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WASHINGTON, May 30, 2017 Partnered forces in Syria and Iraq are continuing to make progress in defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a Pentagon spokesman said today.

Syrian Democratic Forces yesterday cleared more than 130 kilometers of terrain in the Raqqa valley and in the vicinity of Tabqa, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters.

The SDF is closing in on Raqqa, he said, pointing out that in the northern Raqqa valley, the SDF has cleared to within four kilometers of Raqqa.

Davis noted pro-regime forces are conducting patrols west and north of At Tanf, in the vicinity of the deconfliction zone where the United States is working with partners.

"The coalition dropped leaflets over the weekend demanding that the pro-regime troops withdraw from this deconfliction zone," he said.

Counter-ISIS Strikes

The coalition continued strikes against ISIS targets in Raqqa over the weekend, to include ISIS tactical units, vehicles, a tunnel, a mortar system, a weapons cache, a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device factory and a fighting position, Davis said.

Iraqi forces have surrounded the old city in west Mosul, Davis said, noting today is the 100th day in the campaign to liberate west Mosul.

Iraqi security forces made small gains along the forward line of troops yesterday, bringing to 577 square kilometers the gains since the west Mosul offensive began Feb. 19, he said.

"They continue to slowly advance against heavy resistance in the last few ISIS-held neighborhoods," Davis explained.

In the campaign for west Mosul, coalition forces continue to support and conduct strikes on enemy positions and potential vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, striking about 85 vehicles in the last two days inside west Mosul to protect partnered forces, Davis pointed out.

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Partnered Forces Continue to Make Progress in Syria, Iraq - Department of Defense

MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Most Americans have to keep a tight budget, why not the Pentagon? (Photo: David B. Gleason)

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If you, like most people, feel bad if you lose your wallet with a few dollars in it, imagine what it would be like to lose track of more than a billion dollars. The latter is the reality for the Pentagon, which has lost track of at least $1 billion in military equipment and weapons in Iraq. A May 24 article in Mother Jones states:

In June 2014, Iraqi forces dropped their weapons, shed their uniforms, and abandoned their posts as ISIS militants stormed into and captured Mosul. More than a year later, the United States began funneling $1.6 billion worth of new weaponry and other support to the beleaguered Iraqi army. The arsenal included tens of thousands of assault rifles, hundreds of armored vehicles, hundreds of mortar rounds, nearly 200 sniper rifles, and other gear.

What happened to much of it is now a mystery. According to a government audit obtained by Amnesty International, the US Army admits that it failed to accurately track this recent infusion of arms and other military supplies.

The now-declassified Department of Defense audit, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveals that efforts to keep track of weapons being sent to Iraq have been plagued by sloppy, fragmented, and inaccurate record keeping. The audit concluded that the Army unit in charge of transferring materiel to the Iraqi government "could not provide complete data for the quantity and dollar value of equipment on hand"including large items such as vehicles.

This isn't the first time US taxpayer-funded military aid has been unaccounted for. Mother Jones quotes an Amnesty International researcher:

"If you do look back at previous audits, almost word for word, you get the same recommendations about the fact that they can't centralize records, they've got records spread across different spreadsheets, it's very difficult for them to locate weapons as they pass down the chain," says Patrick Wilcken,Amnesty International's arms control and human rights researcher. He notes that some Iraqi supply records are hand-written paper receipts.

Passing down the chain means the US doesn't know who is in possession of equipment and weapons. This oversight is especially significant since ISIS has captured US military hardware sent to Iraq.

Pentagon apologists can argue that $1 billion is a drop in the bucket in the context of the $574 billion 2018 military budget. In fact, the total expenditure on the US war machine is even higher: The Motley Fool presents evidence that $574 billion dollars is just a base figure that does not include all the other line items that flow into military spending: "Add it up, and we spend more than $250 billion on defense and security programs, on top of the Pentagon's $574 billion base budget -- about 44% more than you may have thought we were spending." However, that is a testament to the gargantuan size of military allocations, not an excuse for lost military equipment and weaponry.

Given that Trump wants to increase the massive military base budget by $54 billion, there is no incentive to be more accountable with supplies donated to "allies" in US wars. Yet to Americans in need, a billion dollars is vital assistance, not just sloppy accounting.

There are other ways the Pentagon is not accountable with budgetary allocations. According to a May article in The Washington Post, it has created a slush fund by overcharging for fuel:

The Pentagon has generated almost $6 billion over the past seven years by charging the armed forces excessive prices for fuel and has used the money called the bishops fund by some critics to bolster mismanaged or underfunded military programs, documents show.

Since 2015, the Defense Department has tapped surpluses from its fuel accounts for $80million to train Syrian rebels, $450 million to shore up a prescription-drug program riddled with fraud and $1.4 billion to cover unanticipated expenses from the war in Afghanistan, according to military accounting records.

The Pentagon has amassed the extra cash by billing the armed forces for fuel at rates often much higher sometimes $1 per gallon or more than what commercial airlines paid for jet fuel on the open market.

It is shameful that while the social safety net is being severely threatened, the Pentagon is getting away with rampant financial malfeasance.

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A Billion Dollars Worth of Weaponry Go Missing in Iraq - Truth-Out

The National

Iraq attack shows ISIL's depravity The National Both were also making a similar point: that ISIL, as much as it is being driven out of Mosul and other places in Iraq, remains a force to be reckoned with. Last year's attack on Karrada came a week after Iraqi forces seized the city of Falluja from ... and more »

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Iraq attack shows ISIL's depravity - The National

A firefighter inspects the site of car bomb attack near a government office in Karkh district in Baghdad, Iraq May 30, 2017.

Khalid Al-mousily

Last Updated May 30, 2017 7:39 AM EDT

BAGHDAD -- A massive bombing by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group outside a popular ice cream shop in central Baghdad and a rush hour car bomb in another downtown area killed at least 31 people on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said.

The attacks come as IS militants are steadily losing more territory to U.S.-backed Iraqi forces in the battle for Mosul, the country's second-largest city. The Sunni extremists are increasingly turning to insurgency-style terror attacks to detract from their losses.

The nighttime attack outside the ice cream parlor in the bustling Karrada neighborhood killed 17 people and also wounded 32, police and health officials said.

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A small portion of Mosul remains under ISIS control, and the terror group is not giving up. The UN estimates that 200,000 residents remain trappe...

A closed-circuit camera captured the moment of the explosion, the video showing a busy downtown avenue, with cars driving down the street when the blast strikes. A huge fireball then engulfs a building, forcing the cars to scramble to get away. Other videos of the attack posted on social media show wounded and bloodied people crying for help on the sidewalk outside the ice cream parlor.

In the second attack, an explosives-laden car went off during rush hour near the state-run Public Pension Office in Baghdad's busy Shawaka area, killing 14, a police officer said. At least 37 people were wounded in that attack, he added.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

In separate online statements, ISIS claimed responsibility for the two attacks, saying its suicide bombers targeted gatherings of Shiites. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the statements but they were posted on a militant website commonly used by extremists.

The attacks came just days into the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast during daylight hours. After sundown, families break their fast and Baghdad's restaurants and cafes quickly fill up with people staying up long into the night.

During Ramadan last year, another section of Karrada was hit by massive suicide bombing that killed almost 300 people, the deadliest single attack in the Iraqi capital in 13 years of war. The attack was also claimed by ISIS.

Details of how the militants managed to stage Tuesday's attacks were not immediately clear. After last year's attack, Iraqi authorities stepped up security in Karrada, especially in the area of the bombing.

In the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi troops are pushing ISIS fighters out of their last strongholds. Iraqi commanders say the offensive, which recently entered its eight month, will mark the end of the ISIS caliphate in Iraq, but concede the group will likely increase insurgent attacks in the wake of military defeats.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Popular Baghdad ice cream shop hit by car bomb attack - CBS News

Sometimes called the most dangerous dam in the world, the Mosul Dam could kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis if it were to burst.Video provided by Newsy Newslook

A general view shows the Mosul dam on the Tigris River on Oct. 31, 2007.(Photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye, AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Iraq's massive Mosul Dam risks devastating failure withoutadditionalurgent repairs as the government keeps stallingover how toproceed with the critical reconstructionafter this year.

A ruptureof the 370-foot-high structure wouldput 4 million people at risk by sending floodwaters racing more than 200 miles downstream as far as the capital of Baghdad, engulfingvillages, destroying farms and causing up to $20 billion in economic damages, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates.

The Iraqi governmenthas delayed a decision on whether to renew acontract with an Italian engineering firm managed by the Corps of Engineerswhen it expires after this year. It may try tomake the critical repairs itself to save money at a time when it is feeling a cash squeeze because of the cost of the war to expel the Islamic State from the country.

Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commander of the Army Corps, told USA TODAY he fears the government is "going to be too optimistic" about the level of repairs needed and may not renew the contract.

The government is running out of time to make a decision.Im kind of expecting in another couple of months well either get a decision or probably not get a decision, which means by default then ...well unplug, Semonite said.

Iraq's government faces deep political divisions that often delaycritical decisions. The financial squeeze adds to the indecision. When youre fighting a war and oil prices are where they are, you dont have a lot left over to fund public works, said William Watts, an analyst at Dunia Frontier Consultants.

The current contract with Trevi Group is worth$300 million, some of which isfunded with World Bank and other loans. The dam will require at least another years worth of intensive work before it is stabilized, the Corps of Engineers estimates.

The risk that the dam poses is still extremely high and it will be still at the end of this first year, said Eric Halpin, an Army Corps dam safety official.

Construction of the dam, which provides irrigation and hydroelectric power, was completed under the regime of Saddam Hussein in 1985. The dam a half-mile wide at its base was properly constructed but built on a foundation of water soluble materials, according to the Army Corps.

Ever since it was built, workers regularly have to drillholes and pumpgrout a mixture of cement, water and clay into the holes to strengthen thefoundation.But maintenance declined in recent years, raising concerns of a massive failure.

The dam had beenseized by the Islamic State in 2014 when the militants first invaded Iraq, but it was quickly taken back by Iraqi forces. Soon afterward, engineersdiscovered the dam was in bad shape,not only the result of damage caused by the Islamic State but also from prior years of neglect.

The work to stabilize the dam began a year ago. Corps officials believe that after an additional year of intensive work tostabilize the structure, Iraqcan focus on routine annual maintenance.

We think at the end of the second year well be safe enough where then youll certainly bring down the risk,Semonite said.

One key reason for renewing the contract is that the Italian firm and U.S. engineers employ new techniques and technology to the repair work,whichIraqi workers still need to learn.

The key part of transitioning from the Italian firm to the government of Iraq is that all of those new things new technology and materials are understood and can be executed correctly (and) effectively by the Iraqis, Halpin said.

Analysts say Iraq's fractured government needs to come together and recognize the need to spend money on the repairs.The Mosul Dam requires that the whole Iraqi government ...focus on the issue," said Lukman Faily, former Iraqi ambassador to the United States. "That is not happening now."

It shouldn't be a political issue," he said. "It's a humanitarian issue."

Consultant Watts said Iraqs government may approve the contract at the last minute.A lot of times things do come down to the wire, Watts said.

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Mosul Dam risks devastating failure as Iraq government keeps stalling - USA TODAY