Sound familiar? Near Fallujah, some 25 miles from the outskirts of Baghdad, an Iraqi army outpost is overrun by ISIS. As calls were made for reinforcements, nobody answered the phones. Meanwhile, the Iraqi PM was in New York addressing the UN. Three hundred Iraqi soldiers were killed. And we think that our air strikes are going to enable the Iraqi army to carry the fight to ISIS on the ground?
Speaking of those UN meetings, did you see Australian PM Tony Abbott giving his speech on the economy before a near empty UN General Assembly? I did, and not only was the hall nearly empty, but I saw one delegate yawning while another was holding his head up on his elbow. At least they weren´t doing the wave.
God bless the UN.
So you want to send American soldiers in to fight ISIS, or what?
ReplyDeleteAir strikes can serve the limited purpose of making it difficult or impossible for ISIS to run conspicuous convoys across the desert, taking out their trucks and tanks whenever they try to use them. Air strikes can disrupt logistics, and prevent reinforcements from reaching a battle zone.
The rest is up to those on the ground. If the Iraqi army can't handle it, eventually it will be up to the Iranians. Not good news, but that's the reality. The Kurds can probably hold their own, sometimes, with air support and better weapons, at least they are motivated to fight, unlike the Iraqis, but the Kurds are unlikely to become a powerful offensive force.
As for Abbott, I wouldn't have stuck around to hear him speak on any subject at all.