BREAKING: Reports Claim ISIS Just Captured al-Asad Air Base

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: Xeven
I swear if an Iraqi went Deer hunting the Deer would win. WTF is wrong with their military?

From what I have read, what weren't captured went over to ISIS... or dropped their weapons and ran away at the first sign of an ISIS advance.
I would bet on the deer too.

After the Allied withdrawal of Iraq, their Security forces were quite good, but that Malaki guy (the PM that was ousted last year) filled the command positions with his cronies who weren't as good as the professionals they replaced. As IS advanced last year, these "officers" abandoned their positions and men - the men, seeing their Commanders run, did so as well as their discipline was gone.

Now, the new Iraqi Government has put the decent commanders back in charge (mainly Sunni and mainly ex-Baathists from Saddam's era) and the Iraqi Army is making some gains again, but it's going to take time to get them back to where they were.

They're not a bad Army, it's just the leadership that lets them down. Even a Western Army, if all their Officers turned and ran, would most likely fold as well.

The holdout part is troubling, but that air support is a wonderful thing.
The media is a bit light on the subject.

Sounds like they should have had plans for this eventuality months ago! Just seems they're either really ill prepared to take care of the security of our forces or they are just letting these events unfold and try to improv their way out of things when they get Messy, that's what it sniffs like to me Arjunanda. a reply to: Zaphod58

a reply to: charlyv

MQ-1/9s for long term overwatch, F-16s, F-15s, and F-18s are all in the area, and can be on station quickly. They can also have B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s in the area with enough time.

a reply to: arjunanda

It's war, things happen. This was a fairly sophisticated attack coming from two directions, along the road. Even if they had plans, this would have still cut them off fairly quickly and made any extraction attempt risky. It would take hours for airlift to get there, by which time the same thing would be going on.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: charlyv

MQ-1/9s for long term overwatch, F-16s, F-15s, and F-18s are all in the area, and can be on station quickly. They can also have B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s in the area with enough time.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Zaph, I would have no clue about current capabilities over there.

Its appreciated.

originally posted by: stosh64

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: charlyv

MQ-1/9s for long term overwatch, F-16s, F-15s, and F-18s are all in the area, and can be on station quickly. They can also have B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s in the area with enough time.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Zaph, I would have no clue about current capabilities over there.

Its appreciated.

Ditto on that!

a reply to: stosh64

If they really want to get fancy there are F-22s that can drop bombs too.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: stosh64

If they really want to get fancy there are F-22s that can drop bombs too.

Where is the closest base they would be stationed at?

originally posted by: burdman30ott6

originally posted by: xuenchen
I'm waiting for Susan Rice to make a statement.

Maybe some clarity will come out of this.

We'd be more apt to gain clarity on this situation from a Janay Rice statement than from Susan Rice. Hell, Minute Rice is arguably more informative.

A fact which I'm 100% positive was intended from the start of her tenure as Security Advisor... somewhere, while muttering profanities so baratone they can scarcely be understood, Henry Kissinger is facepalming.

Thanks for the visual.. but after I thank you for the wipedown
of my monitor. It seems green tea will dissolve nicotine pretty easily.

One can only guess if timing is everything, whether or not they
think we notice Obama's request for that blank war check-- a
day or two before this? Holy Hebdo Burdman...

a reply to: stosh64

About two hours from Iraq. There are some fairly large bases in the area, plus the carriers. The heavy bombers would mostly be out of Anderson on Guam, and Diego Garcia. The B-2s would come out of Whiteman in Missouri.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: stosh64

About two hours from Iraq. There are some fairly large bases in the area, plus the carriers. The heavy bombers would mostly be out of Anderson on Guam, and Diego Garcia. The B-2s would come out of Whiteman in Missouri.

Given the current situation...Do you have any idea when the bombing from the air might happen?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: arjunanda

The only way to get them out now is by air, which is vulnerable to ISIS MANPADS and even heavy machine guns. There's only one road through town to the airbase, and that entire area is now under ISIS control.

In other words theyre fudged

a reply to: IAMTAT

They'll most likely be on call. The Marines will have a JTAC on the ground with them that will coordinate with the air units. They'll keep someone on station as much as possible and be on call. Depending on how serious the fighting is, it's probably going on right now.

a reply to: funkadeliaaaa

They might be able to get them out by ground, but they're going to have to take risks, and it's going to be hard to do. They're more at risk from IEDs, and it's easier to get bogged down.

a reply to: Agit8dChop

Yut!!!

I guarandamntee those Marines are gladly giving ISIS lots of hell.

Unconfirmed report on Twitter of "Intense Air Activity" 5 hours ago. This is an Airforce Base after all, and they have their own planes and Helicopters, in fact, its much much larger than the town of al-baghdadi. Googl e Maps

Also, unconfirmed video from the same timeframe, supposedly of fires onbase near the end of a runway. @RamiAlLolah

a reply to: Zaphod58

I find it difficult to believe that they will actually evacuate the base, as it would look extremely bad for the administration...especially coming on the heels of the Yemen evacuation.

I would think a massive bombing campaign in the area would make more sense for the administration.

a reply to: IAMTAT

Oh, I was just throwing that out as them not being totally hung out to dry. They'll use air power, which includes A-10s that I forgot were in the area, and hold onto the base.

a reply to: oletimer

The air support will come from an outside base. Aircraft launching from that base would be extremely vulnerable to MANPADS as they'd be low and slow.