Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney says the Islamic State, or ISIS, continues to advance on Kobani and Baghdad because there is no meaningful air campaign being conducted by the United States, and the terrorist army will only gobble up more territory if that policy doesn’t change.
McInerney is also accusing Turkey of duplicitous actions that help ISIS wipe out the Kurdish population, leave Turkey guilty of genocide and should cause NATO to reconsider Turkish membership.
Reports in recent days show ISIS advancing and even controlling parts of Kobani, a populous city on the Syria-Turkey border. Similar progress is seen by ISIS outside Baghdad.
After approximately two months of U.S.-led air strikes, the enemy is still moving forward. Gen. McInerney said there’s a very good reason for that.
“It’s not an air campaign,” McInerney said. “People have got to understand these are hitting just three targets a day, maybe up to five. We just are not using air power. Now if we were doing 200, 500 or 1,000 like an air campaign is, then you would see significant results. This is not an air campaign. The Pentagon hasn’t even given it a name.”
What’s less clear to the general is why there’s such a limited number of bombings.
“I think it all has to do with politics,” he said. “I don’t know exactly why except maybe the Democratic base does not want to see an aggressive air campaign. It bewilders me, because I think it would help the president and the Democrats politically if they looked decisive.”
Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney:
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Kobani has been in the news the past several days. As ISIS forces closed in and began controlling parts of the city, the Obama administration stressed the strategic insignificance of the city.
McInerney strongly disagrees.
“I think it’s very significant and somewhat surprised why the administration would say that (because of) its strategic location with Turkey, its strategic location with Syria and controlling that area,” he said. “If they take Kobani, they take that whole sector and you’ve got from Mosul all the way up to Kobani that has become part of ISIS. That is a very significant swath of territory.”
While the ISIS offensive plays out near its border, Turkey’s actions in recent weeks often seem contradictory. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s actions range from calling on the United States to commit ground forces to the fight in Syria to reports his government is giving logistical aide to ISIS as it clashed with Kurdish forces.
McInerney believes Turkey is playing both sides.
“The Turks are playing a very dangerous game in a very duplicitous role. They want to see the Kurds destroyed. They do not want to see the Kurds in Syria, Turkey and Iraq come together and have a Kurdistan. So they are really participating in genocide of the Syrian Kurds in Kobani,” he said.
“Unfortunately, it appears that U.S. officials are somewhat in agreement with them. That’s one of the reasons I think they have such a paltry air campaign.”
According to British newspapers Independent and Daily Mail, over 200,000 Kobani residents have already fled into Turkey. For those that remained, the results have been ghastly.
The Daily Mail quoted Amin Fajar, a 38-year-old Kobani resident, who recently fled the city and related the atrocities committed by ISIS.
“I have seen tens, maybe hundreds, of bodies with their heads cut off. Others with just their hands or legs missing. I have seen faces with their eyes or tongues cut out – I can never forget it for as long as I live,” Fajar was quoted as saying.
The Independent relayed the story of Belal Shahin, who also escaped from the ISIS advance through Kobani and shared his story with MSNBC. He said the horrors are many and the world seems determined not to notice them.
“ISIS came into the villages. They beheaded people as well as animals. They took animals and girls; they left nothing. Even animals don’t do what ISIS [is] doing. They are doing these things and it’s not acceptable,” said Shahin to MSNBC.
“But the whole world has blocked their ears in order not to hear. And they’ve become dumb. There’s nothing to stop them,” he said.
The latest confusion out of Turkey unfolded on Monday, when National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Turkey had granted permission for the U.S. to carry out strikes against ISIS from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. However, Turkish officials later said no deal was done and that negotiations were merely ongoing.
McInerney believes the world needs to pay attention and loudly condemn Turkish collaboration with ISIS and that the country need to pay a severe diplomatic price.
“We should call out to the world what Turkey is doing and how Turkey is participating in genocide. They are no longer, in my opinion, a credible NATO partner,” said McInerney, who then elaborated on how Turkey could be removed from the alliance and why it would be deserved.
“I think you’ve got to warn them and you start taking votes if they don’t change their attitude and what they’re doing,” he said. “They’ve got all those tanked lined up overlooking Kobani from a hill in Turkey. They could easily, easily defeat ISIS forces there and yet they haven’t lifted one finger to try to help them. They haven’t even let the Kurds move munitions through Turkey into Kobani to help support Kobani.”
However, the general said the most immediate issue is the status of the air campaign. He said the ISIS march will continue without a much more concerted effort from the U.S. and our allies.
“We do not need ground forces on the ground. This is a Muslim problem. Let them provide the ground forces. We will provide the air forces. If we don’t do something and we aren’t decisive, if we don’t put the right amount of precision air power in there 24/7, then ISIS is going to win in that area,” said McInerney, who argued that the consequences of that would be disastrous.
“That has some very negative long-term implications against the United States,” he said. “We do not want them to get that oil wealth in that part of the world. That could be very deleterious to the whole stability in the Middle East. But we’ve also got to get the Arabs, the Iraqis, the Saudis, the Kurds, the Jordanians to be stepping up and to take them out.”
