2 US service members killed in Iraq during mission against ISIS

[EdinVA]

Two U.S. service members were killed by "enemy forces" Sunday while advising and accompanying Iraqi Security Forces during a mission to eliminate an ISIS terrorist stronghold in a mountainous area of north-central Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement to Fox News.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/isis-iraq-2-us-service-members-killed

[EdinVA]

Thank you GW Bush...

[TomSea]

For the record,

There was no ISIS under George W. Bush, I'm not defending or criticizing him in this though, clearly, ISIS arose around 2011 when Obama, against the words of all of his advisors, Pineda and so on, withdrew our troops.

The place is a hornets nest.

As an example, take Libya, the UN-recognized government took heat in the past 2 weeks for supposedly having Jihadist types in their troops, you know what they said? "Well, if you had placed your Nato troops here, after effectively knocking off Gaddafi's regime, we wouldn't have that problem".

So, yes, to our ways of thinking, the place is a hornet's nest. No easy answers.... and in Libya, whether these guys are officially Jihadists,  Islamic militias do exist in the opposition as well.

And we are of course, much mightier than Iran but if you are fighting Iran in their own neighbor's yard, Iraq, Iran can cause a lot of damage as we saw through Soleimani. 

Anyway, I was about to post myself and I'm glad you caught this story.

[catfish1957]

Thank you GW Bush...

Man, I will be glad, when we have every single person out of there, once and for all. 

Our need for ME oil now?  ZERO

[EdinVA]

For the record,

There was no ISIS under George W. Bush, I'm not defending or criticizing him in this though, clearly, ISIS arose around 2011 when Obama, against the words of all of his advisors, Pineda and so on, withdrew our troops.

The place is a hornets nest.

As an example, take Libya, the UN-recognized government took heat in the past 2 weeks for supposedly having Jihadist types in their troops, you know what they said? "Well, if you had placed your Nato troops here, after effectively knocking off Gaddafi's regime, we wouldn't have that problem".

So, yes, to our ways of thinking, the place is a hornet's nest. No easy answers.... and in Libya, whether these guys are officially Jihadists,  Islamic militias do exist in the opposition as well.

And we are of course, much mightier than Iran but if you are fighting Iran in their own neighbor's yard, Iraq, Iran can cause a lot of damage as we saw through Soleimani. 

Anyway, I was about to post myself and I'm glad you caught this story.

@TomSea
Good point....
My view is, I don't care who killed our troops, we put them in a no-win situation and refuse to either let them fight or bring them home.
Wasting our finest sets my hair on fire....

[mystery-ak]

@TomSea
Good point....
My view is, I don't care who killed our troops, we put them in a no-win situation and refuse to either let them fight or bring them home.
Wasting our finest sets my hair on fire....

Ditto....prayers for their families

[TomSea]

To that, I'd respond actually, by 2011, Iraq was largely pacified. Wrong time to withdraw troops.

https://www.aei.org/foreign-and-defense-policy/middle-east/bush-warned-this-would-happen-in-iraq/

Bush warned this would happen in Iraq
The White House summit on “Countering Violent Extremism” is six years late.
AE Ideas
Foreign and Defense Policy Middle East
June 12, 2014

In 2007, President George W. Bush warned that if America withdrew prematurely from Iraq, American troops would eventually have to return:

To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready … would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda. It would mean that we’d be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we’d allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It would mean increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous. [EMPHASIS ADDED].

https://www.aei.org/foreign-and-defense-policy/middle-east/bush-warned-this-would-happen-in-iraq/

Different wars, this is different than fighting Japan or Germany, 2 places btw, where we are still.

Terrorism is here for the long haul per most experts.

[TomSea]

NY Times has some real details about this operation:

The Americans killed were part of a Marine Special Operations team, according to two military officials, and were clearing a large, well-defended cave complex alongside Iraqi counterterrorism forces in mountains near Makhmur, roughly 40 miles south of Erbil.

In a statement, Col. Myles B. Caggins III, a spokesman for the American-led mission in Iraq and Syria, said U.S. troops had to deploy additional forces to recover the dead in an effort that took roughly six hours.

....

According to one military official, the Americans who were killed had to be pulled out with a hoist after falling into a crevice, and it is unclear how many Iraqi forces were killed and wounded.

More: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/world/middleeast/marines-killed-iraq-isis.html

Brett McGurk, tweet quoted in above story:

Brett McGurk
@brett_mcgurk
·
3h
Two Americans were just killed in Iraq fighting ISIS. It reportedly took 6 hours to reach them. Something is not right. We seem to have lost focus on this mission while increasing risks to our people and depleting their resources for no good reason. RIP Marines
Flag of United States

https://twitter.com/brett_mcgurk/status/1237043647444475906

Unrelated to the main story here but this is interesting:

Brett McGurk
@brett_mcgurk
With everything going on, don’t forget that Trump gave American soldiers an ill-defined mission to protect an oil field in eastern Syria and they’re now being attacked by grenade-dropping drones from unknown adversaries. (“raining mortars”)



https://twitter.com/brett_mcgurk/status/1236853697033854976/photo/1

National Guard from West Virginia had to confront grenade dropping drones? 

Go to his twitter for more.