A member of the Iraqi security forces shows his passport as he prepares to travel, at the international airport in Najaf, south of Baghdad, September 3, 2015. REUTERS/ALAA AL-MARJANI
Reuters: Some Iraqis ditch fight against Islamic State for life in Europe
Some Iraqi soldiers are abandoning their posts and joining a wave of civilian migrants headed to Europe, raising new doubts about the cohesion of the country's Western-backed security forces in the fight against Islamic State militants.
Interviews with migrants and an analysis of social media activity show scores of fighters from the national army, police and special forces as well as Shi'ite militias and Kurdish peshmerga have left in recent months or plan to go soon.
They join more than 50,000 civilians who have left Iraq in the past three months, according to the United Nations, part of an even larger exodus from neighboring Syria and other conflict zones across the Middle East.
WNU Editor: There is some truth to this report. According to the UN organization responsible for refugees .... they are estimating that almost three quarters of the refugees fleeing to Europe right now are males between the ages of 18 - 35 .... in short ... males of military age. The UNHCR link is here.
If I was an Iraqi soldier, I would be outta there in a flash too.
ReplyDeleteCaecus ..... When I look at those faces in those pics .... not a sad look in sight.
ReplyDeleteGiving refuge to a deserting soldier while at some point your young men and women may have to go into those countries to fight seems a bit morale busting.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how happy they are when they run into European police, soldiers and ethnic nationalists/fascists.
ReplyDeleteI understand their desire to leave but I have much more respect for the middle aged Arab men I see operating T 72s and/or engaging in urban combat as part of the SAA versus so called "moderate rebels". We'll see who runs things in Iraq/Syria after ISIS and the other thugs are ground into powder.
Strange times when you honour deserters. In former times they were considered lowest amon lowest
ReplyDeleteTrue, but the Iraqi 'army' is hopelessly corrupt, remember when their leaders ran away ahead of an ISIS attack and left thousands to be massacred. Same thing in Ramadi. These desertions are the result.
ReplyDelete"I understand their desire to leave but I have much more respect for the middle aged Arab men I see operating T 72s and/or engaging in urban combat as part of the SAA versus so called "moderate rebels"" - RRH
What about those droppings barrel bombs as a form of terror bombing? SAA also fights alonside Shia jihadis who are just as extreme as their Sunni counterparts.
The U.S. used barrel bombs during the Vietnam War.
DeleteLacking precision strike aircraft, and precision weapons, and forced to fly high due to Turkish/US/Saudi/GGC supplied state of the art MANPADS, any Syrian Airforce strikes on Al Quida/ISIS forces entrenched in "urban" areas is going to be a form of "terror" bombing.
U.S. drone strikes are also a form of terror bombing, and yes, just like the Syrian Airforce, the U.S. drones do a "double tap", to kill the "first responders" and rescue crews.
He was humming this tune:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/suNm_YnE-jk
More of these males would stay and fight if the Iraqi army was effective and if the leadership showed willingness to fight instead of fleeing and had skin in the game.
ReplyDeleteAs it is the leadership was the 1st to flee.
Every enlisted person who rings the bell at BUDS course take 0-3 people with them. Every officer that rings the bell takes twice to thrice as many. If the whole leadership flees that number probably goes up exponentially.
You will always have draft dodgers no matter how good the military is led or espirit de corp it has, but with a corrupt, nepotistic, tribal military leadership like the IA has, this is no surprise.
Obama should have been on the phone every day with Malaki like GWB was. It would have made a difference. The intelligentsia in Europe (& the U.S.) got what they wanted. GWB is gone. They got Obama and now they are reaping the whirlwind. Nobel Peace Prize anyone?
The plans of Mice and (mice).
The barrel bombs are dropped by helicopters (Mi-8 / 17), not near the frontlines, but over opposition-held districts and towns. Therefore they are not a result of any lack of precision or equipment. They are clearly aimed at the civilian population.
ReplyDeleteThe rebels and even JaN/IS do not have serious AA capabilities, but that might change with Russia's deployment.