Was the fall of Ramadi to the Islamic State another U.S. intelligence failure?

2015-05-29T02:22:01-04:00

The unexpected fall of Ramadi to the Islamic State this month is the latest sign of a basic intelligence problem: The United States doesn’t know enough about its jihadist adversaries to combat them effectively.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-need-for-old-fashioned-spying-on-the-islamic-state/2015/05/28/22db7660-0567-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html

The U.S.’s big intelligence problem

The need for old-fashioned spying on the Islamic State

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made May 29 at 2015 2:34 AM

2015-05-29T02:34:17-04:00

It's not the fact we don't know enough about them. It's the fact we are afraid to call them what they are and eradicate them as we should. They don't fear us because we are so worried about insulting religion and our version of captivity is more humane than their everyday living.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made May 29 at 2015 2:35 AM

2015-05-29T02:35:52-04:00

No, it was a failure of will by this administration.

There were plenty of warnings of what was coming beginning before we prematurely pulled out.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made May 29 at 2015 2:55 AM

2015-05-29T02:55:06-04:00

Tough one to answer. It's like having a deep internal pain and asking a friend (non-medic) for advice. Or a broken-down hybrid car and asking a blonde from Malibu on how to fix it. Ok, last one was a joke. But on a serious note, this issue does require some combination of answers from the true pros. They span from intel collectors and analyzers to spec ops boots on the ground inter-mingling amongst them. Not an easy answer and hard to even assume one. If we knew for sure, this wouldn't have happened in the first place.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made May 29 at 2015 6:30 AM

2015-05-29T06:30:53-04:00

Intelligence is not some magic eight ball with all the answers for every question.

It's analysed information. If there isn't any information, there isn't any intelligence. When you pull major assets out of the country, you hangstring your ability to foresee the future. Less people present just means less reporting from the place with the most information. Everything becomes second hand, everything gets distorted and time-delayed.

Calling that an "Intelligence Failure" is misleading to say the least.

Edit: word

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made May 29 at 2015 9:37 AM

2015-05-29T09:37:35-04:00

Without getting into opsec territory, the information was out there on SIPR and in other locations.

I can only assume that it was apolitical question, as there are assets available that would have been able to assist even given the current operational limitations re: boots on ground, roe, etc.

Response by SGT Allen D'Aoust made May 29 at 2015 10:10 AM

2015-05-29T10:10:51-04:00

The problem is that there are too many people who think that they know best what to do and the job is getting screwed up. Politicians need to stay out of military business and let the military or CIA or FBI do their job, period.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 10 at 2015 10:45 AM

2015-09-10T10:45:40-04:00

No this is a failure of our policy..