Retaliatory U.S. airstrikes underway after 2 American troops killed in Iraq

[Dennis Donovan]

Source: Politico

By LARA SELIGMAN

03/12/2020 06:50 PM EDT

The U.S. is conducting retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq after two U.S. and one British service member died in a rocket attack Wednesday, a U.S. official confirmed to POLITICO.

The strikes come just hours after Pentagon leaders warned that the United States would respond to the deadly attack, which they said was launched by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups in Iraq.

“Let me be clear: The U.S. will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests or our allies," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters at the Pentagon, adding that he spoke to President Donald Trump after the attack and the president gave him "the authority to do what we need to do consistent with his guidance."

Officials did not name the group responsible but said they were "confident" they knew who was behind the attack after capturing the truck that fired off 30 Katyusha rockets, 18 of which landed on Camp Taji, Iraq.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/12/iraq-airstrikes-us-iran-127720

[walkingman]

1. Fuck Trump and his war monger cronies

[Lulu KC]

2. More info

Iranian-backed centers of activity in Iraq.

LIKE HE DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO! What a great time to start that war he's been wanting.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/politics/coalition-airstrikes-retaliation-iraq/index.html

[NurseJackie]

3. Hey Susan Sarandon... what do you think of Trump now?

Still your "savior" that will "bring about the revolution" even sooner?

Susan, you're a stupid stupid woman!

[rickyhall]

4. I have an idea. Maybe we should get the fuck out of Iraq.

Just a thought.

Besides, haven't we fucked Iraq enough yet?

[Ghost Dog]

6. Bingo! Nt.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. U.S. Airstrikes Kill Iraqi Soldiers and Police, Iraqi Officials Say

Iraqi military officials gave a scathing condemnation of the United States military on Friday for airstrikes launched overnight that they said had killed three Iraqi soldiers, two police officers and a civilian worker as well as damaging an unfinished civilian airport.
...
The airstrikes, which were supported by the British military, were meant to target a pro-Iranian militia, Kataib Hezbollah, and facilities that were believed to store the type of rockets used in the earlier attack.

However, according to multiple Iraqi military officials, who so far have been largely supportive of the U.S. role in Iraq, the bombings killed members of the Iraqi military and police. It was not clear whether they killed any Kataib Hezbollah fighters.

In a statement released Friday morning, the Iraqi Joint Command described the attack as “an aggression” that “targeted Iraqi military institutions violating the principal of partnership” between the Iraqi security forces and the Americans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/world/middleeast/iraq-military-us-airstrike.html

So, not so much 'retaliation', more 'lashing out blindly'.

The strikes battered positions belonging to both the Iraqi army and the state-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network.

Among them were areas controlled by Kataeb Hezbollah, a hardline Hashed faction that the US has blamed for several attacks on foreign troops in Iraq.

The Iraqi military said its preliminary death toll from the air strikes was three Iraqi soldiers, two policemen and one civilian working at an unfinished airport south of Baghdad.
...
Hashed fighters were among 11 Iraqi fighters wounded in the bombardment, some of them critically. One civilian was also wounded.

https://www.ibtimes.com/civilian-among-six-dead-us-air-strikes-iraq-2939565

[Eugene]

7. U.S. counters Iraq's condemnation of airstrikes on Iran-backed militia facilities

Source: Washington Post

U.S. counters Iraq’s condemnation of airstrikes on Iran-backed militia facilities

By Louisa Loveluck, Dan Lamothe and Mustafa Salim
March 13, 2020 at 2:27 p.m. EDT

LONDON — The United States and Iraq on Friday wrangled over the impact of airstrikes carried out to avenge the deaths of coalition soldiers this week, with a top U.S. general saying the munitions hit military targets while officials in Baghdad insisted that Iraqi troops and a civilian were among the dead.

The U.S. military said it had launched “defensive precision strikes” early Friday morning against targets linked to the Iran-backed group Kataib Hezbollah, calling them a proportional response to a rocket attack that killed one British and two American service members Wednesday.

Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie Jr., the chief of U.S. Central Command, said the strikes were carried out by manned aircraft and hit five weapon storage facilities believed to be used by Kataib Hezbollah south and west of Baghdad.

“We assessed that each location stored weapons that would enable lethal operations against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq,” he said. “We also assessed that the destruction of these sites will degrade Kataib Hezbollah’s ability to conduct future strikes.”

-snip-

But in Iraq, the strikes were met with condemnation and risked intensifying the pressure on U.S.-led coalition troops to leave the country. The Iraqi military described the action as “treacherous,” and Iraqi President Barham Salih described it as a “violation of national sovereignty.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iraq-condemns-us-strikes-on-iran-backed-militias-say-they-killed-soldiers-and-a-civilian/2020/03/13/33650322-6519-11ea-8a8e-5c5336b32760_story.html