THE THIRD FRONT: The United States has opened a third front in the war against the Islamic State, with the announcement from the Pentagon Monday that the U.S. military will provide airstrikes to support forces loyal to Libya’s Western-supported unity government as they move against an Islamic State stronghold in the northern coastal city of Sirte. While the U.S. has in the past conducted unilateral strikes aimed at taking our individual Islamic State leaders in Libya, this is the first time the U.S. has employed the same strategy it’s using in Iraq and Syria, namely using airpower to enable local forces on the ground.
Why Libya, why now? Last year the Islamic State seized Sirte, but up to now there was no functioning government in Libya for the U.S. to partner with. Now the Pentagon has decided the unity government, known as the Government of National Accord (GNA), a fragile body that does not have the full backing of the country, meets that criteria. It is enough to give the U.S. the justification that the airstrikes are at the request of Libya, and for now this is a U.S.-only operation with, as the Pentagon’s spokesman said, “no end point.”
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GOLD STAR FLAP: At an event in Nevada Monday night, a military mom questioned Donald Trump’s running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence about his support for Trump in light of GOP nominee’s recent comments disparaging Khizr Khan, the father of a fallen Muslim U.S. Army captain who spoke at last week’s Democratic National Convention. The crowd booed, but Pence, who’s son is a Marine, thanked the woman for her question, and her son’s service, and went on to say, “Having spent time with our nominee, I’ve never been around someone more devoted to veterans in this country.”
Trump, however, is not backing down. He told an Ohio TV station, “When you have radical Islamic terrorists probably all over the place, we’re allowing them to come in by the thousands and thousands. And I think that’s what bothered Mr. Khan more than anything else.”
MCCAIN VS. TRUMP: Sen. John McCain said Monday, he “cannot emphasize enough” his disagreement with Trump’s recent comments. “It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us,” McCain said in a statement.
Other Gold Star families whose children had died in the war also slammed Trump, saying an attack on the Khans was an attack on all of them, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, Patricia Smith, whose son was killed in the Benghazi attack, said that the Khan family is getting much different treatment from Hillary Clinton, who she said treated her “like dirt” after her son’s death. “I was treated like dirt. I don’t think the Khan family was treated that way, but I was treated like dirt, I was called a liar,” Smith said on CNN, Kelly Cohen reports.
TRUMP’S DRAFT DEFERMENTS: Meanwhile the New York Times has opened another line of attack against Trump, reporting this morning that back in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, 22-year-old Donald Trump, who “seemed the picture of health,” got a deferment from being drafted for military service for “bone spurs in his heels.” The temporary deferment was the last of five Trump received during Vietnam, according to the Times. The others were for education. The “temporary” deferment lasted until 1972, when the war was ending.
Trump has not responded to the report but has been feuding with the New York Times for months. Appearing on Fox last night Trump said, “The New York Times is so unfair. I mean, they write three, four articles about me a day. No matter how good I do on something, they’ll never write good. I mean, they don’t write good … They don’t know how to write good.”
U.S. MILITARY STILL THE FINEST: President Obama told a group of veterans on Monday that he’s sick of “some people” — ahem, Trump — talking trash about a military that is still the best-trained and best-equipped military on Earth, Nicole Duran reports. “As commander in chief, I’m pretty tired of some people trash-talking America’s military and troops,” Obama said, criticizing the GOP nominee without specifically naming him.
ANOTHER MISSED DEADLINE: Secretary of State John Kerry fumed on Monday that Russia hadn’t met the Aug. 1 deadline to play a more constructive role in Syria, and said the current state of affairs wouldn’t be allowed to continue, Pete Kasperowicz reports. “These are important days to determine whether or not Russia and the Assad regime are going to live up to the U.N., live up to the cycle or not,” Kerry said. “And the evidence thus far is very, very troubling to everybody.”
UKRAINIAN DIPLOMAT CONFUSED: Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States says he’s worried Donald Trump “doesn’t have all the facts” about Russia’s activities and intentions in Ukraine. In an interview on CNN, Valeriy Chaly said he met with the Trump campaign in Cleveland during the GOP convention, and was assured the Republicans did not accept Russia’s claim to Crimea. “I do not want to be involved in the election,” he said. “It is the American people who will decide who will be president of the United States, but we count on the United States having a predictable leadership and predictable foreign policy. So that’s the main push from our side.”
DUNFORD’S TURKEY STOP: U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Turkey, since a coup attempt failed to dispose Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Dunford met Monday with his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Hulusi Akar, who told Dunford a harrowing story about being held with a gun to head, while he refused to sign a statement supporting the coup, according to the Pentagon’s internal news service. The chairman said Akar assured him that Turkey will continue to provide access to key Turkish bases in Incirlik and Diyabakir.
SPARE PARTS: Boeing on Monday received four contracts for F/A-18 spare parts totalling more than $1 billion, according to a release from the Pentagon.
MARK THIS CARRIER PIGEON AS READ: Clinton criticized Trump’s comments that the military should use paper documents and couriers instead of digital information to avoid being hacked, joking in a new video that the businessman and GOP nominee should use carrier pigeons to send classified intel. Sarah Westwood reports that the comments fell somewhat flat given Clinton’s own past mishandling classified information.
Meanwhile, Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook defended the former secretary of state, saying that she didn’t use her personal email server to send classified information, as the FBI director said she did last month.
COOK TIMER: Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook’s hastily-called 12:30 p.m. news briefing, which was to provide details about the new Libya air offensive, began the standard 10 minutes late at 12:40 p.m., or maybe it was 12:39 p.m.
THE RUNDOWN
Army Times: SMA: Army needs female soldiers to step up for combat jobs
Breaking Defense: AM General’s Strategy Pays Off: $1.6B In Humvee Contracts
UPI: BAE receives $245 million contract for Type 26 gun system
Navy Times: Osprey takes to the sky with 3-D printed critical parts
Defense News: US Nuclear Bomb Is Cleared For Production Engineering
Breaking Defense: IOC Tomorrow? F-35A Kills First Drone: ‘Boola Boola’
UPI: Raytheon opens new cyber center in Georgia
USNI News: Virginia-class Attack Boat Illinois Completes Alpha Trials
CNN: Trump says Putin is ‘not going to go into Ukraine,’ despite Crimea
Reuters: U.S. general seeks to soothe Turkey ties strained by coup purge
Wall Street Journal: Turkey Captures 11 Suspected of Trying to Kidnap Erdogan in Coup Attempt
Army Times: Incoming commander for Army Space and Missile Defense Command dies
Military Times: Zika strikes overseas U.S. troops
Reuters: Bergdahl’s lawyers ask for charges to be dropped over McCain comments
Calendar
TUESDAY | AUGUST 9
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. CSIS hosts Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, to discuss maritime security. csis.org
THURSDAY | AUGUST 11
12:30 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. Stimson hosts General Mark Milley to discuss U.S. foreign policy and national security policy. stimson.org
