Ashtray announces ‘expeditionary force’ to target ISIS in Iraq and Syria
Dan Roberts, Grauq, Dec 2 2015
Ashtray arrives for a hearing of the House armed services committee on Tuesday.
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty
A permanent new Pindosi “expeditionary force” will target ISIS in Iraq and Syria, operating independently of local troops for the first time, in a significant escalation of the front line use of Pindosi ground troops in the region, Sec Def Ash Carter has revealed (sic: “revealed.” These orders come down from the Mountain, like Moses with the well-known tablets, which were probably dexedrine for added pre-battle alertness – RB). Addressing senior Congress critturs who are demanding swifter progress against ISIS, Ashtray said on Tuesday that the troops would be based in Iraq but will have the capability to carry out raids across the border. He said:
This is an important capability, because it takes advantage of what we are good at. We’re good at intelligence. We’re good at mobility. We’re good at surprise. We have the long reach that no one else has. It puts everybody on notice in Syria that you don’t know at night who is going to be coming in the window.
Until now, Pindo ground forces in the region have officially been restricted to a “training and support” mission for the Iraqi army and a few SOF raids to free hostages. Kurdish fighters have told the Grauq that Pindo forces in Iraq have secretly been blurring this line for months by taking an increasingly active role on the front line, but the creeping ground mission once expressly ruled out by Obama now seems to be spreading to Syria. Obama recently authorised the deployment of 50 SOF to Syria, but said they were expected to work mainly alongside rebels on that side of the border. Ashtray refused to disclose the size of the new independent expeditionary targeting unit (sic – RB), but said it would be larger than Obama’s embedded SOF deployment and would also provide targeting intelligence for air strikes. JCoS Dunford revealed (‘revealed’ again – RB) that he was encouraging commanders in Iraq to go beyond the president’s current force limit of 3,500 troops in the country, saying:
I do not believe we are limited by the number 3,500. We are managing 3,500 because that’s the number of troops that the president has approved to date, but I can assure you that I don’t feel at all inhibited in making recommendations that would cause us to grow greater than 3,500. I told Gen MacFarland as recently as 10 days ago to not be inhibited at all in identifying capabilities he needs, regardless of the force management figure.
The signs of creeping Pindo ground engagement on the front line in Iraq come as Obama has hinted at the limits of existing allied air operations. Obama told reporters at the climate change conference in Paris:
(The) pace of air strikes is not constrained by the amount of planes and missiles that we have. The pace has been constrained by how many effective targets we have.
Ashtray also acknowledged the military effort against ISIS in Syria had been held up until now by limited intelligence information. He told the committee:
Our intelligence, which was not so great at the beginning of this, because we were surprised again and again and again, has improved enormously.
Following a meeting with Erdoğan on the sidelines of the conference, Obama also hinted at Pindo frustration over its inability to seal a border used by ISIS to smuggle reinforcements and supplies into Syria, saying:
There are about 98 km that are still used as a transit point for foreign fighters, (and) ISIS shipping out fuel for sale that helps finance their terrorist activities. We have got to choke them off. We have got to choke off their ability to make money and bring in new fighters. We have taken tens of thousands of fighters off their battlefield, but if new ones continue to come in, then they continue to maintain a stranglehold over certain population centres inside Iraq and Syria.
He downplayed expectations of a swift end to Russian airstrikes against Pindo-backed rebel forces fighting against Assad, saying:
I don’t expect that you’re going to see a 180 turn on their strategy over the next several weeks. They have invested for years now in keeping Assad in power. Their presence there is predicated on propping him up, and so that’s going to take some time for them to change how they think about the issue. I don’t think we should be under any illusions that somehow Russia starts hitting only ISIS targets. That’s not happening now. It was never happening. It’s not going to be happening in the next several weeks.
Niqnaq 