Frustrated Ex-General Allen stepping down over lack of mission resources

… from Press TV,  Tehran

[ Editor’s Note:  They rarely make public why someone goes. Silly me, I would have thought that the “moderates” training program for $500 million that has been a huge disaster might have had something to do with it.

The forward air controller story seems strange, as they use drones to do that now, and have been doing it for some time. Suspicious me, I sense he felt he was on a sinking ship and his career was more marketable by leaving now versus later, but that is just my hunch. We might know more when he writes his book… Jim W. Dean ]

Update:  This just in from eagle eye commenter Carnaptious below:

Allen’s departure could be related to the fairly humiliating experience with the most recent group of US trained “moderate rebels.” It seems the latest group of 70-75 freshly trained men entered Syria, and almost immediately “handed over a very large amount of ammunition and medium weaponry and a number of pick-ups” to the al-Nusra front, in exchange for safe passage (and, possibly, enough money to get them to Germany?).

The group’s leader “Anas Ibrahim Obaid … explained to Jabhat al-Nusra’s leaders that he had tricked the coalition because he needed weapons.” So much for the vetting process, and to make matters worse, the new “rebels” had some rather unkind things to say about the US training program, too. More can be found here.

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– First published  …  September 22, 2015 –

The commander of the United States’ alleged war on Daesh terrorists in Iraq and Syria, is stepping down, officials say.

John R. Allen, the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, will leave his position in early November, four US State Department officials told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity.

According to the officials, who were not prepared to publicly announce Allen’s departure, he has already let his superiors know he will step down. Allen’s chief of staff, Karin von Hippel, will also quit to join a British think tank.

“U.S. officials familiar with Allen’s decision say he has been frustrated with White House micromanagement of the war and its failure to provide adequate resources to the fight. He unsuccessfully tried to convince the administration to allow U.S. tactical air control teams to deploy on the ground to help pick targets for air strikes in Iraq,” said the Tuesday report.

Apart from support for the militants, the US military has also been leading a coalition to conduct airstrikes allegedly aimed at Daesh militants in Syria as well as Iraq since last year, despite which the Takfiris have gained ground in some of the regions.

Last month, the incoming Marine Corps Commandant, Lieutenant General Robert Neller, testified that the situation of the US fight was at a “stalemate” and the program to train militants there had yielded not more than four or five fighters.

“John Allen has put his heart and soul into trying to make the president’s strategy work,” said Derek Harvey, a former senior military intelligence official who worked with Allen at US Central Command. “I have sympathy for the hard task he was given because I do not believe the president’s team was fully on board and he was never empowered to bring the leadership necessary to achieve the mission.”

Initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012, the Takfiri militants have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations and crucifixions in areas under their control in Iraq, Syria and more recently Libya.

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