home

Iraq (not U.S.) Provides Arms to Anbar Tribes

Iraq's Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Salim Al-Jabour, traveled to the Ain Asad military base in Anbar and gave a speech to the assembled tribal leaders and members. Shorter version: We gave you the arms you asked for, now do your part.

"We have honored our promise by providing you with arms as we are also confident of your abilities to free Anbar within days," Al-Jabouri said in a special conference held at Ain Asad military base in Anbar. "We are also confident of your solidity and resilience in using these weapons to defend yourselves, your country, and the world from this evil group, and avenge the innocent who were killed by IS, particularly victims of Al-Bunimr tribe and others.

50 U.S. military personnnel arrived at the Ain Asad base in Anbar yesterday. They are not there to fight ISIS, but to assess the facility's capabilities for future "assist and training" operations. They do have the means to defend themselves, if attacked.

The U.S. says it is not arming the tribes in Anbar: [More...]

About 50 U.S. troops have deployed to Al-Asad Air Base conducting a site survey to see if U.S. advisers can use the installation to support the Iraqi military, said Navy Cmdr. Elissa Smith, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

"A portion of the group consists of force protection personnel and any weapons U.S. forces possess are for force-protection requirements," Smith said in an email Tuesday to Military Times. "U.S. forces are not arming tribes in the region; this is a matter for the Government of Iraq and the [Iraqi Security Forces]."

The Pentagon says it will take two months to set up the training for the tribes. The training will take six to seven months. Here's an article by a Middle East writer on why no one should count on the tribes to defeat ISIS.

There are 3,600 news articles on U.S. airstrikes in Mosul the past few days. Not one has been able to confirm that ISIS leader al Baghdadi was wounded, let alone killed. The Pentagon also says it has no information on al Baghdadi. The only source for the rumor now seems to be Iraqi governmental sources. They are in the midst of a morale boosting campaign, so I wouldn't take their word for it.

ISIS, meanwhile, has been busy shoring up endorsements from outside militant groups. It has published renewed or new endorsements from groups in Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Egypt and elsewhere. It also opened a new hospital in Kirkuk.

British ISIS fighters all got together last night. They tweet there were about 20 of them at the gathering, which appears to have been a social event, and one says new recruits have arrived to take the place of those who were killed. Here's a new and really good portrait of the British ISIS fighters by Shiraz Maher, who has interviewed many of them several times over a long period. Maher is Senior Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College in London.

< Veteran's Day Open Thread | Wednesday Open Thread >
  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


  • Display: Sort:
    i'm going to go out on a short limb, (none / 0) (#1)
    by cpinva on Wed Nov 12, 2014 at 12:18:15 AM EST
    and guess that the U.S. gov't is the ultimate source of those weapons, simply using the Iraqi gov't as a conduit. it doesn't keep them from having our fingerprints on them, no matter how loudly they shout otherwise.

    with respect to ISIS/ISIL, their great weakness is confronting an actual military, with well trained, well led, disciplined troops, sufficient materials & supplies, competent armor/artillery, and an air force. the ISIS "troops" get squashed against them. on the other hand, when they confront local militia, they triumph, pretty easily. it's a pattern seen over and over again.