I keep meaning to do a post on what is going on with the ongoing operations in Iraq and Syria – honest, but so much is going on I keep getting sidetracked.
Regardless, I just saw this and I think it is important to highlight it:
ISIS strapped explosives around this little boys (7) waist. Iraqi soldiers disarmed him after he fled from Mosul. pic.twitter.com/H058UCk56I
— Brenda StoterBoscolo (@BrendaStoter) March 23, 2017
This is so incredibly sad. The look on his face when soldiers take off his shirt… Poor kid. https://t.co/RDeQNfA0aq
— Brenda StoterBoscolo (@BrendaStoter) March 23, 2017
We in the US bear an incredibly large amount of the moral responsibility for what is going on in Iraq and Syria. It was the failure of American strategy, and in some cases just the actual lack of American strategy, in the post invasion phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom that set the conditions for the rise of al Qaeda in Iraq and its ultimate transformation into ISIL. Right now the US led coalition is pursuing a by, with, and through strategy with our Iraqi partners to drive ISIL from Mosul, and ultimately Iraq. By, with, and through is one of the key operational concepts of the US Army’s Green Berets, which has been borrowed and adapted by Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. The Iraqi soldier who is saving that young Iraqi boy’s life in the video above is at the tip of the spear in the fight against ISIL. The US and our coalition partners are in support. Some of that support is training. Some of it is logistics. Some of it is air support. And some of it is direct and indirect fires. But day in and day out the Iraqi regular and irregular forces are at the forefront of fixing a problem created by the strategic malpractice of the US over the past fourteen years.
If you ever wonder what we’re still doing over there, that video is your answer. We’re providing support to the Iraqis that are risking their lives to protect each other in order to clean up a mess of our making.
We’re doing penance.
This is One Important Reason Why We are Still Militarily Engaged in IraqPost + Comments (73)