The US and its allies have carried out 6700 airstrikes at an expense of nearly $4 billion in the year since President Barack Obama ordered a campaign against Islamic State. Yet the terror group shows no sign of defeat and has even expanded its reach.
On September 10, 2014, Obama announced a ?comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy? to ?degrade, and ultimately destroy? Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL), referring to it by the preferred US government acronym, ISIL (which stood for ?Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant?). US drones and warplanes had already been targeting the group since early August of 2014, after IS killed two American journalists it had been holding hostage.
In the announcement, Obama outlined a four prong strategy against Islamic State: while conducting a ?systematic campaign of airstrikes,? the US would ?increase our support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground,? use counter-terrorism capabilities to prevent IS attacks elsewhere, and ?provide humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians? displaced by the group.
Initially nameless, the campaign was dubbed ?Operation Inherent Resolve? in October 2014. Since then, the US and its allies have flown 53,278 sorties ?in support of operations? in Iraq and Syria, conducting a total of 6,700 airstrikes as of September 8, 2015, according to official information provided by the Pentagon.
Some 10,000 IS ?targets,? from tanks and vehicles to trenches and oil facilities, have been destroyed. While there is no official body count, IS casualties were estimated at over 8,500 in May of this year. The cost of the campaign has been estimated to be $9.9 million per day, totaling over $3.7 billion as of August 2015.
The air campaign has certainly produced some impressive-sounding numbers. However, it has done little to fundamentally affect the reality on the ground, where IS militants have only grown stronger. After US-backed Iraqi forces managed to wrest control of Tikrit from IS in April 2015 following months of heavy fighting, US officials began to talk about pushing on to Mosul and beyond. All talk of a quick and easy victory ended in May, however, when IS fighters captured Ramadi and got within striking distance of Baghdad.
Efforts to support local forces ended up snarled in local politics, partisan rivalries in Washington, and the continued US insistence on pursuing regime change in Syria. After the fall of Ramadi, the US sent 450 additional instructors and advisers to train Iraqi government forces, as well as Kurdish and tribal militias. Initiatives in the US Congress to fund the Kurds directly, rather than through the central government in Baghdad, met with opposition both from the Iraqi government and the Obama administration.
Full story here 1yr, 6,700 airstrikes & $4bn after Obama vowed to â??destroyâ?? ISIS, jihadists still on offensive â?? RT News
On September 10, 2014, Obama announced a ?comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy? to ?degrade, and ultimately destroy? Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL), referring to it by the preferred US government acronym, ISIL (which stood for ?Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant?). US drones and warplanes had already been targeting the group since early August of 2014, after IS killed two American journalists it had been holding hostage.
In the announcement, Obama outlined a four prong strategy against Islamic State: while conducting a ?systematic campaign of airstrikes,? the US would ?increase our support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground,? use counter-terrorism capabilities to prevent IS attacks elsewhere, and ?provide humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians? displaced by the group.
Initially nameless, the campaign was dubbed ?Operation Inherent Resolve? in October 2014. Since then, the US and its allies have flown 53,278 sorties ?in support of operations? in Iraq and Syria, conducting a total of 6,700 airstrikes as of September 8, 2015, according to official information provided by the Pentagon.
Some 10,000 IS ?targets,? from tanks and vehicles to trenches and oil facilities, have been destroyed. While there is no official body count, IS casualties were estimated at over 8,500 in May of this year. The cost of the campaign has been estimated to be $9.9 million per day, totaling over $3.7 billion as of August 2015.
The air campaign has certainly produced some impressive-sounding numbers. However, it has done little to fundamentally affect the reality on the ground, where IS militants have only grown stronger. After US-backed Iraqi forces managed to wrest control of Tikrit from IS in April 2015 following months of heavy fighting, US officials began to talk about pushing on to Mosul and beyond. All talk of a quick and easy victory ended in May, however, when IS fighters captured Ramadi and got within striking distance of Baghdad.
Efforts to support local forces ended up snarled in local politics, partisan rivalries in Washington, and the continued US insistence on pursuing regime change in Syria. After the fall of Ramadi, the US sent 450 additional instructors and advisers to train Iraqi government forces, as well as Kurdish and tribal militias. Initiatives in the US Congress to fund the Kurds directly, rather than through the central government in Baghdad, met with opposition both from the Iraqi government and the Obama administration.
Full story here 1yr, 6,700 airstrikes & $4bn after Obama vowed to â??destroyâ?? ISIS, jihadists still on offensive â?? RT News
Now tell me about brave US marines that helping Assad to fight ISIS in Syria right today. The imbeciles like you made my life brighter 
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