air strikes – Moe Lane

I think that the bolded part (and bolding mine) is probably the most significant takeaway from this story:

Using a “mix of fighter, bomber, attack and remotely piloted aircraft,” the U.S. conducted 14 strikes against ISIS targets near the Mosul dam in northern Iraq.

The Sunday strikes were the first reported use of land-based bombers in the campaign. Previously, most of the strikes had been conducted by a mix of fighter jets and drones.

The strikes represented an uptick in the air campaign, which was initially authorized to help alleviate the humanitarian suffering by Yazidis stuck on Mt. Sinjar and protect U.S. personnel and property in Erbil.

…because that implies a decision to make strategic decisions involving combating ISIS. Bombing jihadis at the Mosul Dam is an excellent idea; it’s also, as Time magazine notes, an expansion of the administration’s self-imposed mission for Iraq. Continue reading US ratchets up bombing campaign in Iraq; Kurds retaking parts of Mosul Dam.

The first of probably many.

U.S. jet fighters hit artillery being used by the militant group called the Islamic State in northern Iraq on Friday, the first of what is expected to be a series of American strikes meant to halt the Sunni extremist advance on the Kurdish capital of Erbil, the Pentagon said.

The U.S. F/A-18 jet fighters dropped 500 pound laser-guided bombs on mobile-artillery positions outside Erbil, said Pentagon press secretary, Rear. Adm. John Kirby.

I don’t know why, but I was struck by the utter inanity of this particular Boing Boing article on the topic. I won’t subject you to the foul-mouthed* text**; suffice it to say that they almost seem surprised that we’re going back. I’m not sure why: even back in 2011 it was obvious that our abandonment of Iraq was going to come back to haunt us. There’s not a single rational or knowledgeable person out there who couldn’t have predicted this, in other words. The only question was how long it was going to be before American re-intervention would be necessary. Continue reading We have now started air strikes in Iraq.