Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East

[scotchtiger]

Looks like Iran is enriching uranium at its highest levels ever:

Iran starts enriching uranium to 60%, its highest level ever

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran began enriching uranium Friday to its highest level ever, edging closer to weapons-grade levels to pressure talks in Vienna aimed at restoring its nuclear deal with world powers after an attack on its main atomic site...

apnews.com

Iran accelerates enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade, IAEA says

Iran has accelerated its enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in a report on Tuesday seen by Reuters, a move raising tensions with the West as both sides seek to resume talks on reviving Tehran's nuclear deal.

www.reuters.com

I don't think anyone is surprised that this is happening with Biden in charge after he was part of the poorly executed original deal.

We know about the absolute debacle in Afghanistan and the resulting deterioration of America's image on the global scale. I haven't seen it mentioned, but this "success against the infidels" will also be a core part of rapidly expanding recruitment propaganda in the middle east. This will expand membership in - and embolden the actions of - the Taliban, ISIS and other extremist organizations.

Criticize Trump all you want, but ISIS flourished under Obama/Biden, and subsequently collapsed under Trump.

We better be careful. Biden's shameful disaster in Afghanistan may only be the beginning of larger problems in the middle east.

 

[PawsFan_]

Criticize Trump all you want, but ISIS flourished under Obama/Biden, and subsequently collapsed under Trump.

I deployed in both 2015 and 2018/2019 as the senior Navy planner for the air campaigns in CENTCOM: OIR, OFS, AG, and Yemen. In between, I trained the USAF air planners before they deployed.

The plan to defeat ISIS, created during the Obama administration, was a good one. The administration did nothing to hold us back. We got everything we asked for. The only thing that slowed us down was the Iraqi Army being almost totally recreated from scratch into a fighting force. We absolutely did not want to put a large conventional force on the ground. It would have helped ISIS: 1) recruit more crazies, 2) strengthen their narrative about infidels being on Muslim land. A big part of the strategy was to keep this from being a war of Sunni's (ISIS) v Shia (Iraqis). Keeping the Iraqi Shia Militias (PMF), who were controlled by Iran/Soleimani, was a big part of the politics going on off the battlefield. We would not work with the PMF. We'd only support the Iraqi Security Forces (controlled by the Iraqi govt.) We had so many fighters in theater, it was a challenge to keep them all busy; except up in Kobani. One of my bosses coined a phrase for the Intel targeting teams when I was there, "More targets faster" he'd say at every brief. We had so many tankers at my base (fighters can't do squat without lots of tanker support) there had to be 6 tankers flying at all times to have ramp space to park the planes.

By the time Trump took office, ISIS was not an effective fighting force. At least they weren't as strong as they were in 2016. Mosul was a tough fight. The Iraqis fought bravely to retake this key city. After that, everything was mop up operations and pushing they back into the MERV. When I left in Feb 2019, Daesh held less than 5 square miles of territory in Syria. They were starving and living in caves. Trump instituted no new policies that helped us: nor did we need any. In fact, his feud with Turkey became a pain in the ass to us. In addition, his tweet about pulling US forces out of Syria in November 2018 created a lot of unnecessary churn.

Side story:
I was able to get a Marine Capt working for me home early to CA a week before Christmas when his ship departed CENTCOM for PACOM. He got ordered back to us by his commander based on the USS ESSEX turning around and returning to CENTCOM from PACOM based on this tweet! I didn't need him or know he was coming until he was airborne. He arrived to us on Christmas morning. Not a happy camper.

There's a lot I liked about Trump: mostly that he wasn't Hillary. Love his policies on Iran. JCPOA was a disaster. When that was signed by the Obama administration, it revitalized Iran as an instrument of terror. It totally pissed off our Arab allies at us. Dumb, dumb dumb deal. We'll be paying a price for this for years to come. Loved that he schwacked Soleimani.

But Trump's bombast about defeating ISIS....well let's put it this way. It was the 4th quarter and we were up 28 points when he came into the game. We weren't going to lose it. He deserves credit for staying the course. Nothing more. In fact Mattis took a lot of our toys away from us while we were still in the fight and sent'm to Europe and Asia in early 2018.

A note about the "red" map. That map doesn't represent territory Daesh held. It represents areas where Daesh had the capability to exert influence. It roughly translates along three major highways in the region from Ar Raqqah to Mosul along the north. From Ar Raqqah to Ramadi heading SE. And from Al Qaim to Sinjar roughly NE

 

[yoshi121374]

I deployed in both 2015 and 2018/2019 as the senior Navy planner for the air campaigns in CENTCOM: OIR, OFS, AG, and Yemen. In between, I trained the USAF air planners before they deployed.

The plan to defeat ISIS, created during the Obama administration, was a good one. The administration did nothing to hold us back. We got everything we asked for. The only thing that slowed us down was the Iraqi Army being almost totally recreated from scratch into a fighting force. We absolutely did not want to put a large conventional force on the ground. It would have helped ISIS: 1) recruit more crazies, 2) strengthen their narrative about infidels being on Muslim land. A big part of the strategy was to keep this from being a war of Sunni's (ISIS) v Shia (Iraqis). Keeping the Iraqi Shia Militias (PMF), who were controlled by Iran/Soleimani, was a big part of the politics going on off the battlefield. We would not work with the PMF. We'd only support the Iraqi Security Forces (controlled by the Iraqi govt.) We had so many fighters in theater, it was a challenge to keep them all busy; except up in Kobani. One of my bosses coined a phrase for the Intel targeting teams when I was there, "More targets faster" he'd say at every brief. We had so many tankers at my base (fighters can't do squat without lots of tanker support) there had to be 6 tankers flying at all times to have ramp space to park the planes.

By the time Trump took office, ISIS was not an effective fighting force. At least they weren't as strong as they were in 2016. Mosul was a tough fight. The Iraqis fought bravely to retake this key city. After that, everything was mop up operations and pushing they back into the MERV. When I left in Feb 2019, Daesh held less than 5 square miles of territory in Syria. They were starving and living in caves. Trump instituted no new policies that helped us: nor did we need any. In fact, his feud with Turkey became a pain in the ass to us. In addition, his tweet about pulling US forces out of Syria in November 2018 created a lot of unnecessary churn.

Side story:
I was able to get a Marine Capt working for me home early to CA a week before Christmas when his ship departed CENTCOM for PACOM. He got ordered back to us by his commander based on the USS ESSEX turning around and returning to CENTCOM from PACOM based on this tweet! I didn't need him or know he was coming until he was airborne. He arrived to us on Christmas morning. Not a happy camper.

There's a lot I liked about Trump: mostly that he wasn't Hillary. Love his policies on Iran. JCPOA was a disaster. When that was signed by the Obama administration, it revitalized Iran as an instrument of terror. It totally pissed off our Arab allies at us. Dumb, dumb dumb deal. We'll be paying a price for this for years to come. Loved that he schwacked Soleimani.

But Trump's bombast about defeating ISIS....well let's put it this way. It was the 4th quarter and we were up 28 points when he came into the game. We weren't going to lose it. He deserves credit for staying the course. Nothing more. In fact Mattis took a lot of our toys away from us while we were still in the fight and sent'm to Europe and Asia in early 2018.

A note about the "red" map. That map doesn't represent territory Daesh held. It represents areas where Daesh had the capability to exert influence. It roughly translates along three major highways in the region from Ar Raqqah to Mosul along the north. From Ar Raqqah to Ramadi heading SE. And from Al Qaim to Sinjar roughly NE

Appreciate your insight and expertise.

 

[moradatiger70]

Thanks for your service!

 

[moradatiger70]

I deployed in both 2015 and 2018/2019 as the senior Navy planner for the air campaigns in CENTCOM: OIR, OFS, AG, and Yemen. In between, I trained the USAF air planners before they deployed.

The plan to defeat ISIS, created during the Obama administration, was a good one. The administration did nothing to hold us back. We got everything we asked for. The only thing that slowed us down was the Iraqi Army being almost totally recreated from scratch into a fighting force. We absolutely did not want to put a large conventional force on the ground. It would have helped ISIS: 1) recruit more crazies, 2) strengthen their narrative about infidels being on Muslim land. A big part of the strategy was to keep this from being a war of Sunni's (ISIS) v Shia (Iraqis). Keeping the Iraqi Shia Militias (PMF), who were controlled by Iran/Soleimani, was a big part of the politics going on off the battlefield. We would not work with the PMF. We'd only support the Iraqi Security Forces (controlled by the Iraqi govt.) We had so many fighters in theater, it was a challenge to keep them all busy; except up in Kobani. One of my bosses coined a phrase for the Intel targeting teams when I was there, "More targets faster" he'd say at every brief. We had so many tankers at my base (fighters can't do squat without lots of tanker support) there had to be 6 tankers flying at all times to have ramp space to park the planes.

By the time Trump took office, ISIS was not an effective fighting force. At least they weren't as strong as they were in 2016. Mosul was a tough fight. The Iraqis fought bravely to retake this key city. After that, everything was mop up operations and pushing they back into the MERV. When I left in Feb 2019, Daesh held less than 5 square miles of territory in Syria. They were starving and living in caves. Trump instituted no new policies that helped us: nor did we need any. In fact, his feud with Turkey became a pain in the ass to us. In addition, his tweet about pulling US forces out of Syria in November 2018 created a lot of unnecessary churn.

Side story:
I was able to get a Marine Capt working for me home early to CA a week before Christmas when his ship departed CENTCOM for PACOM. He got ordered back to us by his commander based on the USS ESSEX turning around and returning to CENTCOM from PACOM based on this tweet! I didn't need him or know he was coming until he was airborne. He arrived to us on Christmas morning. Not a happy camper.

There's a lot I liked about Trump: mostly that he wasn't Hillary. Love his policies on Iran. JCPOA was a disaster. When that was signed by the Obama administration, it revitalized Iran as an instrument of terror. It totally pissed off our Arab allies at us. Dumb, dumb dumb deal. We'll be paying a price for this for years to come. Loved that he schwacked Soleimani.

But Trump's bombast about defeating ISIS....well let's put it this way. It was the 4th quarter and we were up 28 points when he came into the game. We weren't going to lose it. He deserves credit for staying the course. Nothing more. In fact Mattis took a lot of our toys away from us while we were still in the fight and sent'm to Europe and Asia in early 2018.

A note about the "red" map. That map doesn't represent territory Daesh held. It represents areas where Daesh had the capability to exert influence. It roughly translates along three major highways in the region from Ar Raqqah to Mosul along the north. From Ar Raqqah to Ramadi heading SE. And from Al Qaim to Sinjar roughly NE

Thanks for your service!

 

[scotchtiger]

I deployed in both 2015 and 2018/2019 as the senior Navy planner for the air campaigns in CENTCOM: OIR, OFS, AG, and Yemen. In between, I trained the USAF air planners before they deployed.

The plan to defeat ISIS, created during the Obama administration, was a good one. The administration did nothing to hold us back. We got everything we asked for. The only thing that slowed us down was the Iraqi Army being almost totally recreated from scratch into a fighting force. We absolutely did not want to put a large conventional force on the ground. It would have helped ISIS: 1) recruit more crazies, 2) strengthen their narrative about infidels being on Muslim land. A big part of the strategy was to keep this from being a war of Sunni's (ISIS) v Shia (Iraqis). Keeping the Iraqi Shia Militias (PMF), who were controlled by Iran/Soleimani, was a big part of the politics going on off the battlefield. We would not work with the PMF. We'd only support the Iraqi Security Forces (controlled by the Iraqi govt.) We had so many fighters in theater, it was a challenge to keep them all busy; except up in Kobani. One of my bosses coined a phrase for the Intel targeting teams when I was there, "More targets faster" he'd say at every brief. We had so many tankers at my base (fighters can't do squat without lots of tanker support) there had to be 6 tankers flying at all times to have ramp space to park the planes.

By the time Trump took office, ISIS was not an effective fighting force. At least they weren't as strong as they were in 2016. Mosul was a tough fight. The Iraqis fought bravely to retake this key city. After that, everything was mop up operations and pushing they back into the MERV. When I left in Feb 2019, Daesh held less than 5 square miles of territory in Syria. They were starving and living in caves. Trump instituted no new policies that helped us: nor did we need any. In fact, his feud with Turkey became a pain in the ass to us. In addition, his tweet about pulling US forces out of Syria in November 2018 created a lot of unnecessary churn.

Side story:
I was able to get a Marine Capt working for me home early to CA a week before Christmas when his ship departed CENTCOM for PACOM. He got ordered back to us by his commander based on the USS ESSEX turning around and returning to CENTCOM from PACOM based on this tweet! I didn't need him or know he was coming until he was airborne. He arrived to us on Christmas morning. Not a happy camper.

There's a lot I liked about Trump: mostly that he wasn't Hillary. Love his policies on Iran. JCPOA was a disaster. When that was signed by the Obama administration, it revitalized Iran as an instrument of terror. It totally pissed off our Arab allies at us. Dumb, dumb dumb deal. We'll be paying a price for this for years to come. Loved that he schwacked Soleimani.

But Trump's bombast about defeating ISIS....well let's put it this way. It was the 4th quarter and we were up 28 points when he came into the game. We weren't going to lose it. He deserves credit for staying the course. Nothing more. In fact Mattis took a lot of our toys away from us while we were still in the fight and sent'm to Europe and Asia in early 2018.

A note about the "red" map. That map doesn't represent territory Daesh held. It represents areas where Daesh had the capability to exert influence. It roughly translates along three major highways in the region from Ar Raqqah to Mosul along the north. From Ar Raqqah to Ramadi heading SE. And from Al Qaim to Sinjar roughly NE

Very interesting. Thanks for the insight.

Thoughts on Iran ramping up uranium enrichment?

 

[okclem]

I think I'm looking at the next Middle East Strategy think tank here.

 

[jakefest]

I deployed in both 2015 and 2018/2019 as the senior Navy planner for the air campaigns in CENTCOM: OIR, OFS, AG, and Yemen. In between, I trained the USAF air planners before they deployed.

The plan to defeat ISIS, created during the Obama administration, was a good one. The administration did nothing to hold us back. We got everything we asked for. The only thing that slowed us down was the Iraqi Army being almost totally recreated from scratch into a fighting force. We absolutely did not want to put a large conventional force on the ground. It would have helped ISIS: 1) recruit more crazies, 2) strengthen their narrative about infidels being on Muslim land. A big part of the strategy was to keep this from being a war of Sunni's (ISIS) v Shia (Iraqis). Keeping the Iraqi Shia Militias (PMF), who were controlled by Iran/Soleimani, was a big part of the politics going on off the battlefield. We would not work with the PMF. We'd only support the Iraqi Security Forces (controlled by the Iraqi govt.) We had so many fighters in theater, it was a challenge to keep them all busy; except up in Kobani. One of my bosses coined a phrase for the Intel targeting teams when I was there, "More targets faster" he'd say at every brief. We had so many tankers at my base (fighters can't do squat without lots of tanker support) there had to be 6 tankers flying at all times to have ramp space to park the planes.

By the time Trump took office, ISIS was not an effective fighting force. At least they weren't as strong as they were in 2016. Mosul was a tough fight. The Iraqis fought bravely to retake this key city. After that, everything was mop up operations and pushing they back into the MERV. When I left in Feb 2019, Daesh held less than 5 square miles of territory in Syria. They were starving and living in caves. Trump instituted no new policies that helped us: nor did we need any. In fact, his feud with Turkey became a pain in the ass to us. In addition, his tweet about pulling US forces out of Syria in November 2018 created a lot of unnecessary churn.

Side story:
I was able to get a Marine Capt working for me home early to CA a week before Christmas when his ship departed CENTCOM for PACOM. He got ordered back to us by his commander based on the USS ESSEX turning around and returning to CENTCOM from PACOM based on this tweet! I didn't need him or know he was coming until he was airborne. He arrived to us on Christmas morning. Not a happy camper.

There's a lot I liked about Trump: mostly that he wasn't Hillary. Love his policies on Iran. JCPOA was a disaster. When that was signed by the Obama administration, it revitalized Iran as an instrument of terror. It totally pissed off our Arab allies at us. Dumb, dumb dumb deal. We'll be paying a price for this for years to come. Loved that he schwacked Soleimani.

But Trump's bombast about defeating ISIS....well let's put it this way. It was the 4th quarter and we were up 28 points when he came into the game. We weren't going to lose it. He deserves credit for staying the course. Nothing more. In fact Mattis took a lot of our toys away from us while we were still in the fight and sent'm to Europe and Asia in early 2018.

A note about the "red" map. That map doesn't represent territory Daesh held. It represents areas where Daesh had the capability to exert influence. It roughly translates along three major highways in the region from Ar Raqqah to Mosul along the north. From Ar Raqqah to Ramadi heading SE. And from Al Qaim to Sinjar roughly NE

What years were you in? Wondering if we overlapped at all

 

[PawsFan_]

What years were you in? Wondering if we overlapped at all

May 1989 to June 2019

 

[PawsFan_]

Very interesting. Thanks for the insight.

Thoughts on Iran ramping up uranium enrichment?

Haven't read much on it recently. If they get anywhere near get enriched uranium.....my opinion.....its a red line that someone will prevent.

They will never be allowed to have a nuke.

 

[jakefest]

May 1989 to June 2019

1996-2004 plus some reserve time. JTAC/CCT