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OneCrazyDiamond

(2,029 posts)
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 05:11 PM Jun 2014

Obama Considers Special Forces To Help In Iraq

Source: AP/Huffington Post

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering sending a small number of American special forces soldiers to Iraq in an urgent attempt to help the government in Baghdad slow the nation's rampant Sunni insurgency, U.S. officials said Monday.

While President Barack Obama has explicitly ruled out putting U.S. troops into direct combat in Iraq, the plan under consideration suggests he would be willing to send Americans into a collapsing security situation for training and other purposes.

Three U.S. officials familiar with ongoing discussions said the potential of sending special forces to Iraq is high on a list of military options that are being considered.

It's not clear how quickly the special forces could arrive in Iraq. It's also unknown whether they would remain in Baghdad or be sent to the nation's north, where the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has overrun several cities in the worst threat to the Shiite-led government since U.S. troops left in 2011.

White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said no combat troops would be sent to Iraq, but that the U.S. is looking at other options.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/16/obama-special-forces-iraq_n_5500700.html?1402949586&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067




I support The President either way. He has access to information I don't.
38 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Obama Considers Special Forces To Help In Iraq (Original Post) OneCrazyDiamond Jun 2014 OP
Calling in airstrikes? That'd be the best use of them. TwilightGardener Jun 2014 #1
"I support The President either way. He has access to information I don't." Scootaloo Jun 2014 #2
What do you mean?! It was SHOCKingly AWEsome! deurbano Jun 2014 #4
Message auto-removed Name removed Jun 2014 #9
Exactly! OneCrazyDiamond Jun 2014 #10
Some people on this board refuse to know there's a vast difference between bush and Cha Jun 2014 #16
Oh, there definitely is a difference Scootaloo Jun 2014 #22
Oh Boo Hoo.. you would insult Obama supporters.. that's all you got. Predictable. Cha Jun 2014 #23
Only the ones whos principles resemble a windsock in a tornado Scootaloo Jun 2014 #24
So Predictable.. Keep it up.. that's all you got. Cha Jun 2014 #25
It's not, but it is all I need for this discussion Scootaloo Jun 2014 #28
... Cha Jun 2014 #36
... Scootaloo Jun 2014 #38
They Sound Very Similar On the Road Jun 2014 #34
The party of a president doesn't change bad ideas into good ideas Scootaloo Jun 2014 #12
I love you Quackers Jun 2014 #26
+1 an entire shit load. Enthusiast Jun 2014 #27
Well said. Very well said. Nihil Jun 2014 #29
+1. bemildred Jun 2014 #31
Summed it up! Thanks, Scootaloo. truth2power Jun 2014 #32
Hey that's offensive! Ash_F Jun 2014 #35
yeah my jaw dropped when i read that. I remember Bush supporters saying exactly the same thing. m-lekktor Jun 2014 #21
WTF? louielouie Jun 2014 #3
NO, NO, NO Swede Atlanta Jun 2014 #5
I could not have said it better myself. AngryDem001 Jun 2014 #8
Yeah, you're "done".. but the President isn't done cleaning up the bushit mess. Cha Jun 2014 #17
I was wondering how the oil interests fit into all this. truth2power Jun 2014 #33
The info that you don't have is likely to be polling numbers for the upcoming amandabeech Jun 2014 #6
And the big fool says to push on. (nt) enough Jun 2014 #7
Too many of us Iwillnevergiveup Jun 2014 #11
AP says 275 troops. louielouie Jun 2014 #13
The last paragraph swilton Jun 2014 #14
The last paragraph should be written more like as follows: amandabeech Jun 2014 #15
Does history repeat itself? louielouie Jun 2014 #19
It's hard to know what "farce" might be in Iraq. amandabeech Jun 2014 #20
Best of Luck doing the best thing possible for cleaning up bush's mess, PBO. Cha Jun 2014 #18
I have a question or 2 for you Cha Caretha Jun 2014 #30
Stay out of Iraq bigwillq Jun 2014 #37
 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
2. "I support The President either way. He has access to information I don't."
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 05:16 PM
Jun 2014

You're making me nostalgic for 2003 with lines like that. Please stop, the music back then was terrible.

Response to Scootaloo (Reply #2)

Cha

(295,897 posts)
16. Some people on this board refuse to know there's a vast difference between bush and
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 12:38 AM
Jun 2014

President Obama. The usual suspects.

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
22. Oh, there definitely is a difference
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 03:35 AM
Jun 2014

It's just that I'm starting to note a lot of commonality between the ardent supporters of both.

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
24. Only the ones whos principles resemble a windsock in a tornado
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 03:53 AM
Jun 2014

You know the sort who might say something like "I support The President either way. He has access to information I don't." I don't trust other people to decide my principles for me, regardless of if they're a president or not.

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
28. It's not, but it is all I need for this discussion
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 07:13 AM
Jun 2014

I notice you don't bother mounting a defense of selling out one's own ethical autonomy to an authority figure. I suspect that even you recognize that it's indefensible.

On the Road

(20,783 posts)
34. They Sound Very Similar
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 02:44 PM
Jun 2014

in the same way that a person who says "I trust Rand Paul" sounds like someone who says "I trust Bernie Sanders."

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
12. The party of a president doesn't change bad ideas into good ideas
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 08:18 PM
Jun 2014

Nor does it make mindless sycophantry and worship of authority any more admirable.

I don't give a fuck if it's Bush, Obama, Vermin Supreme, or Genghis Khan's brain in a fucking jar, if you tell me "well, whatever the president wants!" then I'm going to regard you as worse than a vegetable. That sort of "thinking" has no place in a democracy, much less in the Democratic party.

m-lekktor

(3,675 posts)
21. yeah my jaw dropped when i read that. I remember Bush supporters saying exactly the same thing.
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 03:30 AM
Jun 2014

:shudder:

 

louielouie

(42 posts)
3. WTF?
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 05:22 PM
Jun 2014

From the article:

While President Barack Obama has explicitly ruled out putting U.S. troops into direct combat in Iraq, the plan under consideration suggests he would be willing to send Americans into a collapsing security situation for training and other purposes.


What President Obama said on Jun 13:

"We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraq's security forces...."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/13/321682153/obama-rules-out-troops-in-iraq-but-says-u-s-weighing-other-options

"Into combat" does all the work here. But they can still get shot at.
 

Swede Atlanta

(3,596 posts)
5. NO, NO, NO
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 05:33 PM
Jun 2014

I'm done with Iraq and the whole Middle East.

If they want to kill one another off over a schism in Islam, so be it. I hate to say it but the world would be a better place if those that would kill simply because someone is from a different tribe or subscribes to a different religion were all dead. I know that sounds harsh but seriously.

We had this mess with Christianity for centuries through the Crusades to the Inquisition to the Salem witch trials. It continues to a less dramatic extent with conservative American Christians encouraging and aiding Uganda and other countries in their prosecution of LGBT persons or the hatred that spews from Pat Robertson or other right wing religious nut cases' mouths.

China bought up most of the leases for Iraqi oil. Let them send in troops. But no more American troops, not one.

AngryDem001

(684 posts)
8. I could not have said it better myself.
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 06:19 PM
Jun 2014

LET them fight is out! It is NOT our concern.

Why can't we take a "Prime Directive" approach? Non-interference? Let's just get our people out and then STAY the hell out. FOREVER!

truth2power

(8,219 posts)
33. I was wondering how the oil interests fit into all this.
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 09:46 AM
Jun 2014

For my part, China getting control of the oil would be some sort of karma.

And BTW...no one mentions that monstrosity called the Green Zone these days. Who's living there? Yeah, we left Iraq alright.

 

amandabeech

(9,893 posts)
6. The info that you don't have is likely to be polling numbers for the upcoming
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 05:37 PM
Jun 2014

election. That's what it ususally is. Presidents are politicians, not gods, and that includes Pres. Obama.

I've seen this play too many times before, and so have many here on DU.

The last time was about the "surge" in Afghanistan, and look where we are now in that benighted country.

P.S. How are things going in Libya, anyway?

At least get all our people out before you do anything.



Iwillnevergiveup

(9,298 posts)
11. Too many of us
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 07:45 PM
Jun 2014

see through the "fog of war." ANY American soldier sent to Iraq at this point will be a combat troop. More like the "horror of war" to me, and for what??? These tribal hatreds are ancient and deep and nothing we should be investing in with one more American life or $$$$.

 

louielouie

(42 posts)
13. AP says 275 troops.
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 09:34 PM
Jun 2014
President Barack Obama notified Congress Monday that up to 275 troops could be sent to Iraq to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the American Embassy in Baghdad. About 170 of those forces have already arrived and another 100 soldiers will be on standby in a nearby country until they are needed, a U.S. official said.

While Obama has vowed to keep U.S. forces out of combat in Iraq, he said in his notification to Congress that the personnel moving into the region are equipped for direct fighting.

And separately, three U.S. officials said the White House was considering sending a contingent of special forces soldiers to Iraq. Their limited mission — which has not yet been approved — would focus on training and advising beleaguered Iraqi troops, many of whom have fled their posts across the nation's north and west as the al-Qaida-inspired insurgency has advanced in the worst threat to the country since American troops left in 2011
.

http://news.yahoo.com/more-us-troops-iraq-special-forces-considered-225039144--politics.html

If it's just to evacuate the embassy, I don't have a problem with it. But the last paragraph bothers me.
 

swilton

(5,069 posts)
14. The last paragraph
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 11:20 PM
Jun 2014

should be written in past perfect tense - more than likely the decision has already been made and whatever (if any) troops were to be sent are already over there.

 

amandabeech

(9,893 posts)
15. The last paragraph should be written more like as follows:
Mon Jun 16, 2014, 11:58 PM
Jun 2014

The advisers will train South Vietnamese forces to combat Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops who are posing the most serious threat to South Vietnam since the French troops left after losing to Ho Chi Minh's forces at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

I'd quote more accurately if my internet connection was working well enough this evening to use the copy/paste function.

Of course, history does not necessarily repeat itself, but it does sometimes rhyme.

 

Caretha

(2,737 posts)
30. I have a question or 2 for you Cha
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 08:48 AM
Jun 2014

How do you think 275 troops are going to clean up Bush's mess?

How many of them are going to die? What are they going to train Iraqi troops to do that 10s of thousands of US soldiers in 11 years were unable to train them to do?

Why 275? Why not round it up to 300?

If you attempt to answer any of these questions honestly, I might start to take you seriously.

 

bigwillq

(72,790 posts)
37. Stay out of Iraq
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 06:35 PM
Jun 2014

and the Middle East. We will never be able to truly change what happens in that region. Just stay out of it.

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