Military History: Syrian Lessons On Tank Warfare

Syrian Lessons on Tank Warfare

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Awesome article on an Infantry and Partisan’s view of anti-tank warfare.

Stay Alert, Stay Armed Stay Dangerous!

Crusader Corner: America’s Anti-ISIL Fighters in Syria

TRANSNATIONAL “VOLUNTEERS”: AMERICA’S ANTI-ISIL FIGHTERS

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Not a bad read on some of the American Civilians that are over there fighting and dying against ISIL.

I had a thought this morning: In another few years will they be doing news reports on American Civilian Operators fighting ISIS HERE IN AMERICA? If things keep going like they are, I think so. Of course it will most likely be an underground newspaper that does the report, since Free Speech will most likely have been done away with by then due to sharia law, but still, an interesting thought none the less.

 

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The Stark Realities and History of Chemical Warfare

Let’s Be Clear About This — The Syrian Civil War Is a Chemical War

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As you read this, consider not only the likelihood American troops will someday have to face this threat en masse, but also that American civilians in the form of Chemical or Biological Terrorism on American soil.

For a fairly complete list of ALL REPORTED Chemical and Biological Attacks in the World going back to World War I click HERE.

Stay Alert, Stay Armed and Stay Dangerous!

 

 

 

Crusader Corner: The Story of Levi Shirley – The American ‘ISIS Fighting Vigilante’

When Levi J. Shirley was growing up, he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the U.S. military, his mother said. His father, Russell, had served three tours with the Army in Vietnam, and Levi became “obsessed” with joining the Marine Corps.

The younger Shirley had bad eyesight, however. He trained with other potential recruits, but was disqualified even after having surgery, said his mother, Susan.

Instead, Shirley last year joined with other Westerners in traveling to the Middle East to fight Islamic State militants in Syria with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). He returned to the United States months later and vowed never to go back, but vanished with little notice again in January and resurfaced in Syria, his mother said.

On Thursday, the YPG announced that Shirley, just short of his 25th birthday, was killed July 14 in a battle with the Islamic State. His mother confirmed his death, but said she knew little beyond what the YPG announced.

“He’s not usually what you would first think of as a fighter,” Susan Shirley said. “He’s not someone who would strike out an offensive on someone. But he also has a strong sense of justice and sticking up for the underdog, and the Kurds are about as underdog as you can get right now.”

What motivated Shirley remains something of a mystery. A Brit who uses the pseudonym Macer Gifford said he befriended Shirley in the YPG last year and was struck by his love for the Marine Corps and knowledge of American military history. Shirley, he said, often talked about how he had served two years in the Marines before he was hit by a car and discharged.

Read the Remainder at Washington Post

Espionage Files: The Logic for (Shoddy) U.S. Covert Action In Syria

By most accounts, America’s efforts to covertly train and supply moderate rebels in Syria aren’t going so well. Apart from the obvious (Assad is still firmly entrenched in power and continuing to receive ever-growing external support),The New York Times recently reported that some arms provided by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Saudi Arabia haven’t quite reached their intended targets. According to the report, some individuals in Jordan’s intelligence bureau — ostensibly partnering to funnel weapons to Assad’s opponents — stole weapons destined for U.S.-backed rebels and instead sold them on the black market.

This is not the first time an American-led covert operation has gone awry, and it certainly won’t be the last. Consider Operation Cyclone, the covert U.S. arms pipeline to the mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan throughout the 1980s. Long held up as a success story in Cold War proxy warfare, the mujahideen – supported by the United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia – fell on each other after the Soviets retreated, creating an environment where al Qaeda could later thrive.  This White House is certainly no stranger to these lessons of history. During early debates on Syria policy, Obama commissioned a study on the CIA’s track record in covert aid that concluded such efforts seldom work.

What, then, is the rationale for U.S. policy in Syria? Why has the White House continued to draw on the tool of covert military aid despite its shoddy track record? Rather than praise or condemn the Obama administration’s approach, our goal is to shed light on some of the considerations that have driven what’s going on and why by drawing on ourown research on past covert aid programs. Our findings suggest that escalation dynamics and unique reputational concerns help to explain why the Obama White House finds itself stuck with a covert military aid program of questionable efficacy and impact.

Read the Remainder at War on the Rocks