The Pleasant Fiction of "No Boots on the Ground"

[WilliamPitt]

A Kurdish peshmerga fighter holds an Islamic State flag he claimed from a checkpoint near the
Mosul Dam in Northern Iraq, Aug. 19, 2014. (Photo: Lynsey Addario / The New York Times)

The Pleasant Fiction of "No Boots on the Ground"
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Monday 15 September 2014

The nation has had several days to digest President Obama's remarks on Wednesday night, when he outlined his strategy for dealing with the ISIS/ISIL/IS militants in Iraq and Syria. The hood ornament of his plan involves increased air strikes against the group, along with the formation of a broad international coalition, which he claimed will serve as a one-two punch to knock out this newest iteration of "The Bad Guys Who Must Be Destroyed At All Costs."

"No boots on the ground," promised the president. Aside from his description of the air campaign, this oath to avoid re-re-re-inserting combat troops into the conflict was central to his argument. By and large, according to numerous polls taken after the speech, the citizenry climbed on board the bandwagon by a fairly sizable margin. Newspapers all across the country ran permutations of a headline that read, "While Weary of War, Majority Supports Air Strikes Against ISIS."

The backstop for this support is nebulous at best - a general sense of, "Well, we can't just do nothing!" - even as the "something" proposed by the president is equally murky, for two reasons.

First, the broad coalition described by the president on Wednesday does not appear to be coalescing. Germany and Turkey have ruled out joining in air strikes in Syria. The British Foreign Secretary said early last week his nation will likewise refrain from joining the fray, but the recent beheading of a British citizen by ISIS may have changed the geometry of the equation; Prime Minister David Cameron made some bellicose statements after video of the murder was released, but the Scottish independence vote looms. The Scots deeply disapproved of the last Iraq war, and the UK desperately wants to keep Scotland on board, so the UK's ultimate commitment is questionable.

As far as assembling allies in the region, the support gathered by Secretary of State John Kerry during his consultations with various Arab nations is tepid at best. Jordan and Egypt, in particular, both gave Secretary Kerry a similar version of, "You're on your own." Iran is chomping at the bit to join the fight against ISIS, but they are not even invited to the meeting in Paris on Monday to discuss strategy, because Mr. Kerry says "It would not be appropriate" for them to attend.

(snip)

We come, then, to reason number two, which can be summed up in one word: Mosul.

The city of Mosul in northern Iraq is home to some two million residents, a majority of whom are Sunni. It hosts the nation's largest university, enjoys significant regional oil deposits, and is the hub of Iraq's main oil pipeline to Turkey. Most of the 150+ air strikes conducted by the US in Iraq have been directed at dislodging ISIS from the Mosul Dam, the largest in the country, which provides electricity to millions. If that dam were to be breached, those millions would be flooded out of their homes, and much of Iraq would go dark.

In June of this year, ISIS staged a surprise attack on Mosul, routed Iraqi security forces and police, and took control of the city. Hundreds of thousands fled the violence, including members of the defeated security forces, who shed their uniforms and ran with the civilians. ISIS is now dug into Mosul, surrounded by the hundreds of thousands of civilians who did not flee. Many of those who remained, while not necessarily supportive of their new masters, are so distrustful of the government in Baghdad that they are willing to hunker down and ride it out.

All the happy talk about air strikes does not in any way whatsoever jibe with the reality that is Mosul. Any ISIS militants caught out in the open can be dispatched from the air, to be sure, but they own a city. Dislodging ISIS from Mosul will require a large ground force that has training and experience in urban house-to-house warfare. The only other option is to go Dresden on Mosul and raze it to the ground. Without ground troops, or the war-crime obliteration of an entire city, there is simply no way to defeat ISIS with air power alone.

(snip)

So there is that, but also this, put plainly: if you support the air strikes plan proposed by the president, because we have to do "something," understand full well what it is you are supporting.

Nothing.

The rest: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/26188-the-pleasant-fiction-of-no-boots-on-the-ground

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. The urge to "do SOMETHING" and be a Strong Leader is irresistable to politicians.

No matter how self defeating, immoral, or downright stupid the "something" is.

[phantom power]

5. Apparently, that's only true for destroying things, not building them.

I don't see a lot of Strong Leadership or Doing Something about funding education, or rebuilding American infrastructure, or employing people....

But endless war? Fuck yeah!

[msanthrope]

2. Will, I have not seen a single poster who supports this President be confused

on this issue.

Not a single one. We know exactly what we are getting.

That's why we elected this man.

[WilliamPitt]

14. Splendid.

You know you're getting nothing.

Glad to see you're up to speed.

[msanthrope]

15. I got what I voted for....a President not afraid to fight the good fight, with

the smarts to know what the good fight is.

So I am proud of my choice, because I made a good one.

[WilliamPitt]

19. Rah rah sis boom bah

It must be hard for you to live in a world lacking such clarity of vision.

Tell me again how airstrikes will get this done.

[msanthrope]

26. You know Will, when you see our President as someone to be "cheered" for,

you reduce moral complexities to binary choices. And some people like living in a world of binary choices because it is easier. Moral complexity often creates unease, and some people conflate relieving the unease with making the 'right' choice.

I generally find that the sober application of life's lessons tends to make one capable of handling moral complexities, wven when one feels unease. I would take steps to see that happen.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Also not oft mentioned...Erbil, down the road a bit from Mosul.

It is my understanding there are a lot of contractors there, relative to the oil biz.

Tried looking it up, but Google maps has it blurred out.

[WilliamPitt]

8. Tikrit, as well

[KoKo]

6. Will your full article at "TO" is a good read...Thanks!

And, the link to the Bennis article is a great read! Would be wonderful if her Six Step Solutions could get some traction in the places that matter. I posted some snips below..

[stevenleser]

7. The pleasant confusion of confusing ODS perception with disagreement re: actual policies. nt

[phantom power]

9. recommend

[Autumn]

10. Goes right along with the pleasant fiction of a Democracy

Great article will. Thank you and be prepared for the OSD.

[KoKo]

11. "Six Steps Short of War to Beat ISIS" (From Link in Pitt's Article)

Six Steps Short of War to Beat ISIS
by Phyllis Bennis

http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/09/187851/six-steps-short-war-beat-isis

(FIRST, IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM which Bennis points out that neither Air Strikes or Boots on the Ground will solve the occupation in Mosul. Her six steps for solution are worth the rest of a read at the link.)
----------------------

We have to start by understanding just why ISIS is so powerful.

First, ISIS has good weapons (mostly U.S. and Saudi weapons that have flooded the region for more than 15 years). So we need to start thinking about the need for an arms embargo on all sides.

Second, ISIS has good military leadership, some of it provided by Sunni Iraqi generals who were kicked out of their positions in the military when the U.S. invaded and who are now providing training, strategy and military leadership to ISIS-allied militias and ISIS itself. These guys are a very secular bunch. They drink and smoke, and they will be unlikely to stick around ISIS if they believe they have any chance of recovering their lost jobs, prestige, and dignity. That could happen over time, but only if a really new government takes hold in Iraq, but it’s not going to be enough to simply choose a new prime minister and announce a new government made up of too many of the same old sectarian faces.

Third, ISIS has support from Sunni tribal leaders – the very people President Obama says he wants to "persuade" to break with ISIS. But these are people who have suffered grievously – first during the U.S. invasion, and especially in the years of the US-backed Shi’a-controlled sectarian government of Nuri al-Maliki. They were demonized, attacked, and dispossessed by the government in Baghdad, and many of them thus see ISIS at the moment as the only force they can ally with to challenge that government. And many of them control large and powerful militias now fighting alongside ISIS against the government in Baghdad.

Fourth, ISIS has support from ordinary Iraqi Sunnis, who (also largely secular) may hate what ISIS stands for, its extremism and violence, but who have suffered terribly under Maliki's sectarian Shi’a-controlled government from arrests, torture, extra-judicial executions, and more. As a result they also are willing to ally with ISIS against Baghdad, at least for now.

So, weakening ISIS requires ending the support it relies on from tribal leaders, military figures, and ordinary Iraqi Sunnis. The key question is how do we do that?
- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/09/187851/six-steps-short-war-beat-isis#sthash.fIPtxUBv.dpuf

Read More for the "Six Steps Solutions" at:

http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/09/187851/six-steps-short-war-beat-isis

[AuntPatsy]

12. Excellent article, K&R

[WilliamPitt]

13. Up

[tabasco]

16. Lame

[WilliamPitt]

18. Thanks for kicking my thread.

[AnalystInParadise]

17. It

Will eventually get to boots on the ground I fear.

[WillyT]

20. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[WilliamPitt]

22. An emoticon

being the best you can do.

Try harder. It's important. Lives are at stake.

Or you can get yourself bounced from another of my threads.

Your call.

[WilliamPitt]

24. Question answered.

[quadrature]

25. is Egypt out of the doghouse?

Is Egypt in good standing with Obama?

[Change has come]

27. Kick

Rec too

[grasswire]

28. thank you, Will. nt

[Separation]

29. No boots on the ground doesn't actually mean no boots on the ground.

http://www.stripes.com/news/in-place-of-boots-on-the-ground-us-seeks-contractors-for-iraq-1.301798

Wary of putting combat troops in Iraq, the U.S. government is gauging contractors’ interest in advising the Iraqi Defense Ministry and Counter Terrorism Service in a range of capacities, including force development, logistics and planning and operations.

The U.S. Army Contracting Command posted a notice last month seeking contractors willing to work on an initial 12-month contract, who should be “cognizant of the goals of reducing tensions between Arabs and Kurds, and Sunni and Shias.”

They would focus on administration, force development, procurement and acquisition, contracting, training management, public affairs, logistics, personnel management, professional development, communications, planning and operations, infrastructure management, intelligence and executive development, the notice stated.

This plus the fact that quite a few Generals have come out and directly said air power alone will not get the results he is looking for.

[marym625]

30. Bravo! n/t