During the battle for Kobane many people were willing to join the Kurdish YPG forces to aid in battle against ISIS.  Catherine Herridge interviewed on such American…. 
(Via Fox News) All it took was a plane ticket, and an informal background check over Facebook. Then he was ushered to the front lines in Syria, fighting against the Islamic State.
In a rare, exclusive interview with Fox News, a U.S. military veteran with multiple tours in Iraq detailed his journey to Syria to fight against ISIS, on the condition his identity was protected.
The veteran, who asked to be identified as “John,” described a surprisingly simple process that took him from America to the dangerous Syrian civil war – and not as part of the U.S. military.
“I just went online and bought a ticket. It was that easy. It was like booking a flight to Miami Beach,” said “John.”
Then he found a Kurdish group known as the YPG. (more…)

North Carolina – Approximately 1,000 paratroopers from the Army’s famed 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq early next year to help the Iraqi security forces take on the Islamic State, the Pentagon announced Friday.

The soldiers from the 82nd’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., will begin to deploy in late January to train, advise and assist the ISF, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters.
Their mission is part of the coalition effort to build up the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga so that they can recapture territory from Islamic State militants.
The paratroopers are preparing for a nine-month deployment, according to a spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne. (more…)

Yeah, apparently Congress is well, not too terribly concerned about the missing AUMF.   Either that, or, well, they were quite comfortable relying on Hank “Tippy Guam” Johnson to ask all of the insightful questions….

If you were to review the participation at today’s House Armed Services Committee for the testimony and Q&A of Defense Secretary Hagel or Joint Chief’s Martin Dempsey, you might walk away thinking our military were not in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and dealing with Ebola in West Africa.  Russia invading Ukraine, Iran getting nuclear weapons, Libya in a state of civil war, U.S. Embassy evacuated in Yemen, terrorists on the border…..
…Yeah, three effen’ hours of their time is just too much to ask for.  Oh, but they’ll parade around the military like some kind of optical pawn of patriotism.  And, yet people wonder why events like Benghazi and operation zero footprint are possible.  Seriously.

EGYPT – Under increasing pressure from the military, Egypt’s deadliest jihadist group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State organisation in a bid to boost recruitment and bolster its fight against the army, analysts say.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) has waged an insurgency from its Sinai Peninsula stronghold that has killed scores of Egyptian police and soldiers since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year.
In response, the army has launched a huge operation in Sinai targeting jihadists and last month began building a buffer zone on the border with Gaza to stem the flow of militants and weapons from the strip. (more…)

The concept of bullion gold dinars and silver dirhams has long been part of the ethos of those who struggle to re-establish another “Golden Age of Islam” and a modern age pan-Levant Caliphate.
This belief system is deeply held and always simmering below the surface in Islamic majority nations. An entire rumor industry sprung forth that Gaddafi’s demise was due to his declared intention to issue pan-African bullion gold dinars and silver dirhams and his political statement that Libya would begin rejecting fiat currency (ie: “Petro dollars”) as payment for Libyan export oil sales as part of a long standing desire to – if not outright undermine, – then at least chip away at, – the global economic hegemony of the US.
(more…)

Keep in mind this is CBS, who is the employer of Ben Rhodes brother, CBS President David Rhodes.  Meaning, the edits -which are obvious- and the construct of the interview itself is designed to broadcast President Obama in the “best possible” light.
Despite all the ideological advantages from having your image protected by the national news media, several aspects within the interview itself show what’s going on behind those eyes:

RE: Iraq – Schieffer Should we expect more troops will be needed?
Ans: “As Commander and Chief I’m never going to say “never””…
(more…)

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday authorized the U.S. military to deploy up to 1,500 additional troops to help train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants, the White House said.

The White House will ask Congress for $5.6 billion for the operations in Iraq and Syria, which includes $1.6 billion for the new “Iraq Train and Equip Fund,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said.  (link)

Almost worse than my severe disdain for President Obama’s short-sighted political decisions, is my supernova level dislike for the U.S. media who refuse to call him to task.... almost.   To retain my own personal sense of center I have tried to remove the word “hate” from my psyche, but it’s hard, really, really hard, right now…. can you just imagine the Fallujah ROE with Obama coordinating from the White House! 

(h/t Weasel Zippers – Via Hot Air) Fallujah. Ramadi. Haditha. Americans know the names of the cities and assets in Iraq’s Anbar Province well. Their liberation was paid for in American blood. […]
“U.S. advisers currently operate in areas around Baghdad and Irbil in the north of the country,” CNN reported. “The new proposal would put U.S. troops in the middle of some of the most violent situations in Iraq.”

U.S. officials maintain that Iraqi support for Sunni tribes going on the offensive against ISIS will be a necessary part in the effort to defeat the militants, who are also called ISIL and refer to themselves as the Islamic State.
In a news conference with reporters Thursday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs chairman, signaled the possibility of the new role when he said the Iraqi government had not yet requested U.S. military support in efforts to defend a Sunni tribe that has suffered mass executions at the hands of ISIS militants.

“That’s why we need to expand the train-advise-and-assist mission into the Al- Anbar Province,” Dempsey said. “But the precondition for that is that the government of Iraq is willing to arm the tribes. […] (more…)

Allow me to present the counter point after John Kerry’s initial point:

(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry argued Thursday that the United States cannot push its weight around in a changing and “complicated” world, and implied that the previous administration having done so had led to today’s security crisis in Iraq.
In an appearance at the Washington Ideas Forum, Kerry said that although the Obama administration wanted to see a less sectarian government in Iraq – a prerequisite for tackling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) threat – it could not have simply demanded that former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki be replaced.
“The United States couldn’t just crash in and say, ‘Hey, you’re out. Here are the guys that are in.’ That’s not our – it would be playing into all of the worst stereotypes that have brought us to the difficulties we’re living with today.”  (link)

Here’s the counter point:

(more…)

Last week a U.S. journalist, Serena Shim, was murdered in Turkey for exposing the truth of Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan allowing and facilitating ISIS militants going to and from Turkey into strategic positions around Kobane (Kobani).
Now an independent journalist team have used video to show Turkish police and military meeting with ISIS militants on the Turkish border.

Obviously the brutal reality of this expose’ is dangerous to Erdogan’s deceptive claims to the contrary. (more…)