Peshmerga fighters speaking to VOA following the battle in Telskuf said the IS firepower was impressive and that the Peshmerga initially had to retreat because they were outgunned.
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The American advise and assist team called in the quick reaction force about 20 minutes later after becoming involved in a firefight with IS forces, he said.
“But that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do any fighting at all as a coalition”, Carter said, according to The Wall Street Journal. On one hand, Iraqi forces trained and advised by Americans have scored significant battlefield gains in recent months, including the recapture of Ramadi and other advances against IS-held towns in Anbar province.
Keating is the third US soldier to die in combat in Iraq since the Obama administration launched its war against Islamic State in mid-2014.
A day after a US Navy SEAL was killed by ISIS jihadists in Iraq, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Washington and its allies agreed to ramp up their campaign to vanquish the terror group – despite the many risks.
Other U.S. officials said Keating was in a group of SEALs who were coming to the aid of a second U.S. military adviser group pinned down by IS fire at or near a Peshmerga command post.
After the USA troops left, the Peshmerga and Isis fought it out until late into the evening, with the insurgents eventually pulling back. “We are putting these people at risk every day”, including the aircrews who are flying strike missions daily over Iraq and Syria, “and, tragically, losses will occur”, he added. “They called for a rapid reaction force and continued to fight until one service member was shot”, he added.
Carter spoke at the outset of a closed-door meeting in Germany with his counterparts from 11 countries contributing to the military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The meeting was a follow-up to a similar session Carter led in Brussels in mid-February.
There are 30 SEALs in Iraq as part of a Special Forces advise and assist mission. He also tried to address the confusion about how Keating died – since the White House has insisted the American troops in Iraq (more than 5,000) are not taking part in combat operations but are “enabling” local forces to reclaim territory stolen from them by ISIS.
“He was our golden boy and he had a million-dollar smile. And he had the best luck in the world, and he always made it through everything, so that’s why this is so shocking”, his mother said.
“I joined the Navy the week after 9/11, like many who have taken up the job – guys who love this country so much and they’re sick and exhausted of seeing our way of life and our country threatened and they want to do something about it”, Crane said. He graduated from the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training in 2008 and served two deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and one tour in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
“I’m really close to him”, the young Keating said at the time.
Keating IV’s grandfather, Charles Keating Jr., was the central figure in a financial scandal that saw his real estate company and its subsidiary, Lincoln Savings & Loan Association, become mired in scandal in 1989, reported NBC affiliate KPNX. Five senators who received campaign donations from Charles Keating Jr. “The athletic background was there, but he was looking for something that he could make his own and use his talents for and it turned out to be the flawless thing for him to go into the Navy”.
“My wife and I went on Shark Tank in 2014 and he reached out to me and let us know that he was really proud of us”, he said.
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“It’s disgusting, and it breaks my heart”, Conley Wolfswinkel, a close friend of the Keating family, told The Arizona Republic.
