Forty!

This is coolbert:

All of this is hard to comprehend and makes for very difficult reading.

"Why can’t Islamic State be stopped? Analysts say it’s better armed, better organized"

"The Islamic State’s push toward the Kurdish city of Irbil on Thursday came as unwelcome news to those who’d believed that the Kurdish peshmerga militia would be the force most capable of halting the militant Islamists’ momentum."

"The United States had such confidence in the Kurds that, in June, it moved its Joint Operation Center and some embassy staff to Irbil, where roughly 40 U.S. military advisers are now stationed."

"Until this week, life in Irbil has been relatively normal despite the Islamic State offensive, which began with the fall of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in early June. Everyone assumed that the Islamic State was shying away from confronting the peshmerga, with its substantial reputation as a fighting force."

"But then the Islamic State moved against cities last week that were defended by the peshmerga, and the peshmerga retreated . . . A near panic took hold in the Kurdish capital as militia forces rushed to set up defensive line at Kalak, 25 miles northwest of Irbil."

A lot people are very surprised that even the peshmerga are unable to stop ISIL. That Kurdish autonomous region for a period of almost several decades has ruled itself and has at least on paper and by reputation a very competent and brave fighting force. So what has happened?

And WHO exactly is in command of those ISIL combatants? That red-bearded white guy speaking Russian [a Chechen?]. That an irregular combat force just has in the period of only several months has put to rout and flight so many adversaries is just again hard to comprehend, almost beyond belief.

As to the "better armed and organized" PHOOEY! That Iraqi National Army just fell apart and not from lack of gear, training, experience, etc. The MORAL IS TO THE PHYSICAL AS THREE IS TO ONE!!

Those forty or so [that number forty a magical number signifying the end of one era and the start of another] American advisers had better start earning their keep and soon.

coolbert.

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