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MowCowWhoHow III

(2,103 posts)
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 09:27 AM Oct 2015

American killed as hostages rescued in Iraq, sources say

Source: CNN

An American was killed in an overnight operation to rescue Kurdish hostages in Iraq, two U.S. officials told CNN on condition of anonymity Thursday.

Seventy hostages were liberated in the operation, in which Kurdish and Iraqi forces also were involved, U.S. officials said.

The operation was in Hawija, Iraq, one U.S. source said.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/22/middleeast/us-iraq-hostage-rescue-attempt/index.html

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Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
3. Kurdish Peshmerga are tough as Nails. Amazing they even got that group of 70 back alive.
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 11:21 AM
Oct 2015

Iraq needs to continue to group up with the Kurdish Peshmerga. Hopefully Americans can continue to back out and take the training wheels away from Iraq.

TwilightGardener

(46,416 posts)
4. I don't trust anything out of the Pentagon anymore, and I'm not totally buying the story on this
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 11:29 AM
Oct 2015

either. Fox news says they were mostly Iraqi Sunni Awakening police and military, not Kurds. The story is being reported differently in different sources, and it seems a very strange mission for us to undertake, anyway. I'll wait for more info.

pasto76

(1,589 posts)
5. your assessment is based on your years of service no doubt?
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 01:09 PM
Oct 2015

cause I can tell you right now, you dont know squat about whats going on in Iraq. You're surprise that this involved Sunni Iraqis is the red flag here.

US Special Operations have been on the ground in Iraq since AT LEAST the US started the air campaign. We dont let Iraqi nationals call in multi million dollar craft - sticker price and operational cost - and bomb whatever. US doctrine *REQUIRES* indirect fire is observed by someone. That means probably Army special forces are right there.

There are dozens on sects of Islam. Almost non of them agree with each other and the IS version is about as fundamentalist extremist as it gets. But Iraqis also have national pride, and if they perceive (like a lot of right wingers over here do) that IS is overflowing with foreign national (non iraqi) jihadis, well, they arent down for that either. At a base level you should be able to understand that IS doesnt discriminate about who gets killed. Lock step with them, or die. Sunni, Shia, whatever.

Watch the Vice news series on IS. In syria and Iraq. Get some education on this.

TwilightGardener

(46,416 posts)
6. My assessment is colored by the fact that the Pentagon has been manipulating intelligence
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 01:20 PM
Oct 2015

reports and assessments to paint a rosier picture in Iraq and Syria than was warranted, first off. Second, I know that special forces are everywhere--everywhere--and certainly are on the ground in Iraq and Syria. They were on the ground before we even started fighting ISIS, it was reported. But the initial reports are conflicting with each other, the suggestion was that we were saving Kurds/peshmerga and we actually did not do that--and I'm not sure why American special forces would stage a big hostage rescue to rescue Iraqis--does no one remember the caution with which we approached the rescue of Yazidis last year? Constant promises of no boots on the ground, etc. There was hesitation above DOD level to green-light the rescue of AMERICAN hostages--that was widely reported. Now we're freely risking special forces to rescue Iraqis, whom the SecDef accused of having "no will to fight"? Something smells off. I think this mission was questionable.

Eugene

(61,595 posts)
7. BBC: US-Iraqi rescue operation 'foils IS mass execution'
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 01:35 PM
Oct 2015

Source: BBC

US-Iraqi rescue operation 'foils IS mass execution'

22 October 2015 Middle East

US-Iraqi forces have rescued dozens of hostages held by Islamic State (IS) in Iraq after learning of their "imminent execution", the Pentagon has said.

But a US soldier wounded in the raid died of his injuries - the first killed in action since US operations against IS began last year.

The early morning operation on Thursday took place near the town of Hawija in northern Iraq.

Five IS militants were captured and a number killed, the Pentagon said.

The raid targeted an IS-held prison near Hawija, in the predominantly Kurdish province of Kirkuk.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/34607471
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