Iraq

Key Author of War Powers: Obama Needs Authority to Bomb Syria — Or Iraq |  Accuracy.Org
USA Today reports: “President Obama spends Tuesday soliciting congressional support for expanded military action against the insurgent group known as the Islamic State.” The Jacksonville Journal-Courier in Illinois reports today: “President Barack Obama’s plans to expand the U.S. military role against Islamic extremist groups could overstep his authority, according to a longtime Jackson [...]
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Obama’s Ukraine Folly Comes Full Circle
"The mismatch between the realities on the ground and the nature of the president’s pronouncements reveals a president who is out of touch with reality." This has been one of the underlying themes of those who have argued from the beginning of this drama that the West doesn’t have a stake in Ukraine’s fate to even approach the stake of Russia, which has included Ukraine within its sphere [...]
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Obama’s Burden and Rhetorical Asymmetry
President Obama has been having a rough summer, reflected in poll numbers that are as low as they have been during his presidency. Clearly a concatenation of developments overseas that appear to most Americans to be to some degree threatening accounts for much of the sour public mood and the broadsides being directed at the president and his administration for how they have responded to those deve [...]
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The Whys Behind the Ukraine Crisis
Given the very high stakes of a nuclear confrontation with Russia, some analysts wonder what’s the real motive for taking this extraordinary risk over Ukraine. Is it about natural gas, protection of the U.S. dollar’s dominance, or an outgrowth of neocon extremism, asks Robert Parry. A senior U.S. diplomat told me recently that if Russia were to occupy all of Ukraine and even neighboring [...]
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NATO summit: Obama, Cameron urge allies to ramp up military spending
Barack Obama and David Cameron will urge NATO members to increase military spending at the alliance's summit in Wales, amid criticism that some countries are getting a "free ride", growing geopolitical tensions and Europe-wide austerity. The NATO summit, which kicks off later this week, will see Obama and Cameron urge European state leaders to protect their continent from amplifying threats by [...]
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Islamic State militants behead US journalist, release video
BAGHDAD: Islamic State insurgents posted a video on Tuesday purportedly showing the beheading of US journalist James Foley and images of another US journalist whose life they said depended on how the United States acts in Iraq. The video, titled "A Message To America," presented President Barack Obama with bleak options that could define America's& [...]
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France to supply weapons to Kurdish forces in Iraq
France is to join the club of Western nations directly assisting Iraqi Kurds. Paris said the Kurds are in "urgent need" of support to fight against the radical Islamic State group. The French president’s office said the arms shipments will be delivered in a matter of hours and have been agreed to by Baghdad. [...]
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US sends arms to Iraq – to solve problems Washington helped create
The US is conducting air strikes and supplies weapons to help outgunned Iraqi Kurds fight off the offensive of Islamist militants. The Kurds are battling against extremists armed with American arms and nurtured thanks to America's policies. The airstrikes aimed at positions of the militants from the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, in northern Iraq are not expected to seriously un [...]
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US allies cultivated Islamic State. Now IS plans to ‘raise flag of Allah in White House’
As the Islamic State tears through minority communities in northern Iraq, the extremist terror group, that owes its ascendance to funding from US allies in the Middle East, sent a message to the White House: We're coming for you. “I say to America that the Islamic Caliphate has been established,” Abu Mosa, a spokesman for the Islamic State (IS), formerly know as the Islamic State in Iraq an [...]
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US begins air strikes against Isis targets in Iraq, Pentagon says
Barack Obama authorized targeted air strikes against Islamic militants on Thursday. American warplanes began bombing Islamic militant targets outside the Kurdish city of Irbil on Friday, in the first offensive action by the US in Iraq since it withdrew ground troops in 2011. [...]
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US considers ‘military options’ in Iraq to save Yazidis, Christians
US President Barack Obama is considering military action to help stranded Yazidi Kurds in Iraq who fled territories captured by Islamic State militants. On Thursday, President Obama assembled members of his national security team to discuss the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in regions of Iraq captured by the Islamic State (IS). [...]
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Mass executions, torture and child soldiers: UN reports terrible war crimes in Iraq
More than 5,000 Iraqis have died in the violence in the country so far this year, a large proportion of them women and children suffering gruesome deaths at the hands of ISIS extremists and over-zealous security forces, says a detailed new UN report. [...]
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Target ISIS: First batch of Russian Su-25 fighter jets arrives in Iraq
The first delivery of Russian Sukhoi fighter jets arrived in Iraq on Saturday, the country's Defense Ministry said. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is hoping the jets will make a key difference in the fight against ISIS. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense on Sunday confirmed receiving five Su-25 fighter jets in accordance with the deal with Moscow. [...]
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Russell Brand: “Fanatical, terrorist, propagandist” Fox News is “more dangerous than ISIS” (VIDEO)
Comedian Russell Brand condemned Fox News as a "fanatical terrorist propaganda organization" during a heated, 10-minute tirade recorded on video and uploaded to the web this week. The 39-year-old British stand-up comic-turned-actor is now making headlines for the video footage, which was uploaded to his personal YouTube channel on Tuesday this week under the title: Is Fox News More Dangerous than [...]
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ISIS supporters vow to avenge any US airstrike in Iraq
Supporters of Sunni Islamists waging a campaign of terror across Iraq have vowed that any US airstrikes against its fighters will be met with attacks on Americans. The group has also threated to commandeer its own Air Force as Iraq risks disintegrating. A twitter account with 21,000 followers, dubbed the “League of Supporters”, called for ISIS sympathizers to post messages warning America not [...]
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Rand Paul: US created “jihadist wonderland” in Syria, Libya and Iraq
United States Senator Rand Pal (R-Kentucky) says jihadist wonderlands are sprouting up abroad, and American foreign policy is to blame. The possible 2016 presidential contender was discussing the escalating crisis in Iraq on camera with CNN host Candy Crowley over the weekend when he condemned the notion that the American military should intervene further. [...]
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US wants to oust Maliki, while he refuses to resign in exchange for airstrikes
As the United States mulls whether or not to provide military support to Iraq in its battle against Sunni insurgents, recent reports indicate the White House wants Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki out of power. [...]
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Back to Iraq: F-18 Super Hornets patrol desert to track ISIS forces
In less than three years US fighter jets have returned to Iraqi skies, as Obama's administration has authorized "manned and unmanned" surveillance flights there to keep an eye on the ISIS jihadist group that threatens to overrun the whole of Iraq. [...]
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Tony Blair, Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the (tragic) Middle East Opera is back. A killer without a clue, he can'€™t be blamed for not being consistent. His most recent opus speaks for itself; like a Kabuki mask high on Earl Grey tea, the Phantom is eviscerated by his own mighty pen, actually sword. The fact that the Phantom keeps getting away with his vast desert of convoluted lies – [...]
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