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IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. POLICY With significant shared experience and mutual sacrifice fighting Iraq's insurgents, the U.S. and Kurdish militaries remain natural security partners. Iraqi Kurdistan's long frontier with ISIS and the safe domestic security environment make it an optimal air base location for U.S. drone and Special Forces operations against ISIS, whether covert or overt. The Kurdish forces are now the custodians of significant swaths of new territory and the guardians of persecuted non-Kurdish minorities who are being attacked daily by ISIS. Long-term accommodation between Kurds and neighboring ethnicities is vital for the stabilization of northern Iraq. As PUK's recent actions illustrate, the Kurds could facilitate the reinforcement of holdout pockets of federal security forces through Iraqi Kurdistan's airports. The Kurds control an important portion of Iraq's border with Syria, providing useful access to opposition-held areas.
These factors necessitate an upgrade in the U.S. military alliance with the Kurds. Such a development would improve U.S.-KRG relations after a bruising few years of differences on a raft of issues. A major new security cooperation program could tap into the $5 billion Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund. Due to its good security and excellent airports, Iraqi Kurdistan would be an ideal venue to safely undertake a major U.S.-delivered military train-and-equip program for both Kurdish and federal Iraqi security forces. The planned reorganization of Iraq's armed forces into national army and national guard components could open the door to Kurdish RGBs receiving greater U.S. security cooperation.
The United States could also help negotiate the eventual use of substantial numbers of vehicles and weapons abandoned by the federal military and currently held by the Kurds. This equipment, overwhelmingly U.S. taxpayer funded, will need significant U.S. support services to keep in operation. Transfer of some of the material to a U.S.-supported re-equipment of the peshmerga and some back to federal Iraq would seem a fair bargain. Increased federal funding for the peshmerga and Zerevany might grease the wheels of such an agreement and could kick-start both U.S.-KRG security cooperation and maybe even federal-KRG cooperation as well.
They are not discussing operations, they are discussing strategies. Do they mention specific units? Date and time of specific operations? Names of allied commanders, their location, troop strengths and weaknesses...?
There is nothing of interest in this email that is not available from open sources. It does prove, however, that the US and its allies were fighting "ISIL," not supporting it:
In Iraq it is important that we engage ISIL using the resources of the Peshmerga fighters of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), and what, if any, reliable units exist in the Iraqi Army. The Peshmerga commanders are aggressive hard fighting troops, who have long standing relationships with CIA officers and Special Forces operators. However, they will need the continued commitment of U.S. personnel to work with them as advisors and strategic planners, the new generation of Peshmerga commanders being largely untested in traditional combat. That said, with this U.S. aid the Kurdish troops can inflict a real defeat on ISIL.
originally posted by: projectvxn
originally posted by: cavtrooper7
a reply to: projectvxn
And they actually WONDER WHY we end up punctuating sentences with "F" bombs...
Every F'ing time.
It seems so few give a crap about what this looks like to soldiers.
originally posted by: DJW001
a reply to: projectvxn
No, because any reporter on the ground could have reported, for example, that the militants stopped firing when the planes were present.
originally posted by: Isurrender73
originally posted by: projectvxn
originally posted by: cavtrooper7
a reply to: projectvxn
And they actually WONDER WHY we end up punctuating sentences with "F" bombs...
Every F'ing time.
It seems so few give a crap about what this looks like to soldiers.
I hadn't even thought about this from a soldiers point of view.
The expectations they have of you when it comes to secrecy. She is #ting on the law and getting away with it.
And she might be your next commander in chief.
I can't imagine the anger you must feel about the double standard.
This is not 2 ordinary citizens taking. This is 2 people with classified information, with security clearance, talking about what they know, not the conjecture in the media.
originally posted by: projectvxn
a reply to: DJW001
The standard should apply for everyone. Do as I say not as I do isn't leadership, it's bull#.
originally posted by: anarkyangel
a reply to: xuenchen
Im trying really hard to understand your thought process here buddy. you are mad because she gave her expert opinion on the region to a GOV official, based on information that she gathered from classified sources? You are saying she gave away classified information, but you cant say
She told Podesta that operation x is going to start on this date in this region, and that info was classified?
Would you agree that she is working to stop ISIL?
Would you agree that based on that same email you just quoted, HIllary a solid understanding of the situation?
Would you agree that Mr Trump is at best naive when it comes to foreign policy?
I rest my case