funelling money and help to ISIS outside of the organization itself. of course this is just far flung speculative nonsense on my part, just some kind of way to rationalize how they're still able to press forward despite everything. The most likely scenario is that ISIS receives money from the gulf states, primarily KSA and UAE, to help fight their proxy war against Iran.
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May 16, 2015 15:06
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How about implicit support from Turkey, or maybe not so implicit at times?
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May 16, 2015 15:09
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Volkerball posted:It's also only the second time US forces have stepped foot in Syria as far as I know. The last one was easily explained because it was an attempt to break Foley and Sotloff out of prison in Raqqa. Not sure what's so special about this guy that they wanted him that bad, but I imagine a bit more than "oil operations overseer" will come out now that everyone is going to be digging into his history. Technically third, if you count the time we chased insurgents from Iraq into Syria in October 2008 (and Assad bitched about it). It's been suggested that Abu Sayyaf had close connections with Baghdadi and that some of his "communication equipment" was recovered, so I imagine he had some serious humint about ISIS leadership.
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May 16, 2015 17:03
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MothraAttack posted:Technically third, if you count the time we chased insurgents from Iraq into Syria in October 2008 (and Assad bitched about it). It's been suggested that Abu Sayyaf had close connections with Baghdadi and that some of his "communication equipment" was recovered, so I imagine he had some serious humint about ISIS leadership.
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May 16, 2015 17:33
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Regarding the Egyptian kangaroo court, I'm not surprised by this at all, because this is fascists being fascists. But what the Egyptian fascists and elite who support it don't understand is that all they've done is ensure that the next generation of revolutionaries will be deaf to their pleas of fair trials and all of them (including the judges themselves) will head straight to the guillotines and firing lines from the first second the next time an explosion happens.
Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 17:40 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 16, 2015 17:38
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Volkerball posted:It's also only the second time US forces have stepped foot in Syria as far as I know. And therein lies a pretty big caveat.
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May 16, 2015 17:40
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Al-Saqr posted:Regarding the Egyptian kangaroo court, I'm not surprised by this at all, because this is fascists being fascists. But what the Egyptian fascists and elite who support it don't understand is that all they've done is ensure that the next generation of revolutionaries will be deaf to their pleas of fair trials and all of them (including the judges themselves) will head straight to the guillotines and firing lines from the first second the next time an explosion happens. Good because the MB was idiotic and no mercy should have been shown to the likes of Mubarak, much, Much less to the people willing to work for him.
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May 16, 2015 17:46
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Couple of interesting pieces to read for the thread Kirk Sowell on the widening rift between the Shia militias and the Abadi government and the subsequent political jockeying that has seen Maliki of all people return to a prominent media position. Part 1 and Part 2. Michael Knight writing for AJ on the recent KRG visit to Washington with some commentary on the controversial NDAA amendment which would have recognized the KRG as a country in regards to how the US assigns military assistance. Snippet: Al Jazeera posted:Against this backdrop the last nine months have witnessed intensified discontent among Kurdish leaders over the level of US military support to the Peshmerga, Kurdistan's fighting force. In particular, the Kurds have complained that Washington has allocated too small a proportion of its $1.6bn Iraq Train and Equip Fund (ITEF) assistance to Kurdistan. Specific complaints range from the amounts of equipment allocated to Kurdistan, most notoriously the transfer to the Kurds of just 25 Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles out of 250 allocated to Iraq by the US. Slow and indirect delivery of US weapons systems is a connected concern. Washington has chosen to funnel most weapons shipments via the federal Iraqi Ministry of Defence, the only entity entitled by US law to sign end-user certificates (EUCs) for the weapons. The early May visit to Washington DC might have become just another battle in the deepening struggle between Washington and Erbil but the Kurds chose a different approach.
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May 16, 2015 17:49
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farraday posted:I'd like to believe the US cared about a random Yazdi hostage, I don't, but I'd like to. And comparing ti to someone involved with Think about it. The reason that ISIS has been able to keep churning along is that they have some very strong revenue sources which keep them rolling in dough and able to do things like buy equipment and pay fighters. Capturing a senior moneyman, or at least securing his books, is step 1 in identifying and eliminating those sources of income.
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May 16, 2015 18:42
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Zeroisanumber posted:Think about it. The reason that ISIS has been able to keep churning along is that they have some very strong revenue sources which keep them rolling in dough and able to do things like buy equipment and pay fighters. Capturing a senior moneyman, or at least securing his books, is step 1 in identifying and eliminating those sources of income. For context: online sources claim ISIS fighters are paid between $100-$400 (or $1000 if a foreigner) a month, more than any other armed group in the area, including Iraq's army. Anti-ISIS leaders are probably hoping stuff like this happens again: in November, a fighter returned home to India, claiming he was not being paid. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/indian-isis-fighter-who-killed-dozens-returned-home-due-low-pay-militant-group-1477306 William Bear fucked around with this message at 18:55 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 16, 2015 18:52
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William Bear posted:For context: online sources claim ISIS fighters are paid between $100-$400 (or $1000 if a foreigner) a month, more than any other armed group in the area, including Iraq's army. While that's super important for morale do we have numbers of how much/what heavy weapons ISIS are buying from abroad? That is or do they not need to import them because the region is so littered with tanks/ATGMs/etc?
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May 16, 2015 19:01
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V. Illych L. posted:die The military was the revolution though, there was absolutely no chance of the MB purging it. William Bear posted:The NSC spokesperson has a bit more info: So what do we do with Umm's nowadays? Gitmo? farraday posted:Point of order, Obama's entire drone strike program is based on the killing of high value targets not capturing of them.The fact they were trying to capture him is probably true, but it hardly explains why. It's not like we haven't been blowing up other high value ISIS targets. Because those targets are in the middle of hostile territory, not easy to snatch across the border raid targets.
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May 16, 2015 19:01
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eSports Chaebol posted:The problem is that even if Morsi had the purest of intentions, he needed to rule in a high-handed manner in order to remove the power of the old/new autocratic regime. Turning non-Islamists against the MB and his administration so decidedly and pointlessly didn't help to dismantle the deep state.
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May 16, 2015 19:07
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I really wonder what MB would have done with a couple more months. It certainly looks like they were heading in a pretty dangerous direction but who knows.
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May 16, 2015 19:09
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V. Illych L. posted:die Hahahahahahha I didn't realize that Paul Bremer posted on these boards
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May 16, 2015 19:23
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