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Thought many would like a read of this article - probably one of the better looks at the back and forth items that often are propaganda form one side or the other mixed in with a few real points. This article goes the long route in looking at those and makes for a great read!
"The U.S.-led coalition didn’t slow down battles like Ramadi, but rather saved many hundreds of Shia volunteers from being fed into the meat-grinder in pointless politically-motivated assaults ordered by Iranian-backed politicians such as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Hadi al-Amiri, and Qais Khazali. Last year, I sat with former PMF who were attending the coalition’s Iraqi Army training program at Taji. They explained that they joined the army because they were fed up being slaughtered and left to starve without supplies."
"The U.S.-led coalition didn’t slow down battles like Ramadi, but rather saved many hundreds of Shia volunteers from being fed into the meat-grinder in pointless politically-motivated assaults ordered by Iranian-backed politicians such as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Hadi al-Amiri, and Qais Khazali. Last year, I sat with former PMF who were attending the coalition’s Iraqi Army training program at Taji. They explained that they joined the army because they were fed up being slaughtered and left to starve without supplies."
Contesting Facts on the Ground in Iraq
Posted from warontherocks.com
Warfare
Militia
Propaganda
ISIS
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
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Thank for sharing LTC Eric Udouj an interesting look back comparing spin AKA propaganda with testimony from those who there on the ground.
The author takes to task "Two recent articles on the conflicts of the Middle East by a pseudonymous author published ... at War on the Rocks" known as Cyrus.
It is a lengthy article but worth reading for those interested in current operations in Iraq.
"In Tikrit, Cyrus infers, the “Iranian-backed units” of the PMF liberated the city. But in fact Tikrit was a watershed moment in which those Iranian-backed PMF failed at huge cost in lives to take Tikrit city and where the Iraqi government was forced to step in to stop the slaughter and turn stalemate into victory. Iraq’s chain of command called in the U.S.-led coalition backed by Iraqi security forces including some pro-coalition PMF units, who subsequently took the city within days and with minimal losses.
In Ramadi, Cyrus argues the battle might have been swifter and less destructive if Shia PMF had been involved to augment the weak Iraqi security forces executing the battle. But the experience of Tikrit, and also of Bayji and other battles, suggests that the PMF would have fared no better in Ramadi than the Iraqi Security Forces and indeed would have achieved less because of the presence of Iranian-backed terrorist actors within the PMF who themselves reject the coalition’s air support, even were it to be offered."
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) CW5 Charlie Poulton CSM Charles Hayden SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSgt (Join to see) TSgt Joe C. SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT Forrest Stewart SGT Robert Hawks SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright
The author takes to task "Two recent articles on the conflicts of the Middle East by a pseudonymous author published ... at War on the Rocks" known as Cyrus.
It is a lengthy article but worth reading for those interested in current operations in Iraq.
"In Tikrit, Cyrus infers, the “Iranian-backed units” of the PMF liberated the city. But in fact Tikrit was a watershed moment in which those Iranian-backed PMF failed at huge cost in lives to take Tikrit city and where the Iraqi government was forced to step in to stop the slaughter and turn stalemate into victory. Iraq’s chain of command called in the U.S.-led coalition backed by Iraqi security forces including some pro-coalition PMF units, who subsequently took the city within days and with minimal losses.
In Ramadi, Cyrus argues the battle might have been swifter and less destructive if Shia PMF had been involved to augment the weak Iraqi security forces executing the battle. But the experience of Tikrit, and also of Bayji and other battles, suggests that the PMF would have fared no better in Ramadi than the Iraqi Security Forces and indeed would have achieved less because of the presence of Iranian-backed terrorist actors within the PMF who themselves reject the coalition’s air support, even were it to be offered."
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) CW5 Charlie Poulton CSM Charles Hayden SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSgt (Join to see) TSgt Joe C. SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT Forrest Stewart SGT Robert Hawks SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright
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LTC Eric Udouj
I read Cyrus's piece last week and thought there were a couple points in it but the whole article had seemed just way to Iranian centric to have counted it as anything but such. But there is much to learn even from that when looking at who was its target audience....
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Its always conflicting Facts... what is Publicized and what is actually going on...
I remember the Semi- Raw Footage coming out of Iraq when the Initial conflict went down...
The materials coming in and being posted at night on the Big 5 Channels... (0-Dark 30 In the AM).... Here was not the same as the Talking Heads were reporting 6-9 hours later...
I remember the Semi- Raw Footage coming out of Iraq when the Initial conflict went down...
The materials coming in and being posted at night on the Big 5 Channels... (0-Dark 30 In the AM).... Here was not the same as the Talking Heads were reporting 6-9 hours later...
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LTC Eric Udouj
Those facts are more blurred when caught in between different "sides" and how they want the picture viewed. The piece in discussion by the article was written under Cyrus - and it was an item that had the taint of Iranian PSYOP to it in its perspectives. But that is but one side - another is the real picture on the ground and what is fed to US media by USG and our role in any tactical victory and then there is the Iranian role....
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