West Asia News and Discussions

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Jun 2014 13:21

is the iraqi govt sending any reinforcements at all north to wrest back control of towns and hold open the lines of communication?

no evidence appears to be there. cant blame the isolated garrisons for deserting and running to safety in the south.

of the alleged 14 divisions in the iraqi national army I dont see any of them moving in force up north. where are they? melted away?

at this rate, within a week the advance guard of ISIS will be nibbling and probing on the northern and western side of baghdad.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Jun 2014 13:30

all the prep I see is urban shia militias to engage in fighting if the ISIS enters baghdad or one of the southern shia strongholds like karbala.

the regime seems least interested in saving any area north of baghdad.

vijaykarthik · Post by **vijaykarthik** » 18 Jun 2014 13:56

^^ Qassim Suleimani is at it. The problem fixer should fix this in a few weeks. Its going to be difficult. But he will

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 18 Jun 2014 14:29

India too must make contigency plans to rescue its trapped citizens.40+ have been abducted or are missing.One doesn't know the figuires of Indians in Iraq,but they must number in the thousands at least.The GOI must also send in a contingent of troops who will be able to fight if neccessary.They must be equipped with ICVs,RPGs,ATGMs,etc.If e can provide attack helos for our UN peacekeeping forces,surely this is a time when we must come to the aid of our citizens.Is the life of one Indian any cheaper than that of one westerner? Time to out to use the C-17s acquired to good use,along with the IL-76s to.If nymbers are great,then evacuation from the Gulf will be neccessary.Transports and IN support needed here.

The GOI should immediately coordinate efforts with the Iranian govt.as the Iraqi govt. is in shambles,the Iraqi govt. too for necessary clearances,Russia and the US.The Saudis and Qataris,the bankrollers of the ISIS crowd must also be lobbied hard for using their influence whatever with the ungodly species to free trapped/captured/abducted Indians.Sushma has an excellent opportunity to discuss the same with the visiting Russian DyPM when he comes.Since Iraqi oil supplies are now going to be problematic,we must look for alternatives.Iran is now back in the West's good books! The UK ,stunned by recent events,is reopening its embassy.Therefore there is nothing to stop us from now entering into long term oil supplies from Iran at negotiated rates.We can pay in many forms.The US is now talking to Iran about the same so why should the GOI remain shackled by the servile supine policies of the disgraced and discarded Snake-Oil Singh regime?

PS:What the beleaguered Iraqi govt. requires fast is air support to pound the ISIS forces which have no air support whatsoever ,into the ground.If the Iranian/Shia entities are able to hod their own on the ground,blunting ISIS, the added air power will force ISIS to retreat.The Saudis and Qataris must also be read out the riot act by the West to stop support for ISIS in Iraq. The blowback can threaten the entire region.

Latest news:Iraq's largest Baiji refinery under attack.ISIS forces expected to start bombarding Baghdad soon.Maliki on the ropes,calls for "national unity".Q.One thought that the Iraqi oil installations were under western/US control or protection.What happened?

Iraq crisis: Militants bombard Iraq’s biggest oil refinery with mortars and machine guns as Baghdad braces for impending attack

Iraq crisis: Militants bombard Iraq’s biggest oil refinery with mortars and machine guns as Baghdad braces for impending attack

Battle lines against the Isis advance now defined within an hour's drive of capital to north-east and west
Adam Withnall
Wednesday 18 June 2014

Sunni militants have reportedly begun shelling Iraq’s biggest oil refinery north of Baghdad, as occupied territories become increasingly entrenched and the capital’s occupants brace themselves for an all-out attack.

With the country descending into chaos and fresh reports of massacres in Baquba just to the north-east of Baghdad, the assault on the site at Baiji will put added strain on oil supplies already being stockpiled by frightened civilians.

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) attacked the refinery from two directions, the BBC reported, and sent smoke billowing up from at least one warehouse building.

The plant at Baiji accounts for more than a quarter of the country’s capacity to refine oil, all of which goes towards domestic consumption for cooking oil petrol and fuelling power stations.

Closer to the capital, government forces have launched a string of air strikes on the advancing militant lines. The Iraqi airforce’s capabilities are limited, however, and yesterday its ambassador to the US issued a desperate plea for the West to guarantee his country’s “air supremacy” in the conflict.

Government forces said on Tuesday that they had repelled an overnight attempt by insurgents to seize Baquba, the capital of Diyala and just a 60-minute drive from Baghdad. Some residents and officials said scores of prisoners from the local jail were killed. There were conflicting accounts of how they had died.
In pictures: Iraq crisis

In the capital itself, people are on edge and a siege mentality has widely started to take hold. Sunnis worry about convoys of civilian cars with bearded men in military uniform they assume are militiamen, while Shia living in Sunni districts are moving away, worried that a new civil war is emerging along sectarian lines.

Yesterday two attacks hit Shia markets, from a suicide bomber and a car bomb, leaving 18 dead and 52 wounded according to medical and security sources.

The Sunni militants have moved at lightning speed, slicing through northern and central Iraq, capturing the towns of Hawija and Tikrit in the north before facing resistance in southern Salahaddin province, where there is a large Shia population.

More formalised battle lines are now appearing, with the insurgents held at bay at Baquba and just on the capital's outskirts beyond the airport to the west.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared in a national broadcast yesterday alongside some of his government’s most bitter Sunni critics and Kurdish leaders, in a joint appeal for unity and a demand for non-state forces to lay down their arms.

While the public address is unlikely to change much on the ground in Iraq, it could be a signal to strategic allies the US that Maliki is willing to listen to its concerns. President Barack Obama is considering options for an intervention to help push back Isis, but does not want to create further sectarian conflict.

The deteriorating security situation in Iraq has actually encourage improved relations between the US – and UK – and Iran, with both sides considering how to cooperate against the Isis advance.

And today the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country would “not hesitate” to defend Shia holy sites in Iraq itself.

Speaking to a crowd on a visit to western Lorestan province, he said: “Regarding the holy Shia shines in Karbala, Najaf, Khadhimiya and Samarra, we announce to the killers and terrorists that the big Iranian nation will not hesitate to protect holy shrines.

“These terrorist groups, and those that fund them, both in the region and in the international arena, are nothing, and hopefully they will be put in their own place.”

PPS;What one can expect now is an Iranian move into Iraq by its army and forces,to secure the key Shiite places of worship and key strategic points. We are seeing today a variant and redux of the Iran-Iraq war about to unfold,with ISIS playing the part of Saddam,supported yet again by the Gulf monarchies and sheikhdoms! The difference is that this time round Iran is the good guy and ISIS representing the Iraqi Sunnis ,the bad guys.What a tragic farce.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 18 Jun 2014 14:56

Baiji has fallen to ISIS.Expect a huge surge in oil prices.Situation critical.
Diplomatic staff evacuating their consulates ,etc.

Iraq crisis: Isis seizes Baiji oil refinery – live updates

Isis militants 'control 75%' of Iraq's main refinery
Iran's president vows to protect Iraq's Shia shrines
60 foreign construction workers 'abducted'
Commanders involved in Isis defeat sacked for desertion
US shows signs of hesitancy about military intervention
Isis insurgents held off close to Baghdad

A British security company helped evacuate Western employees trapped in Baiji oil refinery before the overnight attack, the Times reports.

The German government confirmed that around 50 foreign employees of Siemens, including eight German citizens, were flown to safety from the plant on Sunday. The German company won a maintenance contract in February.

Iraqi special forces in helicopters and a private aircraft chartered by Siemens were involved in the rescue at the sprawling 600mw powerplant, which is reportedly defended by an outer ring of around 250 Iraqi security forces.

On Thursday, a high speed convoy of armoured vehicles from the British security company Olive Group was sent from Baghdad. It reached the refinery hours before it was surrounded by Isis, and evacuated employees.

Olive Group’s website said that it acquired a security contract from Iraq’s ministry of oil in 2011 to provide high-tech security for the massive complex, which boasts a perimeter surveillance system, x-ray machines and explosives detectors.

Olive Group was founded by a former British Army Coldstream Guards and Parachute Regiment officer, Chris St George, in 2001. The company refused to comment on the detail of the rescue. “Olive Group were able to evacuate all our employees without incident,” said a spokesman.

The Baiji oil refinery is located in the heart of the area where Isis militants have been most active in the last 10 days.
The refinery is 155 miles north of Baghdad.

AP says the facility accounts for a little more than a quarter of the country's entire refining capacity all of which goes toward domestic consumption for things like gasoline, cooking oil and fuel for power stations.
Any lengthy outage at Beiji risks long lines at the petrol pumps and electricity shortages, adding to the chaos already facing Iraq.

ISIS appear to be no rag-tag "street arabs" from the foll. info.The entire plan appears to be part of a carefully planned strategy which has to involve foreign puppet masters whose identity has not yet been discovered or revealed.There may be many powerful "investors" in ISIS ,who stand to gain billions out of control of Iraq's oil. It looks like the old mantra is true yet again,"It's all about oil"!

The image of Isis as a bunch of ragtag terrorists is challenged by the group's annual accounts, according to the FT which has been going through the documents. It says they portray a group with an organised military structure with a clear political strategy to set up a Sunni sectarian state – and one with several of the hallmarks of a corporate entity.

“The reports provide measures of performance in the way you roll out details for donors,” said Jessica Lewis, director of research at the Institute for the Study of War. “They affirm that the organisation operates like an army and that it has state-building ambitions.”

What is clear from the documents is that Isis’s campaign to control Sunni-populated Iraqi territory – and its capture of the second city of Mosul – should not have startled either the Shia-led government in Baghdad or its western allies. They highlight the extent to which Nineveh, the province that includes Mosul, seized last week, has long been a target.

It also points out that Isis has adapted to new modern methods of spreading its message.

Deft use of social media has been at the forefront of its campaigning tactics in Syria and Iraq. When it comes to using platforms such as Twitter, Isis is “probably more sophisticated than most US companies,” says Aaron Zelin, an expert on jihadis and fellow at the Washington Institute.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 18 Jun 2014 15:58

"40 Indians kidnapped in Mosul, #Iraq, were working for Tariq Noor al-Huda Construction Company."

from a journalist's twitter feed.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 18 Jun 2014 16:04

What if ISIS demands ransom for kidnapped Indians in Iraq, pls suggest solutions guru logo

First test of nerves is knocking on door of Modi sarkar, pls suggest solutions, else some one will be seen running to Iraq with plane full of dollars like Kandhar re run

vijaykarthik · Post by **vijaykarthik** » 18 Jun 2014 16:17

^^ negotiate with the IRGC Qods? That seems like the most appropriate solution, IMO

Malayappan · Post by **Malayappan** » 18 Jun 2014 16:40

Someone Is Spilling ISIS’s Secrets on Twitter

From that piece

ISIS’ inner chamber of power, hidden by Baghdadi’s public front, is led by a former Baathist and colonel in Saddam’s army called Haji Bakr.

The account claims, as Hassan's translation below shows, that the two groups struck a deal which will place the Baathists in control of a new ruling coalition.
..the agreement involves giving leading role to the Naqashbandis because the world won't accept ISIS to rule. ISIS to have top positions later

Fishman, the New America analyst, said “there is a lot of evidence that ISIS has cooperated with the Naqshabandi Army in Iraq, which implies some agreement between al-Baghdadi and al-Douri.” But, he added, “it is one thing to build a military alliance and another to have a shared vision for governance. I don't think this alliance will last as constructed. I don't think ISIS will subsume itself to the Naqshabandi's. There's plenty of evidence ISIS is declaring itself in areas it controls.”

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 18 Jun 2014 16:42

harbans wrote:When some of these think tank 'experts' start calling this an 'antiquated' interpretation, i tend to lose interest in the analysis. The basis itself for all emanating reason however intricate and detailed seems to have little meaning..

Yeah, its time to trot out the "moderate islamists" who will provide the modernist interpretation of shariah.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 18 Jun 2014 17:45

Watching CNN, claiming ISIS is funding itsself by getting USD 430 Million from Mosul Bank(I can bet that was a lie) with no mention of Saudi involvement. The report was a pure propaganda piece on behalf of ISIS. It seems the SD is fully with ISIS and wants to take out the Shia led Government.

If the Iraqis are smart they must get arms immediately from Iran and not hope for an American rescue.

Oil prices going up is good for Chevron and Finance guys trading in Oil. Looks the US is with the Sunnis, If I were a Kurdish leader or Shite, expect USA to sell you down the river.

Iraq has been paying USA USD 10 billion in some years for Arms and training and it amounts to nothing.

I think we Indians should also be vary, we are buying billions of dollars worth of arms from the US and EU, some of it not really giving us any capability. The US it seems has thrown its lot with the Sunni nations like TSP.

abhik · Post by **abhik** » 18 Jun 2014 17:50

Has the ISIS vs shia militants fight started in earnest yet? My wet dream is the Iranians open a front from the north so that they are caught in a pincer.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 18 Jun 2014 17:54

Tony B.Liar,the Middle East "Phantom of the Opera".

The Phantom of the (tragic) Middle East Opera is back. A killer without a clue, he can’t be blamed for not being consistent.

His most recent opus speaks for itself; like a Kabuki mask high on Earl Grey tea, the Phantom is eviscerated by his own mighty pen, actually sword.

The fact that the Phantom keeps getting away with his vast desert of convoluted lies – instead of languishing in some rotten, extraordinary rendition hotel - spells out all we need to know about so-called Western “elites”, of which he’s been a faithful, and handsomely rewarded, servant.

So Western “inaction” in Syria has led to the latest Iraq tragedy? Sorry, Tony; it was yours and "Dubya’s" 2003 Shock and Awe “action” that set the whole Shakespearean tragedy in motion.

The Phantom always wanted the Obama administration to bomb Syria, as much as he labored for "Dubya" to destroy Iraq. Phantom logic never considered that would have installed in Damascus the same Islamic State of Iraqi and the Levant (ISIL) that is now making a push towards Baghdad.

Then there’s the gift that keeps on giving – the endlessly recycled, repackaged Global War on Terror (GWOT), of which the Phantom was the prime sidekick. So Phantom had to be on board the latest US craze – which brands ISIL as the avatar of a new 9/11.

In Syria, Phantom has been one of the prime instigators of the “rebel with a cause” ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra-infested gang. If the Phantom’s bombing logic had won in Syria – he was preaching Damascus as a replay of 2003 Baghdad - Aleppo would be, for a while now, an avatar of Mosul.

The deeper we get into it, the Phantom looks and sounds like the heir of – also clueless - British commanders in 19th century Afghanistan. Look, for instance, at this unintended consequence of the 2001 American bombing of Afghanistan; now we have Hazaras – Afghan Shi’ites – fighting side by side with Iranians, alongside Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian army, against the Phantom-supported Syrian “rebels”. Oh Tony; not even your old cohort Peter “Lord of Darkness” Mandelson could have explained that.

Picture released by the British Defense Ministry shows soldiers from the RECCE and PATROLS Platoon, Fire Support Company of The 1st Battalion The Royal Welch Fusilers (1 RWF) mount heli borne Eagle VCP's (Vehicle Check Points) near the southern Iraqi City of Basra 02 July 2004. (AFP Photo / MOD)

By the way, the Phantom has always been a firm believer in the “evil” of Iran, constantly “warning” that Tehran was on the verge of assembling a nuclear weapon (old habits – as in the Phantom’s Saddam syndrome – die hard.) So imagine his Dick Cheney-worthy stupor when Washington and Tehran are on the verge of discussing in Vienna the set up of some sort of joint action to fight ISIL in Iraq, and even "uber-hawks" such as Republican Senator Lindsey Graham utter the unimaginable words, “We are probably going to need [Iran’s] help to hold Baghdad.”

The Phantom would be incapable of connecting the geopolitical dots from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya and Syria; the bottom line he would be unable to identify is that there is absolutely no strategic, long-term Anglo-American foreign policy project in what the Pentagon still calls the “arc of instability”. If there ever was a motto, it was "Dubya’s" “you’re either with us or with the terrorists”. A motto turned on its head, because until this very moment Anglo-American power was “with the terrorists”, from Libya to Syria; a predictable perversion of time-tested Divide and Rule.

The Obama administration is going no holds barred to get a SOFA in Afghanistan – code for Enduring Freedom forever (with “discreet” Special Forces as the invisible stars.) Washington has already admitted it is sending lethal “assistance” to “moderate” rebels in Syria (as, in theory, the Islamic Front goons, not Jabhat al-Nusra or ISIL). As if Hollywoodish CIA assets wouldn’t know that these weapons will certainly be bought and/or stolen by hardcore jihadis.

ISIL in the borderless desert between Syria and Iraq is already a proto-Caliphate. Blowback from this weaponizing of so-called “moderates” – there are no “moderates”, as there are no Taliban “moderates” – will be no less than staggering. Victims includes Kurds in Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran; Turkmen in Iraq (as it’s already happening this week); and of course Christians all over (as it already happened in Syria).

Bomb them into democracy, again

The Phantom now is preaching for American “intervention” in Iraq; first you starve them; then you bomb them into a wasteland and call it “democracy”; then you occupy them; then you infest them with jihadis; then they kick you out; then the jihadis raise hell (now flush with $425 million stolen from a government vault in Mosul, apart from loads of cash from Wahhabis in the Gulf to buy all those white Toyotas and RPGs); then you re-occupy them softly. It IS the gift that keeps on giving.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces run for cover after an Iraqi army helicopter mistook them for militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Jalawla in the Diyala province, on June 14, 2014. (AFP Photo / Rick Findler)

As for the notion – equally peddled by the Phantom and US neo-cons – that ISIL is a threat to Western security (“trying to do harm to Europe, to America and other people”, in Kerry’s words), that’s nonsense; a joke as monumental as that maze of American satellites incapable of tracking a long line of white Toyotas advancing in the Western Iraqi desert – leading to the swift disintegration of four Iraqi army divisions.

They saw it, they tracked it, and they kept mum. That’s straight from the Empire of Chaos’s playbook. Why not advance murderous "Divide and Rule" between Sunnis and Shiites? Let them eat corpses – and kill each other to kingdom come, as in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.

ISIL’s push is a remix of the Sunni-Shi’ite civil war of 2006-2007, whose effects, pre-American surge, I documented in my reportage book Red Zone Blues. At the time, it was all centered in Baghdad; when al-Qaeda in Iraq took over the Dora neighborhood in Baghdad, that lasted only a short while. Sunnis themselves rebelled against the medieval jihadi “worldview”.

The Phantom, anyway, got his wish; Iraq is for all practical purposes broken, irretrievably fragmented, and cannot be “fixed” (Colin Powell’s terminology). The Kurds have already solved one of the most intractable problems of post-Shock and Awe; they’ve already rearranged Sykes-Picot by taking over oil-rich Kirkuk (not to mention the Nineveh plateau).

And as further proof ISIL has nothing to do with a threat to Western security, the tanks and heavy artillery they captured in Iraq were redirected to Syria, in their push to fight Damascus.

This is all too much for the Phantom to digest. Perhaps he should start by reading this - as in Iraqi works rejecting everything that happened even before 2003, and even before the Phantom’s limelight moment.

As for the Phantom’s key argument that what’s happening now in Iraq is the result of less – and not more – Western warmongering, call it phantom hubris. The “Middle East” – in fact Southwest Asia – is a Western fiction imposed by colonial powers on the local populations. What the Pentagon described since the early 2000s as the “arc of instability” is a self-fulfilling projection of anarchy, with some patches of “peace” represented by those repellent GCC petro-monarchies (after we need “our” oil).

And then there’s the slowly but surely inevitable process of progressive integration of Eurasia – along the myriad, Chinese-driven new silk roads. That’s anathema for the empire of chaos and its “special relationship” minion. So Southwest Asia in perpetual chaos is more than welcomed. Expect hubristic Phantom to call for increased fuel to be added to this Western-concocted opera already on fire.

http://rt.com/op-edge/166632-blair-kill ... ddle-east/

PS:The ISIS song.

Oh to be with ISIS,
Looting a Mosul bank,
Oh to be with ISIS,
Now,I''m a caliph swank!

vijaykarthik · Post by **vijaykarthik** » 18 Jun 2014 18:46

Aditya_V wrote:Watching CNN, claiming ISIS is funding itsself by getting USD 430 Million from Mosul Bank(I can bet that was a lie) with no mention of Saudi involvement. The report was a pure propaganda piece on behalf of ISIS. It seems the SD is fully with ISIS and wants to take out the Shia led Government.

If the Iraqis are smart they must get arms immediately from Iran and not hope for an American rescue.

Oil prices going up is good for Chevron and Finance guys trading in Oil. Looks the US is with the Sunnis, If I were a Kurdish leader or Shite, expect USA to sell you down the river.

Iraq has been paying USA USD 10 billion in some years for Arms and training and it amounts to nothing.

I think we Indians should also be vary, we are buying billions of dollars worth of arms from the US and EU, some of it not really giving us any capability. The US it seems has thrown its lot with the Sunni nations like TSP.

I don't know how they showed the news snippet. But its a fact that ISIS raided the Mosul branch of the Iraqi Central Bank... and made off with 430 mn USD that was stored there. [its not as if the Mosul bank gave them a generous loan... if that's how the reports showed it as]. I don't think the US or any other media outlet will want to show a news snippet like that unless there was a desperate need to pile on more sanctions on ISIS / carry out air attacks on them etc -- both of which don't seem like it will happen anytime soon.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 18 Jun 2014 18:51

Philip, I had to scroll all the way to end to find out its not written by you!!!!
So the thinking British lament like us.
No wonder the Foundation is strong and will emerge again.
---
Was watching CNN and the PBS last nite.

US experts dont have clue and are full of bile for Mailiki for imagined insults to US.
Same dirge about Karzai.
They dont understand anyone seen kowtowing to any foreginer is vulnerable in Islamist societies.
But US 'universal empire' demands genefluction to assure themselves that they still matter despite claiming Plato's republican spirit.

See in Islam the caliphs were supposed to be chosen by shura. After teh first four it became shura of one and thus dynastic. Removal by death.
The first Roman Emperors were elected by the senate and then soon became dynastic. Removal is by death.
The US elects its emperors but thanks to George Washington the term is limited to 8 years and when violated by FDR. Removal is by impeachment.

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 18 Jun 2014 19:03

Why have Indians been targeted and not any other nationality

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 18 Jun 2014 19:31

A_Gupta wrote:"40 Indians kidnapped in Mosul, #Iraq, were working for Tariq Noor al-Huda Construction Company."

from a journalist's twitter feed.

For this Modi needs to get in touch with Peshmarga and may be Mossad. Best is for India to keep our hand hidden and to embed Indian army within Peshmarga forces, calling it an independent non-state Kurdish militant faction, and then to befall some ISIS stronghold and capture ISIS forces, and use them as chips to do hostage exchange. Threaten to kill half and sell the other half of the captured ISIS forces to Iraqi regime. Throw in another 1000 dollars pro Indian hostage

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 18 Jun 2014 20:00

Qassim Suleimani: commander of Quds force, puppeteer of the Middle East
by Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Ian Black, theguardian.com
June 16th 2014

Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is a useful man to have on your side in a crisis. Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, must have been relieved to see him last week as he scrambled to organise a counterattack against the Sunni jihadis of Isis who have taken swaths of territory and were threatening Baghdad.

Suleimani is a regular, though usually unannounced, visitor to the Iraqi capital, where he has been a key player since even before the 2003 US invasion and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Stiffening resistance, mobilising militias and greasing palms is the stuff of a clandestine career which has given him the reputation of being one of the most powerful and mysterious men in the Middle East.

Now his latest mission to Baghdad is being seen as an indication of the gravity of the Iraqi crisis – a client of Tehran facing extremist jihadis. "The IRGC will see this as another front, akin to what is happening in Syria," said Ali Ansari, a historian of Iran at the University of St Andrews. "They are taking it very seriously indeed."

In the past three years, Suleimani, as the point man in Iran's strategic backing for Bashar al-Assad and its ties to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement, has focused on Damascus.

US sanctions imposed on him because of his role in Syria mean he is unlikely to meet any American officials – even if Washington and Tehran were to agree on short-term military cooperation in Iraq. Still, Suleimani was discreetly involved in negotiations with the US after the September 11 attacks, when Iran offered help to US forces in Afghanistan – until George W Bush included Tehran in "the axis of evil". Nowadays Iran's battle lines are clear. "Syria is the main bone of contention," Suleimani said in a rare speech in February. "On one side stands the whole world and on the other stands Iran. Some people urge Assad to go … but they don't realise the truth." Saudi Arabia, Tehran's bitter strategic rival and patron of some of the Sunni militants fighting Assad, came in for especially harsh censure.

Fiercely loyal to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, Suleimani usually keeps a low profile at home, his pale, almost ghost-like face, deep-set eyes and greying hair on show only occasionally at the funerals of IRGC men killed in Syria. Khamenei once branded him "a living martyr" – high praise. Last month a photo on Facebook showed him offering condolences to the family of Hilal al-Assad, the Syrian president's cousin, who was killed fighting near the Turkish border.

Suleimani, now 57, was in his early 20s when he joined Iran's forces in the war Saddam launched against the country in 1980 – a conflict that became the longest conventional war of the last century and which left more than a million dead on both sides in its eight bloody years. Afterwards he was deployed to Iran's eastern border, fighting drug smugglers from Afghanistan. In 1998, he was appointed commander of the Quds (Jerusalem) force.

Estimated to be several thousand strong, the Quds force carries out a range of highly sensitive functions: intelligence, special operations, arms smuggling and political action – anything that constitutes protecting the revolution or attacking its enemies, Israel foremost among them. "It combines the functions of MI6, the SAS and DfID," a British official quipped. "It is Iran's long arm – everywhere."

Suleimani was also pictured last year with the son of Imad Mughniyeh, the Hezbollah military commander whose assassination in Damascus in 2008 was widely blamed on Israel's Mossad secret service.

Experts agree that is hard to overestimate Suleimani's role in Iraq. "At times of crisis Suleimani is the supreme puppeteer," said Prof Toby Dodge of the London School of Economics. "He is almost like a Scarlet Pimpernel. He is everywhere and he's nowhere. He can be blamed for everything. Suleimani is doing in Baghdad what he did in Damascus – giving advice and help to an ally in trouble, Maliki in this case."

The Iranian's brash behaviour sometimes raises eyebrows: when he met the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, in 2008, according to one well-placed source, it looked like a "master-client relationship".

The previous year, during a series of battles between the US and Iraqi army on one side and Shia militias on the other, he sent an SMS message to the US commander, General David Petraeus. It read: "General Petraeus, you should know that I, Qassem Suleimani, control policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan. The ambassador in Baghdad is a Quds force member. The individual who's going to replace him is a Quds force member."

According to Dodge, one of Suleimani's most valued Iraqi assets is the Asaib Ahl al-Haq (the League of the Righteous), a Shia militia created by the Iranians to undermine the movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia nationalist who emerged at the forefront of opposition to the US. Its leader, Qais al-Khazali, was one of the Iraqis Suleimani reportedly saw in Baghdad. "Like other Iranian-created structures, Asaib al-Haq is deeply religious and ideological and runs in parallel to the state, undermining it when it needs to and working with it when it doesn't," said Dodge.

The League of the Righteous staged some spectacular attacks against US troops before their withdrawal in 2011. Another old Iranian-backed Iraqi player, the Badr brigade, which was supposed to have been disbanded, reappeared in public last week.

Suleimani's public comments demonstrate a powerful sense of strategic commitment to Iraq and the preservation of both Iranian and Shia political power. "Iraq used to be the citadel of opposition against Iran," he said. "This is why they [the west] gave all that money to Saddam for such a long time, even before the creation of the Islamic republic."

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 18 Jun 2014 20:01

What was the embassy in Bagdaddy doing when the first reports came, not yelling for the desis to get out of there? Most ppl here have no recollection of what happened to desis in Eyerak and Kuwait in 1990, and I have no intention of posting the memories of that here, it is to way too gruesome and horrible.

This shows that there is absolutely no learning and no interest to learn, in desi babucracy. In Yoo Ess, everyone from SoS on down faced inquiry on failure to predict a direct attack on the consulate in Benghazi. Here, why is it that after all these years, Indian embassies/consulates are so bloody incompetent?

Either don't let Indian passport holders go into war-torn places, period, or provide at least minimal basic intel and alerts? All hyoo-man-eater-ian considerations aside, this makes India look like a dimwitted banana republic, to put it mildly.

The British went in and got their ppl out, of course they have an occupation force there. But India is sooo much closer to Eyerak, should have SOME intel and SOME preparations for such things, hain?

Are there enough lampposts in Dilli for the babus who sat on their thumbs through this?

disha · Post by **disha** » 18 Jun 2014 20:13

Jarita wrote:Why have Indians been targeted and not any other nationality

Because they are soft targets. And coupled with #mediapimps like NDTV, CNN-IBN the government is made to bow down.

Look at NDTV and others already trying to make it a "Kandahar" for Modi/BJP.

Currently IMHO, MEA is doing best. Point out situation is tenuous, we will do our best and give out scant information. Let it drop down of top news in first 2-3 days (in the meanwhile Modi sarkar can do some real behind the scenes things both internally and externally, like suspending the CONgI governors and arresting goons in UP).

What will ISIS do at most? If they do it at the behest of ISI/Bakis., we know that ISIS is supported by the US/Saud. So another game of chess opens up.

disha · Post by **disha** » 18 Jun 2014 20:17

UlanBatori wrote:What was the embassy in Bagdaddy doing when the first reports came, not yelling for the desis to get out of there? Most ppl here have no recollection of what happened to desis in Eyerak and Kuwait in 1990, and I have no intention of posting the memories of that here, it is to way too gruesome and horrible.

1. Who reads the advisories? And sometimes Indians are trapped, they do not know a way out.

2. You should post the memories of what happened to desis in Eyerak and Kuwait in 1990.

Let other desis know what kind of pigs the host countries are of!

I know about the biggest civilian evacuation ever carried out by Indians (@110k Indians evacuated). That was the best of PVNR. And that was a good thing.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 18 Jun 2014 20:54

Jarita wrote:Why have Indians been targeted and not any other nationality

Also what baffles me is every time west whites are able to escape just in time while we get caught, as if there is inside info on taking captives

Kritavarman · Post by **Kritavarman** » 18 Jun 2014 21:05

Would this be the first test for our new NSA?

Can anyone update here, about possible role that can be played by Ajit Doval on kidnapping of 40 Indians in Iraq.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 18 Jun 2014 21:12

Prince Hasan Bin Talal of Jordan on the BBC:

If you look at the last century,every decade there is a conflict between Arabs,Sunni vs Shia,Israelis vs Arabs and the "elephant in the room is OIL"!

The prince bemoaned the fact that there was no concept for regional stability and that all countries like Russia,Israel,etc., should be brought into the picture.He further said that where there is oil,there is also the US military -industrial complex that Eisenwhower warned us against, determined to further its interests.The prince also said that the US should speak to the Saudis,etc. who were funding the extremists.It was ironical to the Arab street that in Sria,the US was supporting the Sunnis while in Iraq it was supporting the Shiites!

What this crisis has exposed is the utter bankruptcy of US/western policies in the region,which are held captive to mercenary interests of the western oil companies and arms manufacturers.Oil creates huge wealth which must be spent on weaopons for eaxch side to kill each other,destroy each other,devastate their lands,so that they cannot ever use the oil wealth to grow into internationally powerful nations which will threaten the Pax Americana.It is for India to draw lessons from this global outrage and learn to keep at arm's length the insidious attempts by the western powers to forever keep India,Pakistan and China in a spiral of tension and conflict .

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 18 Jun 2014 21:34

disha wrote:
UlanBatori wrote:What was the embassy in Bagdaddy doing when the first reports came, not yelling for the desis to get out of there? Most ppl here have no recollection of what happened to desis in Eyerak and Kuwait in 1990, and I have no intention of posting the memories of that here, it is to way too gruesome and horrible.

1. Who reads the advisories? And sometimes Indians are trapped, they do not know a way out.

2. You should post the memories of what happened to desis in Eyerak and Kuwait in 1990.

Let other desis know what kind of pigs the host countries are of!

I know about the biggest civilian evacuation ever carried out by Indians (@110k Indians evacuated). That was the best of PVNR. And that was a good thing.

Seems the Indian nurses were told to evacuate but they chose to stay. That is slightly ridiculous and probably because we lose our collective civilisational memory too soon i.e., 1990. People did not anticipate ramifications.
Same thing happened during the partition of India. Many people in now Pakistan stayed put thinking that friends and society would take care of them. These same friends turned on them immediately.
These Indians in Iraq are part of the same phenomena. Last to get out if at all.

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 18 Jun 2014 21:36

disha wrote:
Jarita wrote:Why have Indians been targeted and not any other nationality
Because they are soft targets. And coupled with #mediapimps like NDTV, CNN-IBN the government is made to bow down.

Look at NDTV and others already trying to make it a "Kandahar" for Modi/BJP.

Currently IMHO, MEA is doing best. Point out situation is tenuous, we will do our best and give out scant information. Let it drop down of top news in first 2-3 days (in the meanwhile Modi sarkar can do some real behind the scenes things both internally and externally, like suspending the CONgI governors and arresting goons in UP).

What will ISIS do at most? If they do it at the behest of ISI/Bakis., we know that ISIS is supported by the US/Saud. So another game of chess opens up.

Why is the Indian government not able to muzzle the media at sensitive times like these. Remember the media muzzling in the US after 9/11.
Across the world in times of war, the media speaks a different language and does not raise the ante.
This is really troubling

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 18 Jun 2014 21:42

Also what baffles me is every time west whites are able to escape just in time while we get caught, as if there is inside info on taking captives

Nothing to be baffled about: the western nations expect their embassies etc to be on the ball, and the governments put their resources on the line in a timely manner: citizens' lives are considered to be worth something.

Indian diplomats appear to mainly get their dhoties in a knot only when they are "cavity-searched" for their dealings with their retinues and their pomp and privileges are dissed. Not when the people they are sent to care about, get in danger.

It is inexcusable that in a nation such as Eyerak, the embassy was not more alert, and that the guvrmand is again looking completely powerless. Six months from now they may get the tortured survivors released when the ISIS get tired of raping them, and claim the Victory Of Bharatiya Soft Power.

What was needed was a demand to the UN for authorization, a swift armed-escort convoy with air cover, and drag out all ten thousand from Eyerak.

Someone referred to the evacuation of 110,000 from Eyerak 1991 as a great achievement. Sorry, it was an absolute disaster. Many of the 110,000 were evacuated after they reached Jordan, having lost everything (and I mean EVERYTHING and a lot more! ). IMO, whatever happened to Sa-dam's army and to Sad-dam eventually were fully deserved 1000 times over, based on what they did to Indians, who never meant them any harm. I celebrated when I heard how his Army was buried by the earthmovers ahead of the US 24th Mechanized Infantry and saw the burned-out hulks of his forces on their retreat out of Kuwait after the A-10s were done with them.

But in 1991 India was not a great Superpower, and Eyerak was under Sad-dam. Today decisive action was needed, the problem was far less. No excuse that I can see.

Modi should kick several musharrafs out of Dilli, call home the Ambassador to Eyerak and send him to Central African Republic. And the preparedness of Indian defense forces to undertake such extrications also looks pathetic. No wonder, look at Air India. In such times, the national airline has to be pressed into service on an emergency basis, in addition to the Navy and the Merchant Navy. "Emergency basis" does not mean "six months down the line" as it did in 1991.

Think about it: 10,000 ppl is only 50 flights with planes that take 200 ppl at a time. With about 3 hours per flight + 2 hours to turn a plane around. Maybe 34 flights at 300 each. How tough is this? Have they moved at least now to pull everyone out that is NOT in a combat zone, b4 Baghdad and Basra airports and other airports are closed by shelling? Then we can discuss whether they can actually do something about ppl trapped in Mosul or already kidnapped.

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 18 Jun 2014 21:47

Does'nt the sacking of Mosul parallel the sacking of Medina. The same decapitations, terror, taking of slaves etc.
I wonder whether the Muslim world sees the symbolism of it, which is why they are quiet.
Perhaps for them this is the second coming.

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 18 Jun 2014 21:48

UlanBatori wrote:
Nothing to be baffled about: the western nations expect their embassies etc to be on the ball, and the governments put their resources on the line in a timely manner: citizens' lives are considered to be worth something.

Indian diplomats appear to mainly get their dhoties in a knot only when they are "cavity-searched" for their dealings with their retinues and their pomp and privileges are dissed. Not when the people they are sent to care about, get in danger.

It is inexcusable that in a nation such as Eyerak, the embassy was not more alert, and that the guvrmand is again looking completely powerless. Six months from now they may get the tortured survivors released when the ISIS get tired of raping them, and claim the Victory Of Bharatiya Soft Power.

What was needed was a demand to the UN for authorization, a swift armed-escort convoy with air cover, and drag out all ten thousand from Eyerak.

Someone referred to the evacuation of 110,000 from Eyerak 1991 as a great achievement. Sorry, it was an absolute disaster. But in 1991 India was not a great Superpower, and Eyerak was under Sad-dam. Today decisive action was needed, the problem was far less. No excuse that I can see.

Modi should kick several musharrafs out of Dilli, call home the Ambassador to Eyerak and send him to Central African Republic. And the preparedness of Indian defense forces to undertake such extrications also looks pathetic. No wonder, look at Air India. In such times, the national airline has to be pressed into service on an emergency basis, in addition to the Navy and the Merchant Navy. "Emergency basis" does not mean "six months down the line" as it did in 1991.

Please tell us more about what happened in 1990.
There is a great SCI-FI show with DVDs that I have seen - Firefly. In that a group of humans (Reavers) got mutated into raping, killing, savage beings due to a chemical reaction. Later they showed that this group indoctrinated more people into their ranks by exposing them to the same sadism (making them watch) so that their brains fragmented and they perpetuated the madness. The later indoctrination was not through chemicals but brutal psychological assault.
The only solution was to destroy the group and psychologically recover some of the newly indoctrinated. Rationale discourse was impossible as they operated on a different plane. To save people that the Reavers captured, the best course for to kill the captives so that they would not be subject to acute sadism before imminent death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaver_%28Firefly%29

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 18 Jun 2014 22:02

All pretty-much describes the Forces of Sad-dam - (u can generalize that to whatever..). There are many traumatized survivors of that period trying to live in India, I have no wish to revive those horrors. I have posted before, on seeing the pathetic TV images of the Indian Ambassador to Iraq standing at the airport and bawling like a 3-year-old. He was frustrated that the Western airlift put the cats and dogs of their ppl way ahead in priority, over starving, sick, traumatized Indian kids.

That was just one of the less revolting images.

Eventually the Indian Navy sent a frigate or two, (OOOOOOoooooo!!) with a consignment of rice, to try to convince Sad-dam to allow Indians who were held hostage, to eat. Sad-dam basically used Indians as hostages and starved them after robbing them (and all sorts of other sadism) to claim to the world that HIS ppl were starving due to the embargo. May he starve in Houristan forever.

Point is, at that time, landing Indian planes in Bagdad was not easy. What is the hangup today?

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 18 Jun 2014 22:04

But see people don't know that. Public memory in India is very fleeting. This is something the public needs to be aware of. This includes the western airlift which refused to rescue Indian kids

Workers stuck in Iraq with no passports

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 18 Jun 2014 22:15

Jarita wrote:But see people don't know that. Public memory in India is very fleeting. This is something the public needs to be aware of. This includes the western airlift which refused to rescue Indian kids

That is where MEA is supposed to have Lambah memories, instead has jerks who think of short term fame and pindi channa.

At first sign of trouble in Iraq the Ind Embassy should have adivsed the locals and more importantly in Delhi about the need to get people out.

BTW it was not PVNR govt but Chandrasekhar govt that pulled the Indians out of Gulf region in 1990.
And they used massive airlift to evacuate the ~100,000 people.

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 19 Jun 2014 01:04

The Reavers are indoctrinating the next generation. Their minds will be destroyed for life. Abused people perpetuate the abuse

Children of war: As rebels force boys to watch an execution, gun-toting youngsters join regime troops

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z351WrHNd6

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 19 Jun 2014 01:34

What was needed was a demand to the UN for authorization, a swift armed-escort convoy with air cover, and drag out all ten thousand from Eyerak.

@ultabanori-though your post sounds like a whine every bit of it is true and guess what the quoted part is exactly what SSwamy was asking for !

added later

UK has highest contribution to Is-Is cadres from Europe

The worldview of ISIS is vehemently anti-Western. It has an estimated 2,000 recruits from Europe, including 400 to 500 from UK, and it would take just one order from their amir (commander) to send some jihadists back to Britain to carry out an attack.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27898724

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jun 2014 01:43

UlanBatori wrote:All pretty-much describes the Forces of Sad-dam - (u can generalize that to whatever..). There are many traumatized survivors of that period trying to live in India, I have no wish to revive those horrors. I have posted before, on seeing the pathetic TV images of the Indian Ambassador to Iraq standing at the airport and bawling like a 3-year-old. He was frustrated that the Western airlift put the cats and dogs of their ppl way ahead in priority, over starving, sick, traumatized Indian kids.

That was just one of the less revolting images.

Eventually the Indian Navy sent a frigate or two, (OOOOOOoooooo!!) with a consignment of rice, to try to convince Sad-dam to allow Indians who were held hostage, to eat. Sad-dam basically used Indians as hostages and starved them after robbing them (and all sorts of other sadism) to claim to the world that HIS ppl were starving due to the embargo. May he starve in Houristan forever.

Point is, at that time, landing Indian planes in Bagdad was not easy. What is the hangup today?

I will provide a very sanitized version but people will get the drift.

A very good friend of mine and one time GHQ was one of those kidnapped and taken hostage by Saddam's forces during the Kuwait invasion. She was a kid back then and with her family had just landed at Kuwait airport after a vacation trip to US when Saddam's paratroopers landed and captured the airport - literally after their aircraft landed. She was taken hostage along with her family and 100s of others and were moved to Iraq. Saddam kept them moving from one place to another without any food, water or even basic shelter. Her dad along with a few other men were allowed to "buy" food and water from local Iraqis who basically fleeced them mercilessly. One piece of bread cost them something like US$100.- and was shared between a family of 4. Apart from this, the Iraqi soldiers and militia had stripped them of all their belongings, jewelry and most of their cash. Throughout the month and a half ordeal they only had one 4 ft x 4 ft piece of cloth to lay on the ground and sleep for the entire family. So her parents basically slept on bare ground while letting their kids sleep on that piece of cloth taking turns. Her mom still has that piece of cloth as memories of that time and she showed it to me - it still has the bloodstains on it when it was used to bandage someone's head after they got hit by an Iraqi soldier's rifle butt. Finally when they were moved near Baghdad, her dad and a few other guys drafted a letter to the local military commander, to allow them to go to the Indian Embassy. They were allowed to under a heavy guard (& beaten black and blue after the journey). Guess what happened when they reached the embassy? The ambassador refused to meet them, asking them to get an appointment!

All this time these guys were pleading to be evacuated. Their kids were literally starving, there were families with newborns where the parents were going without food for days so that they could save their cash to buy milk for the babies, they had nothing except the clothes on their back. And our esteemed diplomatic corps sweetly told them that they were awaiting orders from New Delhi and meanwhile could they please remove their smelly selves back to captivity and stop soiling the beautiful Indian embassy premises? Finally after a month and a half, they were released and taken to the Jordan border where they stayed in refugee camps before being repatriated to India. Within 2 years of that incident, my friend's dad gave up his Indian citizenship and moved to another country where they still live. When I asked him why did he do that, he bluntly told me that he wished to pledge his allegiance to a country whom he could actually trust to rescue his kids in times of extreme danger. I had no answer to that.

That in a nutshell is, what India has become. The way we deal with these events is the same way we watch the soccer World Cup. We root for sides and plead allegiance to countries who have no link with us becoz we ourselves are so weak that we have no say in anything and have to pray that we catch a favorable wind which will lead us to safety. Everything is Ram bharose. Even bird poop has better control of its destiny than what India has in the international arena.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Jun 2014 01:50

Who was teh Indian Ambassador to IRaq at that time for reference?

Most likely now he is gassing in oped pages in Delhi and sipping chai with delicate beef samosas in IIC.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 19 Jun 2014 01:52

Thx. As u say, that is a VERY sanitized and understated version. Now u c 1 reason y there was so little sympathy 4 DK.....

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Jun 2014 02:01

UB hold your horses or what ever animals they use in Mangolia!

Oral History project Biggest Ever Air Evacuation in History pdf of the air lift in 1991.

The Indian Ambassador to Iraq at that time as stated in above pdf is Kamal Bakshi.

Also has a lot of inside scoop on the whole Gulf War I.

Here is the crux of current problem

IFAJ: This exercise was the first ever evacuation of Indian nationals in
independent India’s history. We did go through a smaller one when we recently
evacuated our nationals from Libya. But, at that time, while the evacuation
was in progress or thereafter, did it lead to a study and to a ‘Standard Operating
Procedure’ (SOP) – within the MEA or other Government of India agencies,
to prepare a standby arrangement for a similar situation in the future?

KPF: There was no proper follow-up to institute SOP. That is our weakness.

In fact, though it was our assessment that there was no need for
evacuation from countries other than Iraq and Kuwait, we nevertheless had
done a sort of planning on evacuating our people from the rest of the region.
Our various missions in the region had decided where our people would
collect in case of an emergency, how they would be contacted in case
evacuation was needed, etc. We had reasonably comprehensive plans on
logistics, ground transportation to the airport, seaport, etc., albeit in a notional
sense. This exercise was being carried out discretely. We did not want to talk
about it openly then as it would have been politically unwise. It would also
have created panic.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jun 2014 02:05

OT but I have NO sympathy for DK or her dad. Zero. They are crooks of the highest order. The reason people protested against her treatment was becoz of the position she occupied as a member of India's diplomatic corps and what massa did was thuggery of the highest order. There is no sympathy for her as a person - she can go rot in hell along with her kind. I just need to visit the SF consulate once in a while to be reminded of her kind and the ch**tiyas (Copyright, negi) that they are. As the saying goes, Khans prey on Indians, Chinese prey on Indians, Indians prey on Indians.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jun 2014 02:09

ramana wrote:UB hold your horses or what ever animals they use in Mangolia!

Oral History project Biggest Ever Air Evacuation in History pdf of the air lift in 1991.

The Indian Ambassador to Iraq at that time as stated in above pdf is Kamal Bakshi.

Also has a lot of inside scoop on the whole Gulf War I.

ramana sir, just read thru pages 98-99 to understand the kind of idiotic thinking our diplomatic corps indulge in. They truly live in a la-la land inhabited by India Habitat Centre/India International Center types. Getting a crowd of desperate hungry Indians to shout "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" is considered a feat worthy of note?

After the evacuation was over, apparently Finance Ministry baboons raised objection as to why was not an estimate submitted for their approval and chai-biskoot (with regular chai-paani arrangement I am sure) before the rescue operation was mounted. Mera Bharat Mahaan!