War and Conflict Journal

Iraq War Battles

Was the Iraq War worth it?  With nearly 5,000 American dead, hundreds of thousands (at least) Iraqi dead, a Shiite regime in power in Baghdad, increasing tensions between the Arab Iraqis and the Kurdish Iraqis, and a plethora of other issues, was the war worth it from the American Perspective?

For more resources  on the Iraq War, see http://www.historyguy.com/iraq_war_links.html
Iraq
War Combat Video

Feel free to add your comments below on the worth of the Iraq War.

Pakistan is once again coming under fire, literally, for serving as a safe haven for Afghan Taliban forces using the ill-defined border region as a base from which they launch attacks on NATO/ISAF/Afghan forces inside Afghanistan.  Below are incidents and conflicts involving the NATO/ISAF mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  See also http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_pakistan.htm

Video of NATO Raid on Pakistan
U.S. Drone War in Pakistan (2004-Present)–The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) uses unmanned Predator drone aircraft to cross the Pakistani border and launch missiles at suspected Taliban and al-Qaida forces and camps. Pakistan repeatedly denounces these attacks as a violation of their sovereignty. Various sources place the number of Pakistani/Taliban/al-Qaida casualties as a result of these attacks at between 1,700 and 2,600 as of November, 2011.

NATO Raid on Pakistan Military Outpost (Sept. 30, 2010)–NATO helicopters attack a border outpost, killing three Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan retaliates by closing the border to NATO supplies for two weeks.

U.S. Navy SEAL Raid on Abbottabad, Pakistan (May 1, 2011)–U.S. Special Forces raided a compound inside Pakistan, killing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

NATO Raids on Pakistan Military Outposts (Nov. 25, 2011)–NATO aircraft attacked two Pakistani border posts, killing at least 24 Pakistani troops. NATO was attempting to target Taliban forces along the border, in Salala, a village in Pakistan’s Mohmand tirbal area near the border with Kunar Province in Afghanistan. (see Pakistan Border Region Map below).

al-Shabab War in Somalia Update:

After the disintigration of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) after the U.S.-aided Ethiopian Invasion of 2006, the al-Shabab militia became the leading Islamist military group. In 2007, Shabab publicly aligned itself with al-Qaida, and has waged a bloody guerrilla war against the TFG government forces and the African Union troops (primarily troops from Uganda and Burundi), in Mogadishu and in southern Somalia. Al-Shabab is considered a terrorist group by Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. (see also U.S. Special Forces Attack on al-Qaida in Somalia (September, 2009)

Shabab engaged in a terrorist attack in Uganda in 2010, and in the autumn of 2011, Shabab militants kidnapped several foreigners from Kenyan soil, prompting a Kenyan military intervention in southern Somalia to battle the Shabab fighters. Kenyan government sources claimed that the goal of their invasion was to end the Shabab presence in the southern Somali city of Kismayo.

Witnesses reported seeing 25Kenyan armoured vehicles carrying Kenyan soldiers passing through the Somali town of Dhobley, and there were reports of warplanes bombing two Shabab bases near the border.

According to the BBC, Somali government troops are acting in conjunction with the Kenyan forces ito attack the al-Shabab-controlled areas in southern Somalia. The third day of the Kenyan offensive featured a slowing down of Kenyan forces due to heavy rain and mud in a region with few paved roads.

Map of Kenya and southern Somalia in 2011

http://www.historyguy.com/somalia_conflict_shabab_war.htm

Kenyan forces intervene in southern Somalia to battle the al-Shabab Islamist militia.  Shabab has engaged in terrorist activities in Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya, and is allied with al-Qaida.

Kenya and the Transitional Somali government are supported by the United States.  And, can it be a coincidence that this intevention by an American-allied African nation takes place only two days after President Obama announces the American intervention in the Lord’s Resistance Army Insurgency that has bedeviled Uganda, southern Sudan, Congo, and the Central African Republic?  Note that Uganda,  has thousands of troops in Somalia in support of the transitional government.

http://www.historyguy.com/somalia_conflict_shabab_war.htm

On August 18, 2011, squads of heavily-armed Popular Resistance Committee (PRC)  guerrillas from Gaza travelled about 120 miles through Egyptian Sinai to attack Israeli citizens near the southern Israeli city of Eilat, killing eight Israelis. Israel retaliated with airstrikes on targets inside Gaza. The PRC is a relatively small Palestinian resistance group that has at times served as an ally of Hamas.

This attack on Israel took place just as Egyptian forces began targeting Salafist Islamist guerrillas who have been attacking Egyptian  pipelines in the Sinai. These attacks by bySalafist Islamist forces believed tied to al-Qaida, prompted Egypt’s military rulers to seek permission from both Israel (due to troop level restrictions in their mutual peace agreement), and from Hamas, the Palestinian faction that rules over Gaza.  Egypt sent over 1,000 security forces backed by armored personell carriers launched a campaign to defeat the Islamist guerrillas.

 http://www.historyguy.com/gaza_war.htm#gazawar2011

http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_egypt.html

See also:

New York Times Article on the escalating drone war against al-Qaida and Shahab in Somalia at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/africa/02somalia.html

Apparantly learning from the fall of long-ruling regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, Bahrain’s military took control of the capital Thursday, February 17, 2011, only hours after riot police firing birdshot, rubber bullets and teargas stormed an anti-government protest camp, killing at least five people and wounding more than 230. The Bahrain government, dominated by the minority Sunnis, moved swiftly to crush the nascent, largely Shiite-led protests against the government. The implications for the United States if Bahrain falls to the Shiites, or falls into violent chaos, are very serious. Bahrain serves as the “home port” for the United States Navy’s 5th Fleet, and is therefore a bulwark for the whole Sunni-dominated Arabian Peninsula against influence and power from Shiite-ruled Iran.

Russian sources associated with that nation’s assistance program with Iran’s nuclear program announced that by August 21, 2010, the fuel rods necessary to power the Bushehr nuclear reactor will be installed. Some analysts, such as John Bolton, former
U.S. ambassador to the U.N., believe that announcement creates a deadline by which Israel will attack the
Bushehr reactor. According to Bolton, an Israeli strike at the Iranian reactor must come before the nuclear
material is installed, otherwise, an attack could spread radioactive material throughout parts of the Middle East.

Also, in August, 2010, an article was published by The Atlantic magazine which presents facts and opinions on the possibility of an Israeli strike at Iran. The Atlantic article concludes that there is a 50 percent likelihood that Israel will strike the Iranian nuclear program by July, 2011.

See also:  http://www.historyguy.com/iranwar.htm

Attempt to Bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, 2009

Northwest Airlines Flight 253 After Attempted Terrorist Attack

The Islamist terror network al-Qaida apparantly made an attempt to attack the United States on Christmas Day, 2009. A Nigerian man named Abdul Mudallab attempted to ignite an explosive device onboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it neared the airport in Detroit, Michigan on December 25, 2009. Early reports indicate Mudallab claimed a connection to al-Qaida, though later reports say he denied any such connection.

Reports indicate that Mudallab, an an engineering student at University College of London, took a flight from Nigeria to the Netherlands, where he then boarded the American plane on a route to Detroit. About 20 minutes from the Detroit airport, fellow passengers smelled smoke, and noticed that Mudallab was attempting to ignite something. A passenger jumped on Mudallab, and apparently interrupted an attempt to cause a mid-air explosion. The suspect was seen with burns to his legs, and the passenger who jumped on him also is reported to have suffered burns.

Airport and airlines security worldwide was tightened in response to this attack. U.S. officials are treating this incident as an attempted terrorist attack.

Links and Resources:

 http://www.historyguy.com/airplane_attempted_bombing_christmasday_2009.htm

Jet passengers overpowered would-be bomber–LA Times, Dec. 25, 2009

Statement by Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Sara Kuban–Dept. of Homeland Security Press Release, Dec. 25, 2009

Saudi Arabia and Yemen are two arabic speaking Sunni
Muslim-majority nations on the Arabian penisula with a
long history of hostility toward each other. However,
both nations are battling al-Qaida rebels, and both have
concerns about the growing influence of Shiite-majority
Iran and its growing influence in the Arab world. Yemen
has battled a local Shiite insurgency (called the Houthi
Rebellion or the Saadah Insurgency), in the northernmost
region of the country near the Saudi border.

As the Shiite rebellion in Yemen grew, and appeared to
be receiving aid from Saudi Arabia’s rival, Iran, the
Saudis in turn aided the Yemeni government. The Yemeni
rebels launched an incursion into Saudi Arabia in early
November, and a Saudi soldier was killed by the so-called
al-Houthi rebels along the border on Novermber 4, 2009,
and on November 6, Saudi forces openly intervened in the
Yemeni war with air strikes near the border and artillery
fire on rebel positions inside Yemen.

Saudi officials reported that as of Nov. 8, Saudi
military casualties included three killed, 15 wounded,
and four missing. Saudi Arabia claimed to have regained
control Saudi territory seized by the Yemeni rebels the
week before. Smoke from airstrikes rose above the Jebel
al-Dukhan, a 6,600-foot tall mountain on the border
between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, near the town of
Al-Khubah.

video of a Saudi
warplane over Yemen border

 Web and News
Links on the Saudi-Yemen Border Wars:

http://www.historyguy.com/Saudi_Yemen_Border_Conflict_2009.htm

Saudi and Yemen battle Zaidi rebels–AFP, Nov. 8, 2009

Saudi Arabia says regains area seized by Yemen
rebels–Reuters, Nov. 8, 2009

Saudi
Forces Bomb Yemeni Rebels on Southern Border –Wall
Street Journal, Nov. 7, 2009 

Houthis
Capture Saudi Soldiers, Saudi Bombing Yemen for Third
Day–Nov. 6, 2009

CIA
Factbook on Country or
conflict
–Click
on the country name (Yemen) at this site.

Security
Incidents in Yemen, 1998–From
the Al-bab website.

Tiny
Voices Defy Child Marriage in
Yemen–June
29, 2008

Massive
protest in south Yemen–by
Jane Novak, for the Long War Journal, May 27,
2008

Yemen’s
Intifada–by
Jane Novak, for the Long War Journal, January 2,
2008