U.S. planes based at airfields in Iraq for first time since withdraw

[morningfog]

The Pentagon has sent tilt-rotor cargo aircraft and helicopters to a "secure airfield" in northern Iraq as it weighs a possible operation to evacuate thousands of Yazidi refugees from the mountain.

Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the V-22 aircraft, which can land and take off like helicopters, were positioned near Irbil with a team of Marines and special operations troops who are assessing how to get the refugees out safely.

The purpose of this team is to assess other options" beyond airdrops of food, water and other supplies to the refugees, he said. "There's no question that speed is of the essence."

President Obama has made no decisions yet about such a move, which could put U.S. forces closer to the extremist fighters who have laid siege to the area, and has asked U.S. military advisors that he sent to Iraq to develop proposals for his consideration, according to Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security advisor.

* * *

But they are the first U.S. planes based at airfields in Iraq since the crisis began, according to the Pentagon, signaling a steadily growing American role for an Operation that President Obama had pledged to keep limited.

Warren would not disclose the location of the airfield, but he said it was protected by Marines and Kurdish troops.

The possibility of a U.S.-led evacuation had grown in recent days as airstrikes have reduced the fighting ability of militants around Sinjar, officials said.

* * *
There are now 198 U.S. military personnel in northern Iraq, Warren said

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-us-sinjar-20140813-story.html

The 198 troops in northern Iraq does not include the 130 "advisers" en route. The US is back at war in Iraq. "In an interview with USA TODAY on Tuesday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military's effort there could take months but will be limited." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/13/iraq-maliki-kurds/13990519/

[DustyJoe]

1. mmmkay

The question was asked politely. The answer was swift and unequivocal.

"There will be no boots on the ground in Iraq," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told 200-plus Marines at a question-and-answer session Tuesday.

Okie Dokie there hagel
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81070308/

[KG]

2. but but this isn't escalation, or boots on the ground...

[morningfog]

3. Pentagon announces transition to barefoot soldiers,

thereby putting not one boot on the ground.

[Dems to Win]

4. Thanks for the laugh

[Dems to Win]

5. But US Drones have been operating out of Irbil all along

I guess that if you're going to rescue people, not just blow them to smithereens, you need real planes.

They've been announcing they are preparing a plan to rescue the Yazidis for a few days now. If the people up there have been without water all this time, there won't be anyone left alive to rescue.

I wonder if these quoted numbers include the CIA people at the CIA drone base in Irbil.

Everyone in Kurdistan knows there is a CIA drone base in Irbil, but it's kept 'secret' from the American public. Well, not really, since this was in McClatchy, but Obama won't just come out and tell Americans about it.

I've been reposting this link from mid-July a few places because it is very informative as to what's going on in Kurdistan these days:

Expansion of ‘secret’ facility in Iraq suggests closer U.S.-Kurd ties
BY MITCHELL PROTHERO
McClatchy Foreign StaffJuly 11, 2014

IRBIL, IRAQ — A supposedly secret but locally well-known CIA station on the outskirts of Irbil’s airport is undergoing rapid expansion as the United States considers whether to engage in a war against Islamist militants who’ve seized control of half of Iraq in the past month.

Western contractors hired to expand the facility and a local intelligence official confirmed the construction project, which is visible from the main highway linking Irbil to Mosul, the city whose fall June 9 triggered the Islamic State’s sweep through northern and central Iraq. Residents around the airport say they can hear daily what they suspect are American drones taking off and landing at the facility.

snip

Peshmerga forces already are manning checkpoints and bunkers to protect the facility, which sits just a few hundred yards from the highway.

“Within a week of the fall of Mosul we were being told to double or even triple our capacities,” said one Western logistics contractor who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he’d signed nondisclosure agreements with the U.S. government on the matter.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/11/233126/expansion-of-secret-facility-in.html#storylink=cpy