Iraqi Army Remains On Defensive As Extent of June Debacle Becomes Clearer -- Stars and Stripes/McClatchy News
IRBIL, Iraq — Five weeks after Islamist fighters stormed across northern and western Iraq in a surprise offensive that nearly reached the outskirts of the Iraqi capital, virtually every captured location remains firmly in rebel hands, while the central government’s meager efforts at a counteroffensive have met with failure on virtually every front.
Worse yet, Iraqi and U.S. officials have confirmed that fighters allied with the Islamic State not only captured hundreds of U.S.-supplied Humvees and large amounts of ammunition in their march across Iraq, but they also now possess as many as 52 U.S.-supplied artillery pieces with GPS aiming systems. The 155mm guns have a range of 20 miles, putting many Iraqi cities still in government hands easily within range of Islamic State positions.
Read more ....
Update: Iraq Assessment Team Reports Arrive in Pentagon -- US Department of Defense
My Comment: The above Stars and Stripes/McClatchy report is a must read. Bottom line .... it gives credence to previous reports that the Iraqi army is now functioning at only a fraction of it's former self. What is even more worrisome is that the military and it's Shiite volunteers/militias are suffering from supply and logistic problems. They have the soldiers and volunteers .... but not the weapons, ammunition, or food and water to keep up the fight. With such shortages .... armies never last.
4 comments:
Don't worry!
Those new Russian jets will save them!
...
But here is the punchline D. Plowman .... no one has told the Iraqis that the Russians want those jets back.
Why would the Russians want the jets back?
If the Iraqis pay for them, the Russian can pay for new ones off the assembly lines with upgraded avionics and a an airframe that has 0 hours on it.
I am missing something.
I am just joking Aizino .... it's a Russian thing. :)
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