Advisory And Support Troops In Iraq Engage In Combat With Heavily-Armed Militants

From Fire Andrea Mitchell:

I thought the Iraq combat mission was over? American troops fight heavily armed militants


Didn’t Obama say the Iraq combat mission was officially over during his snorefest oval office speech on August 31st? Chock this one up as yet another lie from the “community organizer. Today American troops in Iraq where involved in combating heavily armed militants assaulting an Iraqi military headquarters in the center of Baghdad. According to Myway News/AP twelve people were killed and dozens were wounded.





The attack also made plain the kind of lapses in security that have left Iraqis wary of the U.S. drawdown and distrustful of the ability of Iraqi forces now taking up ultimate responsibility for protecting the country.



Sunday’s hour-long assault was the second in as many weeks on the facility, the headquarters for the Iraqi Army’s 11th Division, pointing to the failure of Iraqi forces to plug even the most obvious holes in their security.



Two of the four attackers even managed to fight their way inside the compound and were only killed after running out of ammunition and detonating explosives belts they were wearing.


And, from Antiwar.com Blog:

“The American Combat Mission in Iraq Has Ended …”from Antiwar.com Blog by Thomas L. KnappAnd if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge you might be interested in buying. It connects my oceanfront properties in Kansas (also for sale) to the magical island where I keep my leprechaun-sourced gold hoard.




From the Washington Post‘s account of an attack on an Iraqi army base today:



The Americans provided covering fire while Iraqi soldiers pursued the attackers who had entered the compound, said Lt. Col Eric Bloom, a U.S. military spokesman. The U.S. intervention also included helicopters and drones, he said.



50,000 US troops remain in Iraq. Re-labeling them (“advisers”) doesn’t take them out of harm’s way. No magic, bulletproof “we’re not combat troops any more” force field pops into existence around them just because POTUS made a speech. They’re still there, and the fighting continues.



The American combat mission in Iraq has ended? I need not deplete my own meager rhetorical arsenal for a pithy response — Confederate cavalry warlord (and, to his eternal discredit, Ku Klux Klan founder) Nathan Bedford Forrest provided that response 140-odd years ago:



Damn such nonsense. War means fightin’ and fightin’ means killin’. Turn the grindstone