1yr, 6,700 airstrikes & $4bn after Obama vowed to ?destroy? ISIS, jihadists still on offensive
 

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.

http://cdn.rt.com/files/2015.09/orig...d5688b45ca.jpg


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

The GW Bush administration spent and ran up a debt of $2+ trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the result?

Stupid Americans ( my countrymen ) never learn ...

Complete pullout of the Middle East.

Iran has its bomb. We don't need the oil.

"Preventative" measures have made little headway.

Let them figure it out.

Bombing of civilian cities is cool - Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Yugoslavia, Libya etc is the exclusive American style ;) I just wonder how long it will take to the brave US marines to join Russian ones for fighting ISIS like real men in the land operation? Years? :)

according to other reports, IS has been beaten back ~30% (6000 square miles) due to the airstrikes.

http://i.imgur.com/Il5s5dE.jpg

ISIS was the result

Isis were jihadists group created in 1999 via funding from osame bin laden.

They're able to flourish because of the destabilization of Iraq and the entire region -- which was created by....you guessed it. The invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam Hussein.

That pivotal moment has reshaped the entire region into a worse hornet's nest than it already was. Far worse.

By the way, ISIS was a spinoff from Al Queda, and they didn't exist as that until after the invasion. They were established by Zarquawi in 2004, and not something you could call formidable until Al Quada was on the decline.

I'll expect you to defend any Republican involvement in the situation, because it's your default position to defend the indefensible. Obama's just dealing with the hand he was dealt by a predecessor. At least he fucking got Bin Laden.

See: Myth of the Hydra
HYDRA LERNAEAN : Giant serpent of Lerna, labor Heracles ; Greek mythology

you're the one that clings to making things political, not me. i tend to side with facts, regardless of red v blue. trying to spin my including facts in this as me being a fucking republican apologist? wrong.

here's some more razzle dazzle for the fact deniers.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a Jordanian Jihadist who had traveled to Afghanistan to fight in the Soviet-Afghan War, but he arrived after the departure of the Soviet troops and soon returned to his homeland. He eventually returned to Afghanistan, running an Islamic militant training camp near Herat.

A report released by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in mid-2014 describes Al-Zarqawi as starting his jihadist group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, with Jordanian and other Sunni Jihadist militants, in 1999 in Afghanistan with its training camp in Herat, Afghanistan, and with "a small amount of seed money" from Usama bin Laden "which continued until 9/11"

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/u...e_20_Zelin.pdf

Fixed for you. And nobody knows how long it will least... The US administration made just another pain ass. Not for just a region, but for whole Europe and themselves too.

Exactly. There was no ISIS nor Al-Qaeda or any other Islamic territory on the Iraqi territory when it was under Saddam. The same applies to Syria.

more facts proving ISIS would exist regardless of USA and was around before 9/11 even::::::::

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's interpretation of Islamic takfir — accusing another Muslim of heresy and thereby justifying his killing — was extreme, which caused friction between him and Osama bin Laden. On his first meeting with Bin Laden in 1999, Zarqawi reportedly declared: "Shiites should be executed".

The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - The Atlantic

Zarqawi's political motivation came partly from what he considered U.N.'s "gift" of Palestine "to the Jews so they can rape the land and humiliate our people", partly, but connected with the former, from what he considered (U.N.'s support for) (American) oppressors of Iraq and the consequent "humiliation [of] our nation".

Transcript | The Insurgency | FRONTLINE | PBS

Al-Zarqawi started the group with the intention of overthrowing the 'apostate' Kingdom of Jordan, which he considered to be un-Islamic according to the four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. After toppling Jordan's monarchy, presumably he would turn to the rest of the Levant.

For these purposes he developed numerous contacts and affiliates in several countries. Although it has not been verified, his network may have been involved in the late 1999 plot to bomb the Millennium celebrations in the United States and Jordan. Al-Zarqawi and his operatives are held responsible by the US for the assassination of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan in 2002.

Foreign Terrorist Organization: Designation of Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'al-Jihad and Aliases

Within a half year after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Zarqawi was a household name for brutal beheadings and a suicide bombing campaign in Iraq against Shiite religious targets and Sunni civilians.

JTJ's tactics relied heavily on suicide bombings, often using car bombs, but also included targeted kidnappings, the planting of improvised explosive devices, and mortar attacks. Beginning in late June 2004, JTJ conducted urban guerrilla-style attacks using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. They also gained worldwide notoriety for beheading Iraqi and foreign hostages and distributing video recordings of these acts on the Internet.

The group targeted the Iraqi Security Forces and those facilitating the occupation, Iraqi interim officials, Iraqi Shia and Kurdish political and religious figures, the country's Shia Muslim civilians, foreign civilian contractors, and United Nations and humanitarian workers.

Foreign Terrorist Organization: Designation of Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'al-Jihad and Aliases

Al-Qaeda is a brand created by the US media for the imbecile taxpayers. In fact it is Taliban (created by CIA, Reagan, Brzezinski and other stupid motherfuckers who loves to shoot their own leg) + Saudi Islamists - the biggest friends of the USA. As far as we all know, the Saudis are responsible for 9/11 but no single bomb was dropped to their country. Somebody please tell me that's just a stupid conspiracy theory.

https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org...Dedication.png

As we call it here... :thumbsup

riiiiiiiiight. actually we can thank you ruskies for al qaida

here are some facts on al qaida, which has been around since the 1950s and its' heydAY was 1996-2001


The origins of al-Qaida as a network inspiring terrorism around the world and training operatives can be traced to the Soviet War in Afghanistan (December 1979 – February 1989).


The five ages of al-Qaida | World news | theguardian.com

It's quite funny that you totally ignore the role the soviets had in first kicking the hornets nest.. The CIA didn't "invent" the Taliban.. They were rebels who wanted to over through the commie friendly Afghan govt. you commies were then invited to help stop the rebels by the afghan govt and once on the ground proceeded to overthrow the Afghan govt and set up yet another puppet govt..

You guys got your asses kicked and because the U.S. Played a small role of selling weapons you blame the U.S. For everything...

The same is now happening in Syria, you soviets prop up a shithead dictator, the people finally started fighting back but this time there was an ISIS to get involved as well..

So people rising up to overthrow Russian backed govt is bad.. Meanwhile in Ukraine, it's all ok for the people to rise up to help Russia steal another country's land..

The only thing which is the same is you blame everything on the U.S. while pretending Russia holds no blame..

A phase of the day :thumbsup :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Taliban in Kremlin:

http://static5.businessinsider.com/i...val-office.jpg

Oh those evil Russians that forced Osama to became a CIA agent and supported Saudis in their attack on 9/11! :mad: 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 :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Just for a note: Russia sends ships, aircraft and forces to Syria: U.S. officials | Reuters and White House Warns Against Russian Military Action Against ISIS - now please continue telling us your bullshit, clown :winkwink:

And this means success, the whole point of this is to make money, wars are an excuse to pay the tax pot to the Elite, the $4 billion is only an expense to the taxpayer, whereas it's a income for the Elite. It's in their interests to keep the war going as long as possible while it's making so much money for them.

http://i.imgur.com/Z0OaLWS.jpg


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the truly funny part of your bullshit here is i had already posted this graphic in response to the thread topic. (for the completely dense, it's my defending BO's airstrikes as working).

Good to know there is a few sane people in the US administration: Russia's Syrian Air Base*Has U.S. Scrambling for a Plan - Bloomberg View

Let the Russians get mucked up in Syria just like they fucked up in Afghanistan.

The USA and NATO can butt the hell out.

Putin wants his own government's disintegration -- let him have it ..

so syria is some diabolical plot to get the russians militarily involved in a government to assist in the fall of it's own government?

but that planned worked so well in afghanistan

I don't know man...you acting like the world would be the same place if we had never invaded Iraq after 9-11 seems like some kind of denial of reality. ISIS can only exist and flourish in the vacuum created by the destabilization of Iraq. Posting graphics and articles won't turn back history. It's already happened and part of our reality.

This has nothing to do with the fact that the USA did not create isis or al qaida due to Bush's invasion. And it has nothing to do with my thinking bush was wrong for doing so. I didn't vote bush. In fact, I've voted dem for potus since bill Clinton.

Are you fucking serious right now? How many people did Stalin send to the gulags? How many people, men women and children, died in Siberia? How many people were murdered in Estonia alone? Remember Afghanistan? Russia was there first.

You are right and welcome to criticize the US on some grounds, we do it as well, but put that caveat in.

Let us see you're human, and an "educated person" as you are fond of saying, by admitting the atrocities committed by USSR in the 20th century. If you can't, you're a propaganda machine and not worth responding to.

okay....all I was saying is, the middle east as it is right now would be a different place if that invasion never happened. Better or worse? I don't know, but I'd lean toward better.

Cheney and Bush Sr. and all their cronies laid the ground work for today on behalf of profiteering. The last 100 years most wars have been instigated by big oil and the defense contractors. Al Qaeda and IS are just the current shills as the Taliban were when they were needed. Nothing will improve it is only going to get worse.

Sorry, my rose-colored shades fell off. Back on now. Everything's beautiful. why you guys fighting so much? Come on now, group hug.

Off to bed. Planting a fresh crop of hakusai to have this fall and winter. yumyumyum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napa_cabbage

the only area you and i differ on is the hornet's nest was there before we got there and way before iraq. it doesn't matter what they call themselves, isis, alqaida JTF. whatever.

and yes, USA did kick that hornet's nest know as the middle east but that has no bearing on arabs murdering arabs for 1000s of years. heck the dude behind isis started his group to kill arabs in jordan, "kill all shiittes" was his motto that even made bin laden nervous. that very same group now wants to kill everyone. everyone. not just shiites, not just jordanians, not just Americans, not just Europeans, not just japanese. everyone. that is not because of the USA.

sure, the ME would be a different place if we didn't have interests there that led to poor decisions to invade, i don't know if it would be better though. better for who? USA oil corps? dictators?

the US army is not capable of winning a war...its plain and simple:

korean war: spectacular fuck up
vietnam: spectacular fuck up
cambodia: fuck up de spectacular
avghanistan: definition of fuck up
iraq: where fuck goes to up :1orglaugh

when the US army wins, it loses and when it loses it loses :1orglaugh

its like american healthcare, over priced and 3rd world effective :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

its like american education, over priced and 3rd world ranked

its like the american economy, a bubble full of shit

:thumbsup

Have any of you guys been keeping up with the news that is all over the place about Obama's people changing the status reports on this "war" on ISIS?

It's been all over CNN and the radio.

Apparently they have been cooking the books and putting out reports to make it appear that we are "winning", even though ISIS is growing and capturing more land.

I saw the General in charge last night on Anderson Cooper...and he was saying that this was going to "take years". And that they need a lot of time still to train the Iraqi Army.

WTF????

We've been there for 13 fucking years. And if the Iraq Army still isn't "trained", they aren't ever gonna be.
And now we're supposed to settle down for "years" of more war?

When is this shit EVER going to stop?

Its not a US hate thread and you cant blame the US for the huge cluster fuck in the middle east. It was a multi national force which was lead by The US, the UK, Australia and Poland with other western countries involved. We here in the west caused all this crap in the middle east not just the US

The issue isn't training. It's morale.

The thing we've created post Saddam is not a country. It's a façade of a country propped up by our own interests and agendas. The men in the Iraqi army are men without a country. That's why they run from a fight.

They never been. The mission was accomplished by Grom, Vympel and Alpha Group within a day. You should learn a lot about that war (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Storm-333) :2 cents:

Exactly! The 9/11 attack was an obvious result of the US Afghan politics. The CIA did a perfect job, no doubts about it.

A lot, but less than the USA have imprisoned during last 10 years (FYI: Stalin was in power for 31 years).

The stats for Stalin's Gulag: Численность заключенных ГУЛАГа (по состоянию на 1 января каждого года

The stats for the US inmates nowadays: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarc..._United_States and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...rceration_rate

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...line-clean.svg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...n_timeline.gif

Ah??? Stalin was a kid comparing to Obama.

Before Brits?

O'rly? More than the US bombing killed in Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan Syria etc? Are you an idiot? For real?

Do not respond to me then. What's your problem, clown?

Yep. That's why we should have NEVER went in there in the first place. Invading a sovereign country and then basically occupying it for 14 years is outrageous.

I know that if another country did that to us here in the U.S. we would have our own version of "ISIS" fighting them all the time too.

Most of the fighters in ISIS are not Iraqi. Most of them are foreigners. So I guess that basically makes them occupiers as well.


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I lived with a Russian immigrant girlfriend who got refugee status in c. 1990. The Soviet Union collapsed right after and she told me a very creditable story. Her brother and her divorced husband were political prisoners in Soviet land -- I don't buy Stalinist revisionary stories.

Many soldiers returned home addicted to Afghan opium and heroin similar to the USA's experiences in Vietnam and SE Asia. We had a severe recession but the Soviet economy collapsed and the USSR is no more -- it rotted from the inside and Reagan took all the credit.

From accounts I have read, ISIS is mainly indigenous with the old Saddam guys as the military advisers. When the USA pulled its troops out who was left to fight -- different factions of their "countrymen." Countrymen that have no tribal identity in common -- this is a struggle for land and economic gain just like every other religious war -- God said kill our tribe's enemy -- death to the nonbelievers.

With the way the US govt. has now been revealed to be lying about ISIS...that info could be false as well.

I don't see any way that ISIS could just be taking that much of the country over without the help of the people who live there.

My guess is that we (the American public) are (as usual) not being given a real account of what is happening there. A lot like when we were told that we would be greeted as "liberators" when we invaded Iraq. :(

My brother-in-law has served over there a times now. And trust me...he tells me that they hate our guts in Iraq. And I don't doubt it.
I know we wouldn't be full of love for another country occupying the U.S.

BO got me again. I was going by official DoD reports even. The reports were altered by top brass for political reasons.

I gave it a shot. Oh well.