US Withdrawing From Some Iraq Bases After Rocket Attacks
Leaving the smaller, more exposed ones
Editor’s note: The US is leaving an airbase in Mosul and another in Kirkuk, as well as al-Qaim on the border with Syria which is pretty much PMU country. Abandonment of al-Qaim also means all pretense of severing the “Iranian land bridge” is over.
The U.S. military is planning to reposition hundreds of troops in Iraq, including moving some out of the country, according to three U.S. defense officials.
The consolidation of forces will include removing U.S. troops from joint bases at al-Qaim near the Syrian border, Qayyarah Airfield West near Mosul and possibly K-1 Air Base in Kirkuk.
“As a result of the success of Iraqi Security Forces in their fight against ISIS, the Coalition is re-positioning troops from a few smaller bases,” a spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement. “These bases remain under Iraqi control and we will continue our advising partnership for the permanent defeat of Daesh from other Iraqi military bases.”
The spokesperson said the military would not announce a specific timetable for the troop movements.
The decision comes as the U.S. has begun moving in additional air defenses to protect coalition troops at Ain al Asad Air Base and Irbil Air Base in the north, systems that require additional troops to set up, operate and maintain.
The U.S. has already moved C-RAMs, or counter rocket, artillery and mortar systems, into Iraq and plans to move in Patriot batteries in the coming days. Both systems will be operational in the next week or two, according to a defense official.
The Patriots are intended to defend against ballistic missiles, like those Iran fired at Ain al Asad and Irbil in January. The C-RAMs can defend against smaller incoming fire, like the 107 mm Katyusha rockets fired at Camp Taji, Iraq, on Wednesday evening, killing two American service members and a British medic. Twenty-five rockets also hit Camp Taji on Saturday, wounding three American service members and two Iraqis.
The C-RAMs are primarily used to defend the Patriot systems, which will become potential targets, according to Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command.
A defense official said the decision to consolidate troops in Iraq is not related to the rocket attacks at Camp Taji last week but has been under consideration for several months as the U.S. military mission in Iraq evolves and the Iraqi security forces become more capable of maintaining security on their own.
The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service has made “significant progress” and can handle many of the counter-ISIS missions on its own, according to one defense official.
Another factor in the decision to consolidate bases is that it is harder to defend small numbers of American forces spread out at smaller installations. The base at Irbil is more hardened and will soon have Patriots and C-RAMs, additional security for troops who could move there. Some troops at al-Qaim could move to Ain al Asad.
The defense officials said that even with several hundred troops leaving the bases, the overall number of U.S. troops in Iraq will stay at about the same. Some troops will reposition in the country, and the influx of troops to operate the Patriots and the C-RAMs will keep the overall number about the same.
The Pentagon says there are roughly 5,200 U.S. military personnel in Iraq, but the actual number has been much higher since tensions were elevated in early January, at times with several thousand more U.S. service members in Iraq.
After protesters tried to storm the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in late December and the U.S. killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January, the U.S. military moved thousands of additional soldiers and Marines into Iraq and the region to defend installations and diplomatic facilities. Once the Patriots and the C-RAMs are in place, some of those troops can deploy to other areas or leave Iraq altogether.
The U.S. military is also looking at troops at Al Taqaddum Air Base west of Baghdad as a possible location to draw out of later this year.
The military is also considering changing the overall structure of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve from a three-star billet to a two-star command, putting a major general in charge rather than a lieutenant general. But the defense officials believe that if that decision is made, it will not happen for months.
Source: NBC
The missiles must follow these USAtanjc goyim in their service to the zionist Ash claiming in WW2 to be,Nazi jews, whenever they put down their arses in Irak!!!
coward US military can only bomb women and little girls from 5 miles up nothing else
The C-RAM technology is interesting, if the Hez PMU really wanted to attack a base I don’t know if they would go after the Patriots. I was thinking they would just flip up a hundred or so of those Katyusha boxes they have buried in the sand and fire them within several minutes. They could create a volley of 800 rockets in a short span and would be going for our troops. How would the C-RAM handle a volley like that or even a volley of 100 simultaneous rockets.
That’s the point. There’s no way in hell, the Americans could defend such an attack enmasse, AND they KNOW IT.
they should be buying the defence systems from the israelis.
their systems that are designed for such volleys.
the khazarians dumped the patriots because they can’t handle all the incoming.
the murikans dumped the khazarian systems because they can’t integrate it into whatever. hey, it doesn’t work but it’s expensive and the MIC is happy.
That Israeli shit is as easily overwhelmed as any, its just a question of numbers.
“the fun” really begins when they shoot down helicopters and airplanes after they cut off all roads going in to the camps/embassy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4IgNPmaKkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBwtEQQ9qd0
Exactly. Same applies to the patriots if subjected to a hundred ballistics.
put the homeboys all in one place.
somewhere where the roads are good.
easy to get a rocket truck in close
move the candy-ass lieutenant generals out.
protect their POS careers when things start going really bad
put in some cheap resource like the major general,
with the promise of 3 stars in his/her future if s/he doesn’t get h/is/ers a** shot off.
the troops?
cannon fodder.
US soldiers routinely comment in their media that ordinary people in the ME, etc hate them—they r only competent at killing and raping civilians
French historians observe that the WWII occupying Germans did not rape French females—the sexually repressed US soldiers raped more than 1000…it should surprise nobody that each year, the most rapes, per capita, occur in the USA
Quote, “US soldiers routinely comment in their media that ordinary people in the ME, etc hate them” Unquote.
Very good example of the stupidity of American troops. Apparently it goes right over their heads, that THEY have ILLEGALLY invaded these folks’s country. Similarly, it goes right over their heads that their very own Government has trained, supplied and protected the terrorists killing Iraqis left and right. It also seems to escape their very limited intelligence, that THEY ARE OCCUPYING IRAQ in contradiction of the U.N. Charter, and are responsible for the ILLEGAL MURDER of thousands of Iraqi people.
How the hell these Americans can sleep at night escapes me.
How the hell these Americans can sleep at night escapes me.
Booze, drugs, heavy fatty obese making food keeps them dopey. Sleep? No problem.
Just fuck off USA and everybody would be safe and happy