Kathianne
05-21-2015, 07:33 AM
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/05/20/the_administration_s_sunny_iraq_progress_reports_a re_approaching_cheney.html
The Administration’s Sunny Iraq Progress Reports Are Approaching Cheney Territory
By Joshua Keating (http://www.slate.com/authors.joshua_keating.html)
On May 15, Marine Brig. Gen. Thomas D. Weidley, chief of staff for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, assured reporters (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/despite-setbacks-u-s-says-military-strategy-isis-working/) that “We believe across Iraq and Syria that Daesh is losing and remains on the defensive.” As the Long War Journal noted (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/05/strategy-to-defeat-islamic-state-is-working-us-department-of-defense-claims.php), Weidley’s timing couldn’t have been worse: That same day ISIS drove Iraqi troops out of Ramadi (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/15/iraqi-troops-routed-by-isis-ramadi) in the group’s biggest strategic victory of the year.
The setback has raised some doubts about whether the administration and the Pentagon have been far too sunny in their assessments of progress against ISIS. Weidley’s comments have not been unusual, even post-Ramadi.
American and Iraqi officials havedescribed the loss of the capital of Anbar province (http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-rethinks-strategy-to-battle-islamic-state-after-setback-in-ramadi-1432079342) as an anomaly, noting that ISIS fighters took advantage of a sandstorm that delayed American warplanes and suggesting that they may have been galvanized by the release of a rare recording (http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/05/15/isis_releases_a_message_from_its_leader_who_is_app arently_still_alive.html) of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi several days earlier. (If Baghdadi’s sermons are quite that inspirational, let’s hope he doesn’t start recording them more often.)
More dubiously, the Pentagon had downplayed the importance of the city in the weeks leading up to the capture, with Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Martin Dempsey saying (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/16/pentagon-chief-losing-ramadi-to-isis-would-not-be-a-big-deal.html), “I would much rather that Ramadi not fall, but it won’t be the end of a campaign should it fall.” He also called the loss of a city that was the site of one of the hardest-fought campaigns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ramadi_(2006)) of the Iraq war “not symbolic in any way.”
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/concerns-grow-for-fate-of-palmyra-one-of-the-middle-easts-most-renowned-sites/2015/05/21/45e47ec2-ff8b-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html
Capture of Palmyra marks Islamic State’s 2nd major gain in past weekBy Loveday Morris (http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/loveday-morris)
May 21 at 6:53 AM
BAGHDAD — Concerns for one of the Middle East’s most renowned archaeological sites deepened Thursday after Islamic State militants swept into the historic Syrian city Palmyra, urging residents to turn in regime collaborators and army soldiers over mosque loudspeakers.
The capture of Palmyra, 130 miles northeast of Damascus, marks the Islamic State’s second significant strategic gain in the past week following the fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi west of Baghdad.
The Syrian advance has added resonance because Palmyra’s ancient ruins — a UNESCO World Heritage site — fell under Islamic State control as the militants consolidated their grip on the nearby modern city.
...
The Administration’s Sunny Iraq Progress Reports Are Approaching Cheney Territory
By Joshua Keating (http://www.slate.com/authors.joshua_keating.html)
On May 15, Marine Brig. Gen. Thomas D. Weidley, chief of staff for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, assured reporters (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/despite-setbacks-u-s-says-military-strategy-isis-working/) that “We believe across Iraq and Syria that Daesh is losing and remains on the defensive.” As the Long War Journal noted (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/05/strategy-to-defeat-islamic-state-is-working-us-department-of-defense-claims.php), Weidley’s timing couldn’t have been worse: That same day ISIS drove Iraqi troops out of Ramadi (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/15/iraqi-troops-routed-by-isis-ramadi) in the group’s biggest strategic victory of the year.
The setback has raised some doubts about whether the administration and the Pentagon have been far too sunny in their assessments of progress against ISIS. Weidley’s comments have not been unusual, even post-Ramadi.
American and Iraqi officials havedescribed the loss of the capital of Anbar province (http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-rethinks-strategy-to-battle-islamic-state-after-setback-in-ramadi-1432079342) as an anomaly, noting that ISIS fighters took advantage of a sandstorm that delayed American warplanes and suggesting that they may have been galvanized by the release of a rare recording (http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/05/15/isis_releases_a_message_from_its_leader_who_is_app arently_still_alive.html) of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi several days earlier. (If Baghdadi’s sermons are quite that inspirational, let’s hope he doesn’t start recording them more often.)
More dubiously, the Pentagon had downplayed the importance of the city in the weeks leading up to the capture, with Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Martin Dempsey saying (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/16/pentagon-chief-losing-ramadi-to-isis-would-not-be-a-big-deal.html), “I would much rather that Ramadi not fall, but it won’t be the end of a campaign should it fall.” He also called the loss of a city that was the site of one of the hardest-fought campaigns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ramadi_(2006)) of the Iraq war “not symbolic in any way.”
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/concerns-grow-for-fate-of-palmyra-one-of-the-middle-easts-most-renowned-sites/2015/05/21/45e47ec2-ff8b-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html
Capture of Palmyra marks Islamic State’s 2nd major gain in past weekBy Loveday Morris (http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/loveday-morris)
May 21 at 6:53 AM
BAGHDAD — Concerns for one of the Middle East’s most renowned archaeological sites deepened Thursday after Islamic State militants swept into the historic Syrian city Palmyra, urging residents to turn in regime collaborators and army soldiers over mosque loudspeakers.
The capture of Palmyra, 130 miles northeast of Damascus, marks the Islamic State’s second significant strategic gain in the past week following the fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi west of Baghdad.
The Syrian advance has added resonance because Palmyra’s ancient ruins — a UNESCO World Heritage site — fell under Islamic State control as the militants consolidated their grip on the nearby modern city.
...