U.S. Official Ratchets Down Expectations On Retaking Mosul From Islamic State !

[DinarThug]

CNN. Broadcasting A Proposal For Mosul Worthy Of The Garbage Disposal!

U.S. Official Ratchets Down Expectations on Retaking Mosul From Islamic State

Director of Defense Intelligence Agency tells Senate panel situation in parts of Iraq is too unstable

By DAMIAN PALETTA And CAROL E. LEE

Updated Feb. 9, 2016 7:37 p.m. ET

A top Pentagon official said a U.S.-led offensive to wrest control of the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State won’t be mounted this year, casting uncertainty on a key operation in the Obama administration’s fight against the extremist group.

The assessment, from Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency on Tuesday, is a departure from White House expectations that the Mosul effort would begin in the coming months. It also would leave a major operation in the hands of President Barack Obama’s successor.

Gen. Stewart told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the situation in parts of Iraq was too unstable for the U.S. and Iraqi forces to conduct a mission to liberate Mosul. “I’m less optimistic in the near-term about Mosul,” Gen. Stewart said in response to a question from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) “I think there’s lots of work to be done yet out in the western part” of Iraq.

His comments appeared to surprise the White House, where some believe retaking Mosul soon could liberate thousands of Iraqis and help ease tensions between Iraq and Turkey over the presence of Turkish forces in northern Iraq.

“This is a longer timeline,” a senior administration official said of Gen. Stewart’s remarks.

In January 2015, Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of the military’s Central Command, said that the U.S. and Iraq had begun preparations to retake Mosul, one of Iraq’s largest cities and one that is pivotal to controlling the country’s north, by that summer.

But by the following month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon had begun to temper expectations, aiming to retake the city perhaps by the fall of 2015, because of concerns that the Iraqi army needed more training. The Pentagon wanted first to weaken Islamic State’s grip on Mosul, perhaps by bombarding the area with airstrikes, and then have Iraqi ground forces go in.

The situation in Iraq worsened as Islamic State rampaged through Anbar province in the middle of 2015 and briefly took the city of Ramadi. Iraqi forces are believed to have retaken Ramadi, but the situation there remains fluid, as Gen. Stewart reiterated on Tuesday. “I don’t believe that Ramadi is completely secure,” he said.

The U.S. and Iraq also want to secure an area west of Baghdad known as the Hit-Hadditha corridor, Gen. Stewart said, “to have some opportunity to fully encircle and bring all the forces against Mosul.”

Overall, he added, “Mosul will be a complex operation, and…it’s a large city,” he said. “I’m not as optimistic that we’ll be able to turn that in the near term. In my view, certainly not this year.”

Putting off an offensive in Mosul could complicate several U.S. initiatives in the Middle East, including an effort to broker a deal between Iraq and Turkey, which the U.S. hopes will resolve tensions over the presence of Turkish forces at a training camp in northern Iraq. The government in Baghdad says the Turkish forces are there without their consent and violate Iraqi sovereignty. Turkey has said its troops are there to train Sunni fighters in the campaign against Islamic State.

The deal, which administration officials hoped to reach this month, would call for the Turkish troops to leave the camp and take part in a joint effort to take back Mosul.

In general, the U.S. has moved away from setting firm schedules for the timing of its operations against Islamic State, basing them instead on shifting conditions and opportunities.

Mosul is the hub of a key Sunni region that has often seemed distant from the Shiite-controlled government. Many residents have either fled the area or died in the past two years, leaving the size of the city’s current population uncertain.

When Islamic State seized Mosul in 2014, the Iraqi army was criticized for not offering more resistance. In addition to being a geographic victory, Mosul helped fill the terror network’s financial needs. Islamic State quickly raided a number of Mosul banks, including a branch of the Central Bank of Iraq.

Concerned about a possible humanitarian disaster, the Iraqi government continued paying government employees in Mosul even though they were under Islamic State control. Islamic State began taking a portion of each paycheck, meaning that the Iraqi government was indirectly funneling money to the terror network with every payday.

James Clapper, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, told the Senate on Tuesday the Iraqi government had made changes to prevent this money flow, which he said was showing progress.

U.S. officials initially foresaw a quick effort to retake Mosul in part. Some told Congress last year that while Islamic State might be a formidable militant group, it didn’t have the capacity to govern a city of Mosul’s size, an assessment that proved wrong.

They also believed U.S. training efforts would help strengthen the Iraqi army to the point where it could successfully invade Mosul. But these training efforts have faltered amid setbacks in other parts of Iraq. Finally, the increasing influence of Iran in Iraq’s military strategy has exacerbated tensions between Sunnis in areas like Mosul and Shiites in Baghdad and Tehran.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-officia ... 1455042631

[sandfly]

I WOULD TELL TURK TO GET THE HE!!! OUT I'M COMING IN

[crane]

 Iraq Army, and the US military can't take one town , and its going to take a year????????  They don't want to take it back ! and everything is stalled once again by the Panty waste in Washington DC . The way to train the Iraqi Army is to put them out front like the  Russians did to there solders in World War II, you learn to fight because if you retreated you got shot by your own troops. the {Little Girls Iraqi Army } no offence to the little girls of Iraq they could probably do better,Can you imagine what General Patton would say?  or would do in that case ??????????????  In a week or less it would be over  .And we wonder why we have become the laughing stock of the World??????????   

[DinarThug]

"The assessment, from Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency on Tuesday, is a departure from White House expectations that the Mosul effort would begin in the coming months. It also would leave a major operation in the hands of President Barack Obama’s successor."

Hmmm, ... Would Barry Ever Do That ?

[Synopsis]

Earlier, I couldn't believe we (possibly UK, too) were going to have significant ground operations in Syria and no mention of Russia's response to claims of US (and possibly UK) placing infrastructure on the ground for the projected offensive on ISIS.  Apparently, a significant amount of US troops are in Syria and Iraq right now to pound ISIS to nothing.

 

Now, I can't believe this article.  We are rethinking the initiative now?  I don't think so.  I suspect there is a lot of international geopolitical posturing going on right now.  I still think the ISIS exterminations will begin and be completed sooner rather than later since ISIS is a real hot bed of things nobody really wants, not even Russia.  Looks like some folks are intensely negotiating the outcome or, if nothing else, how the events will unfold.

 

I think this is part of a misinformation campaign to the general public to obscure, confuse, or serve as a distraction to what is really going on.  As the event we have been waiting for approaches, I suspect we will see a lot of disparaging information in the news media outlets that will later (short time lapse) be contradicted by things we really need to see happen.

[rw.sutton]

For Mosul offensive, first batch of Iraqi army arrived in Makhmour By Rudaw 10 hours ago

Iraqi army convoys. Photo: Iraqi media

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A military brigade from the Nineveh Operation Command arrived in the Makhmour region on Tuesday as part of the preparations underway for the long-anticipated Mosul offensive against Islamic State (ISIS) militants, a Peshmerga commander told Rudaw.

"The [iraqi force] in coordination with the Peshmerga and following a meeting, attended by US representatives, was permitted entry [into the town]," said the Peshmerga commander of the Makhmour-Gwer front Sirwan Barzani.

Barzani added that "the brigade has undergone military training near Baghdad and they have been fully armed with light, medium and heavy weapons."

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***///

 

Didn't ya'll hear the latest....?

 

ho'bummer has instructed The Pentagon to

 

"put global warming interests ahead of any actions they may take"

 

Thanks to him,  we're not allowed to shoot first -- or shoot back (there in a consulting capacity only)...

 

Now Our Armed Forces lives have to take a back seat to his BOGUS GLOBAL WARMING AGENDA ! 

 

IT'S  PURE  INSANITY !

[since0freakin9]

Ash Carter testified before a Senate hearing in late December, early January, that his estimated time for the retaking of Mosul would be December of 2016. FWIW

 

Thanks for the post

[tigergorzow]

DinarThug Thanks, DV, There is no way the Iraqi, Pershmebga and Coalition Forces will wait out on liberating Mosul til end of December. They are currently building up forces near Mosul for an all out Offensive based on article mentioned by rw.sutton. IMHO, The offensive will start "Suddenly" to surprise the enemy i hope. Air power have been bombing Mosul for weeks now to soften those cowards for the ground forces to retake the city. Eradicate them all!!

[gymrat76541]

Ghee Whizz guys - You do NOT tell the enemy WHEN you are coming! So, no one REALLY knows the exact time-table! LOL

[TQueezy]

Ghee Whizz guys - You do NOT tell the enemy WHEN you are coming! So, no one REALLY knows the exact time-table! LOL

 

You never tell your girlfriend or one-night-stands that either! 

Ba da chhhsss

[TQueezy]

Sorry everyone, bad joke…

[four wheel drift]

Sorry everyone, bad joke…

NOT offended. Kinda funny actually

FWD

GO RV

[skeetdog]

Thanks DT...This article has a smoke-n-mirror effect...It's got too many variables going in different directions that are trying to convey an abstract reasoning to justify too many far-fetched excuses...Propaganda in it's finest imho...