West Asia News and Discussions

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 13 Jun 2014 18:06

HT:

The Iraqi government bolstered Baghdad's defences on Friday as jehadists pushed towards the capital and President Barack Obama said he was exploring all options to save Iraq's security forces from collapse.

Washington said US companies were evacuating hundreds of staff from a major air base north of Baghdad as the militants battled security forces just 80 kilometres (50 miles) from city limits.
...
Militants were gathering Friday for a new attempt to take the city of Samarra, home to a revered Shiite shrine whose 2006 bombing sparked a sectarian war, witnesses said. -
Witnesses in the Dur area, between militant-held Tikrit and Samarra, said they saw "countless" vehicles carrying gunmen south during the night.
Residents of Samarra, just 110 kilometres (70 miles) north of the capital, said gunmen were gathering to the north, east and southeast of the city.
A tribal leader said militants had approached the security forces in the city, asking them to leave peacefully and promising not to harm the Al-Askari shrine.

But security forces had refused, he said.
Militants already mounted two assaults on Samarra, one on Wednesday and one late last week, which were thwarted after heavy fighting.
-
- See more at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-new ... tuR3c.dpuf

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 13 Jun 2014 19:54

nageshks wrote:
Aditya_V wrote:It will very good if ISIS now targets southern Turkey other than Kurdish areas. That will cause a ssudden earthquake.
ISIS has no hope of breaking the Turkish army, unless Erdogan decides to bring down the secularists in the army another couple of notches (but would he invite ISIS for it?). Unlike the two bit militia thugs that the rest of the armies in the region are, the Turkish army is a very professional, very capable force. They can defend themselves eminently. Also, I doubt if the Turks will want these (mostly) Arab hooligans inside their borders.

You are thinking of lightning tactics and plucking territory in a matter of weeks and months. It will be a slow process. Cultivating parts of the population takes time. As more and more jihadis begin pouring into the region from abroad, including turkey, it's a sure bet they will make their way back into Turkey and begin radicalizing.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 13 Jun 2014 20:09

Would be "Butchers of Baghdad"!
ISIL claim to have "executed" 1,700 Iraqi Shia soldiers!

Massacre of Shiites expected in the aftermath of the ISIL blitzkrieg.Executionsand rapes have stareted already.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/#source=refresh
Iraq crisis: ISIS claims to have executed 1,700 Shia soldiers
Group claims mass killings of Iraqi troops, as militants battle security forces 50 miles from Baghdad

Iran official: 'Tehran willing to work with US over Iraq crisis'
Iraq crisis: is ISIS part of al-Qaeda?
Evacuations in Iraq as chaos spreads

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/j ... -us-troops
Trail of jihadist victories in Iraq could force renewed military action from US
Barack Obama looking to help government after Isis seizes Mosul and Tikrit and closes on Baghdad while Kurds take Kirkuk

Kurdish fighters poured into the disputed northern city of Kirkuk to head off the militants from Isis, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, whose fighters have surged through the north in recent days, encountering little or no resistance from Iraqi army troops who have deserted in their thousands. Isis took the town of Dhuluiyah and was within 60 miles of the capital, local people said. Hundreds of thousands of people have been uprooted by the militant advance. The UN security council was meeting to discuss the sudden crisis.

The streets of Baghdad were eerie and empty as Isis members took to social media taunting residents that they were advancing towards the capital. Local people have been stockpiling food, fearing that a much talked about enemy is almost at the city's gates.

"They are only 40 miles away," said Fadhil Muthanar, a trader in east Baghdad. "They are hiding in the reeds, in the ruins, waiting to come to the capital. And the Iraqi army can do nothing. Perhaps it will defend the Green Zone [seat of power]. But nothing more. God help us all."

Iraqi officials estimate the total number of Isis forces in Iraq at around 6,000, spread between Mosul, Ramadi, Falluja, Tikrit and the surrounding countryside.

Isis has been handing out flyers in the towns it has seized assuring residents who have remained that it is there to protect their interests. The campaign for hearts and minds is gaining some traction, with some residents railing against perceived injustices at the hands of the Shia majority government. But on Thursday it said it would introduce sharia law in Mosul and other towns, warning women to stay indoors and threatening to cut off the hands of thieves. "People, you have tried secular regimes ... This is now the era of the Islamic State," it proclaimed.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 33967.html
Iraq crisis: Executions and rape reported as Islamist militants close in on Baghdad

Islamist militants are closing in on Baghdad after capturing two towns north of Iraq's capital.
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Officials said Iraqi soldiers abandoned their posts with no resistance when fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) pushed into Diyala province.

Militants driving machine gun-mounted pickups entered the towns of Jalula and Sadiyah on Thursday night, police said. Jalula is 80 miles from Baghdad and Sadiyah is 60 miles away.

Sunni fundamentalist fighters have vowed to capture Baghdad and Shia holy cities further south after overrunning Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and driving the army out of northern provinces.

The UN said hundreds have been killed - with militants carrying out summary executions of civilians in Mosul, including 17 civilians in one street.

A dozen Iraqi security personnel were also killed and four women committed suicide after being raped.
Read more: Baghdad prepares for the worst
Iraq crisis: Sunni caliphate has been bankrolled by Saudi Arabia

UNAMI, the UN's mission to Iraq, estimates that almost 1,000 people may have been injured in recent days and half a million residents have fled Mosul.

A court employee in the Dawasa area of central Mosul was executed, said spokesman Rupert Colville.

Prisoners released by the militants from Mosul prison had been looking to exact revenge on those responsible for their incarceration and some went to Tikrit and killed seven former prison officers there, Mr Colville said.

“We've also had reports suggesting that government forces have also committed excesses, in particular the shelling of civilian areas on 6 and 8 June in Mosul, resulting in a large number of civilian casualties,” he added.

“There are claims that up to 30 civilians may have been killed during this shelling.”

Vehicles belonging to Iraqi security forces burn following clashes in Mosul Vehicles belonging to Iraqi security forces burn following clashes in Mosul The UN has also been told that Iraqi government forces were not allowing people to leave Mosul at one point and Isis are now using their own checkpoints to target dissenters.

Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has so far been unable to form a coherent response the al-Qaida-inspired group as the power of his Shia-led government evaporates in parts of the country.

He failed an attempt for parliament to declare a state of emergency on Thursday and has asked Barack Obama for help to combat the growing insurgency.

The US President said he was "ruling nothing out" but David Cameron and William Hague have stressed that the UK will not be sending in troops.

It is the biggest threat to Iraq’s stability since the withdrawal of US forces in 2011 and has pushed it nearer the prospect of partition into Sunni, Shia and Kurdish zones.

The rise of Isis, which wants to impose Sharia law, raises the prospect of more sectarian violence and ethnic cleansing. Much of Baghdad was cleansed of its Sunni population in 2005 and 2006.

A representative for Iraq's top Shia cleric has called on Iraqis to defend their country by joining security forces to battle the militants.

Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie said it is “a duty” for citizens to defend against “the dangers threatening Iraq”.

Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, a spokesman for Isis, said that the Shia, 60 per cent of the Iraqi population, “are a disgraced people”, accusing them of being “polytheists”.

Security officials said the fighters managed to take control of two weapons depots holding 400,000 weapons, including AK-47 rifles, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, artillery shells and mortars.

A quarter of the stockpiles were sent to Syria, they said.

Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit was overrun by the militants on Wednesday and witnesses said fighters raised posters of the late dictator and Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, his former deputy who escaped the 2003 invasion and has eluded security forces ever since.

The nine-year Shia dominance over Iraq, established after the US, Britain and other allies overthrew Saddam Hussein, may be coming to an end.

The power vacuum in the northern city of Kirkuk has been filled by Kurdish security forces, who have taken over an airbase and other abandoned military posts.

Americans were evacuated from an Iraqi air base north of Baghdad amid the panic and Germany has urged citizens to leave parts of the country, including Baghdad, immediately.

President Obama said Iraq will need more help from the United States, but he did not specify what it would be willing to provide. Officials said Washington is considering drone missions.

“We do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria, for that matter,” he said in Washington.

The UN Security Council met on the crisis, underscoring the growing international alarm over the advances by Isis.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said Britain could offer assistance with counter-terrorism expertise to authorities in Iraq.

Speaking after talks on Iraq with US Secretary of State John Kerry in London, Mr Hague stressed that Britain has no intention of sending troops into the country.

But he said that a team from the Department for International Development was now on the ground in northern Iraq to see what humanitarian help the UK can give, and made clear that Britain is also ready to advise the Baghdad administration.

Mr Hague also urged Iraq's political leaders from different communities to unite in responding to the “brutal aggression against their country”, and said that Britain would continue to press at the United Nations for a concerted international response.

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 13 Jun 2014 20:48

What about Turkish hostages?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 13 Jun 2014 21:34

with the regular army on verge of meltdown, the shias have done the only thing they can - call for volunteers and a peoples militia to safeguard whatever part of the nation they have left.

NYT

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s top Shiite cleric exhorted all able-bodied Iraqis to take up arms Friday to combat the marauding Sunni extremist militants who have seized broad stretches of the country this week and are threatening the wobbly Shiite-led central government in Baghdad.

The call to arms by the cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was the most urgent sign yet of the growing desperation of the country’s Shiite majority in the face of a resurgent Sunni militant movement drawn from the insurgency in neighboring Syria and vestiges of the Saddam Hussein loyalists toppled from power by the American-led invasion a decade ago.

Ayatollah Sistani’s plea came as both the United States and Iran, adversaries on a range of issues including the Syria conflict, were both seeking ways to help the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and avoid a collapse in Iraq that would further destabilize the Middle East.

President Barack Obama spoke outside the White House.Obama Says He Will Decide on Military Support for Iraq in ‘Days Ahead’J

Iraqis fled Mosul this week after a siege by Islamic extremists, with a large number taking refuge in Erbil.Iraqis Who Fled Mosul Say They Prefer Militants to Government

At the same time, the ayatollah’s plea also risked plunging Iraq further into the pattern of sectarian bloodletting between Sunnis and Shiites that convulsed the country during the height of the American occupation

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 13 Jun 2014 21:36

the shia militias, remnants of the army and american B52s are likely to be able to hold baghdad and the south if they dont lose their nerve now. enough manpower will volunteer out of fear for their own lives and families and enough weapons are available. what is doubtful is the will to fight a years of bloody bush battle against the ISIS, who will no doubt have a long term plan and pipeline of trained volunteers.

ISIS has got what it wanted - a part of syria and a part of iraq as the seed node of the new caliphate.
saudis and qatar got what they wanted a perpetual afghanistan v2 to fight assad and iran for 10,000 years with deniability
I am not sure what amirkhan wanted from all this, and neither I think does POTUS know, but it will adjust and massage its public narrative to fit events as they unfold
the iraqis and syrians got shafted but they dont matter and never will

habal · Post by **habal** » 13 Jun 2014 21:43

Over 2000 hezbollah are now in Aleppo, these ISIS guys are just running away from them. Iraq somehow happens to be in the middle of their retreat.

darshhan · Post by **darshhan** » 13 Jun 2014 22:51

Sunni vs Shia conflict in full force now. Let's see who will be the new masters of middle east.

One thing is clear though. With the huge amount of action taking place in middle east(syria, Iraq, Lebanon,Libya etc), a lot of America and Europe based young Jihadis will gain extremely valuable experience in Urban terrorism, street fighting and Explosives handling. Many of them will go back with a dual and persistent love for Action and Blood. Western countries are going to have a migraine for a long time to come. Welcome to the new Jihad University.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 13 Jun 2014 22:57

This is a result of Paul Bremer's stupid decision of disbanding the original Iraqi Army and raising a new one. Well what these American herrows managed to raise can't even be called an Army. According to the Guardian article about Mosul, two full divisions (about 30,000 troops) of the Iraqi "army" cut and ran in the face of an assault by just 800 ISIS militants. This is beyond a joke. They have no hopes of defending Baghdad with an "army" like this. Pathetic.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 13 Jun 2014 22:59

So let's get down to bijnej: Is the US going to bomb Quatar's natural gas terminals and fields? If so, price of gas should go up nicely.

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 13 Jun 2014 23:30

Massan Algo tweaked and reinterpreted by Al-Ciada based on the need of times.

1)Topple(say through carpet bombing,assasination,coup) a predominantly muslim country's secular(especially ArabNationalist - often baathist) regime.
2)Under their military occupation,systematically destroy the systems which held the country together.
3)Provoke a militant Islamist response against their occupation.
4)Keep playing them till these Islamist terror groups are infiltrated and a handle is acquired on them to keep activities away from massa's "allies" & itself - and only directed against the competing cuntries.
5)Reboot Homeland Season X
6)Rinse and repeat on the next unsuspecting turd world cuntry.

Result : Almost infinite supply of jihadis to mount future 26/11 's,school & theater sieges,topple neighboring cuntries etc.
These terror groups used as leashed attack dogs to control and enforce a hafta system on the 2nd world and the turd world.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 14 Jun 2014 00:14

Looks like Fak-AP became Fak-Middle East

disha · Post by **disha** » 14 Jun 2014 04:10

Or it could be to get Obomber approve the Keystone XL pipelines and it is the Kanucks revenge on Amerikhans!

Anyway, the ISIS Caliphate, the second terrorist group to own a country (first is bakistan) is like a growing cyst.

They have everything to run a successful caliphate - land, cities, water, oil (far richer than any other terrorist group) except access to sea. So pray how they are going to get to sea?

This ISIS Cyst is contained in the North and West by remnants of Syria and in the South and East by the Shiites backed by Iran. Will this pave way for Iranians to come into Iraq and actually absorb the Iraqi territories a.la Crimea getting absorbed? Iranians will definitely aim for softly absorbing Baghdad and Basra.

Iranians will not step in overtly lest it causes Saudi Barbaria to step in. However that means Turkey will also step in!

Or ISIS may be contained on its North and East and like any cyst has to come out., where will it come out? Kuwait!!!!

It will be interesting to see al-baghdadi become al-balls and go against its creator Saudi Barbaria to create a new caliphate all with access to legitimacy via-kuwait!

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 14 Jun 2014 07:18

IMHO the only stable equilibrium state in Iraq is for it to be divided into 3 states, Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish. The sooner that happens, the better. It is not possible to keep the warring parts together in an artificial entity that Iraq is.

I think the Iranians will step in to save Shia south. The Kurds can hold off the ISIS with US help. The Sunni part of Iraq will remain with ISIS, as neither Iran nor the US has the stomach to fight, regain and keep it. Let it become the Caliphate ruled by Sharia.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 14 Jun 2014 07:31

ISIS has declared that after capturing Baghdad they plan to march over to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. There is no way Iran is going to stand by and allow that to happen.

vina · Post by **vina** » 14 Jun 2014 07:45

Kakkaji wrote:IMHO the only stable equilibrium state in Iraq is for it to be divided into 3 states, Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish. The sooner that happens, the better. It is not possible to keep the warring parts together in an artificial entity that Iraq is.

I think the Iranians will step in to save Shia south. The Kurds can hold off the ISIS with US help. The Sunni part of Iraq will remain with ISIS, as neither Iran nor the US has the stomach to fight, regain and keep it. Let it become the Caliphate ruled by Sharia.

Trouble is, the Sunni regions of Iraq and Syria are piss poor with zero resources. The oil is in the Shia regions in the south and the Krudish regions. The Sunni regions will of necessity need to go to war, either with the south (for oil and access to the sea), or the easier option of striking at Kuwait and gaining access to the sea and oil.

Trouble is, hitting Kuwait will bring the Soddy Barbaria and Unkil on them like a ton of bricks. So, it will be an attack against the Kurdish regions and the Shiites. Iran will need to step in to stabilize the Shia and that will set off the dominoes. Coz, if Southern Iraq is "Criemaed" into Iran, the entire oil rich Shia majority belt ruled by an oppressive Sunni elite will start shivering and browning their Arab dresses.

A Shia Arab state running from Eastern Iraq, all the way to Yemen, including the eastern oil rich part of S. Arabia (as per the map that a US analyst drew that created so much Takleef among the Pakis as it showed a dismemebered Paki land as well) will be reality.

The oil and wealth with Shias and the Sunnis with a giant empty "Rab al Khali".

disha · Post by **disha** » 14 Jun 2014 07:45

Kakkaji'ji.,

US helps Kurds., Kurds will go against Turkey. So now the soft-underbelly of Europe is destabilized!

US helps ISIS, if they cannot go against Syria, they go south and if they cannot go against Iran, they go to Kuwait. Read my Cyst theory. The Cyst has to find a way out or it grows and slowly consumes everything.

So US and Saudi help ISIS to fight against Syria/Iran, but like a mad dog it *will* come back and bite its masters.

Or the US and Saudi go against ISIS, but they do not have stomach for it!

If the US/West is thinking that a tri-furcation of Iraq will help, they are dead *wrong*. What will help is actually dissolving the Saudi Barbaria., dividing the arabs into competing but equal suzerainity (like the united-arab-emirates, a larger version of it that includes Syria, Kurds, Sunnis, Shiites!! etc) and backed with guarantees from Iran, Turkey and Israel. Since the persian and the turkic monkeys will pounce and chew up this emirates in a blink if given a chance. Of course, this means Islam as we know it is doomed. Since the chances of later happening are remote, the chance of Saudi Barbaria being divided up is small.

A pot-boiler like this will lead to rise of a modern day Saladdin who went on to establish the Ayubbid dynasty! Even though shortlived - this is a meme that will be carried out be ISIS to create another sultanate. And of course both the persian and the turkic are eyeing this to grow their empires.

India should help Iran look west and shore up the east., so that it can get to puncture the baki cyst.

disha · Post by **disha** » 14 Jun 2014 07:49

Iran is going to move fast., and it has no options but to move fast - its very own survival is at stake. If it does not act, it is doomed. If it acts it will get a prize a.la Crimea.

Obama got Crimea'd!!! Twice!!!

Iran has to step in to save Samarra and Falluja. Fall of both puts Baghdad in danger and a fight at the doorstep of Baghdad will be a psychological boost to ISIS!

Avarachan · Post by **Avarachan** » 14 Jun 2014 07:54

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2014/ ... t-for.html

In actuality, ISIS is the product of a joint NATO-GCC conspiracy stretching back as far as 2007 where US-Saudi policymakers sought to ignite a region-wide sectarian war to purge the Middle East of Iran's arch [sic] of influence stretching from its borders, across Syria and Iraq, and as far west as Lebanon and the coast of the Mediterranean. ISIS has been harbored, trained, armed, and extensively funded by a coalition of NATO and Persian Gulf states within Turkey's (NATO territory) borders and has launched invasions into northern Syria with, at times, both Turkish artillery and air cover. The most recent example of this was the cross-border invasion by Al Qaeda into Kasab village, Latikia province in northwest Syria ....

The alleged territorial holdings of ISIS cross over both Syrian and Iraqi borders meaning that any campaign to eradicate them from Iraqi territory can easily spill over into Syria's borders. And that is exactly the point. With ISIS having ravaged Mosul, Iraq near the Turkish border and moving south in a terror blitzkrieg now threatening the Iraqi capital of Baghdad itself, the Iraqi government is allegedly considering calling for US and/or NATO assistance to break the terror wave. Adding to the pretext, ISIS, defying any sound tactical or strategic thinking, has seized a Turkish consulate in Mosul, taking over 80 Turkish hostages - serendipitous giving Turkey not only a new pretext to invade northern Iraq as it has done many times in pursuit of alleged Kurdish militants, but to invade Syrian territory where ISIS is also based ....

The alleged territory of ISIS overlaps the Iraqi-Syrian border constituting a region nearly the size of Syria itself. With Baghdad asking for foreign intervention, and ISIS giving NATO the perfect pretext to do so by seizing a Turkish consulate in Mosul, making the case for (re)invading Iraq may be feasible. With the Western media capitalizing on ISIS' notorious brutality, including mass beheadings and hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing before them, a demonstrable campaign to sway public opinion toward intervention is clearly under way.

Invading northern Iraq will allow NATO to then justify cross-border operations into eastern Syria. In reality what NATO will be doing is establishing their long desired "buffer zone" where terrorists can launch attacks deeper and more effectively into Syrian territory. With western Syria returning to peace and order after a series of victories for the Syrian government, the last front NATO's proxy forces have is Al Qaeda's arch of terror running along Turkey's border and now, across eastern Syria and northern Iraq. NATO's presence in northern Iraq would also provide an obstacle for Iranian-Syrian trade and logistics.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 14 Jun 2014 07:59

Watch out for Paki nukes heading for Saudis as insurance. They are using PA strategy. The US has no choice but to help them. It's a short-medium term master stroke by the Saudis. They threaten the Americans to intervene and kill the nuclear deal and restart the project to topple the regime in Tehran and sack Damascus or they'll slowly start making moves to dump the dollar and side with the SCO/Europeans. Obama has no choice but to expand his covert war against the two Shia powers.

disha · Post by **disha** » 14 Jun 2014 08:06

Avarachan wrote:... With western Syria returning to peace and order after a series of victories for the Syrian government, the last front NATO's proxy forces have is Al Qaeda's arch of terror running along Turkey's border and now, across eastern Syria and northern Iraq. NATO's presence in northern Iraq would also provide an obstacle for Iranian-Syrian trade and logistics....

Lot of bravado and nonsense. Then why did NATO (US) leave Iraq in the first place? They could have justified being there just by keeping Iraq on slow boil?

Anyway, looking at the other way around, this can be an easy honey trap for the Amerikhans to walk into. Just send 100k troop there with some 300k supporting tail and get hammered day in and day out. This idiots will not know what will hit them on a daily basis and after 3 years, another president wannabe will declare victory and turn tail.

Mission Accomplished.

Oh BTW, ISIS will happily raise the flag of Jee-hard and give the Saudi Barbarians a real punishment ... ahh the riches do beckon on both east and south, the southern ones are easy pickings - all Al-Baghdadi-Al-Balls-Al-Karbala-Al-Medina has to do is capture Mecca and Medina and call himself the keeper of Al-Ummah to claim the Jihadi empire on "right" and all the oil and port and trade on the "left"., easy pickings - I say!!

disha · Post by **disha** » 14 Jun 2014 08:08

RoyG wrote:Watch out for Paki nukes heading for Saudis as insurance. They are using PA strategy. The US has no choice but to help them. It's a short-medium term master stroke by the Saudis. They threaten the Americans to intervene and kill the nuclear deal and restart the project to topple the regime in Tehran and sack Damascus or they'll slowly start making moves to dump the dollar and side with the SCO/Europeans. Obama has no choice but to expand his covert war against the two Shia powers.

Baki nukes heading for Saudi means a juicy target for all Jeehardis - right at the doorstep of the Jeehardis - the cake of Barbaria with a nuke cherry on top!!!

Who will the barbarians nuke? Israel? Iran? On what basis?

disha · Post by **disha** » 14 Jun 2014 08:09

Anyway, beer and popcorn for me ... one thing that is proven is that US SD does not know its bottom from its other bottom. The rest is all gup-shup,

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 14 Jun 2014 08:12

disha wrote:
RoyG wrote:Watch out for Paki nukes heading for Saudis as insurance. They are using PA strategy. The US has no choice but to help them. It's a short-medium term master stroke by the Saudis. They threaten the Americans to intervene and kill the nuclear deal and restart the project to topple the regime in Tehran and sack Damascus or they'll slowly start making moves to dump the dollar and side with the SCO/Europeans. Obama has no choice but to expand his covert war against the two Shia powers.
Baki nukes heading for Saudi means a juicy target for all Jeehardis - right at the doorstep of the Jeehardis - the cake of Barbaria with a nuke cherry on top!!!

Who will the barbarians nuke? Israel? Iran? On what basis?

Pak nukes in Saudi hands was revealed by James Rickards. He's got a lot of sources within the government.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 14 Jun 2014 08:29

I don't think there is any appetite left for sending US land forces back to Iraq. I think the most the US will do is air strikes and logistical support.

At this point, supplying more weapons or training to the Iraqi army is a waste. Using US troops to fight once again for Falujah, Ramadi, and Mosul is also a waste as the Iraqi Govt will not be able to keep these cities even if the US wins it back for them. The Congress and the public opinion will not allow more American blood to be spilled for Iraq.

The US invasion of Iraq by GW Bush will go down as one of the worst foreign policy mistakes ever in history.

Avarachan · Post by **Avarachan** » 14 Jun 2014 09:51

If one looks at a map of the Middle East, it is very clear what is going on. Why is the West stirring up mayhem in Ukraine? Because Russia is supplying Syria through its Black Sea port. Why is the West supporting ISIS in Mosul, Iraq? Because Iran is supplying Syria by road.

Avarachan · Post by **Avarachan** » 14 Jun 2014 09:53

disha wrote:
Avarachan wrote:... With western Syria returning to peace and order after a series of victories for the Syrian government, the last front NATO's proxy forces have is Al Qaeda's arch of terror running along Turkey's border and now, across eastern Syria and northern Iraq. NATO's presence in northern Iraq would also provide an obstacle for Iranian-Syrian trade and logistics....
Lot of bravado and nonsense. Then why did NATO (US) leave Iraq in the first place? They could have justified being there just by keeping Iraq on slow boil?

Disha, the U.S. is financially bankrupt and the American public is sick of war. Obama's strategy is to use terrorist proxies instead of American soldiers.

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 14 Jun 2014 10:04

There will be no US involvement until a political price has been paid by Maliki and his Iranian backers. Obama has made it clear that this is an Iraq political problem with politization of the Iraqi security force. Until that is corrected the US is not commiting to any drone or bombing action in Iraq for it would be useless. There must be a political solution as part of the price to be paid for the US to act.

Miltariliy the ISIS may have routed the Iraqi military but keeping that territory is going to a supreme challenge when and if the US decides to start bombing. If it begins, there will be no more road blocks on highways made by the ISIS and every support activity will come under close scrutiny with a possible hellfire missile. in other words ISIS cannot hold any serious logistics or controlling structures.

The US has a surplus of reconn and attack drones on hand now and is only limited by the number of qualified personnel to operate them from afar 24x7. Plus unlike in Waziristan there will be no Packee soverign issues to worry about. No high mountains, no trees just sun baked desert to reconnoiter.

At any rate, besides Iranian offers of assistance (none needed by the US) the US is in the cat birds seat once the political price has been paid by Malaki et al.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Jun 2014 10:17

Price to be paid for the US to act, indeed. This is getting a bit rich.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 14 Jun 2014 10:20

TSJones wrote:The Iranian stooge who is the prime minister of Iraq is now calling for US help after he told US troops to leave Iraq. Why not get some help from his Iranian chums? They can't cut the mustard, that's why.

The US will probably wind up sending some special forces and some Air Force forward observers/shot callers and bomb the living f**k out of the place. But we're going to get terms from the Iraqi/Iranian political goon squad before we do it. It's going to cost them one way or another. No more political BS from them and their support for Assad. Bunch of horse s**t. Either do what we say or root hog or die. period.

A pretty good statement of the tactical belligerence that drives US policy.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Jun 2014 12:39

NYT
WASHINGTON — Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the shadowy commander of Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force, flew to Iraq this week with dozens of his officers to advise the country’s beleaguered leadership about how to blunt the advance of militant forces on Baghdad, American officials said Friday.

In meeting with General Suleimani, the Iraqis are hosting the mastermind of Iran’s strategy in Iraq when Iraqi Shiite militias trained by Iran fought American troops. The general is also the current architect of Iranian military support in Syria for President Bashar al-Assad.

The contact suggests that the Iraqis see the possibility of significant aid from Iran as a means of pressuring the United States to come to Iraq’s defense with aid of its own. And it highlights the complex web of alliances brought to the fore in the current crisis; both the United States and Iran, traditional antagonists, see it in their interest to come to the aid of an embattled partner to repel the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

pradeepe · Post by **pradeepe** » 14 Jun 2014 12:58

Raja Bose wrote:Price to be paid for the US to act, indeed. This is getting a bit rich.

Just a bit? after the massive f*up, the gall to say someone else has to pay a price.

This is just bravado and bluster. The oseoules who caused it ain't getting it off their conscience. It better sink in..

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 14 Jun 2014 13:07

Iran needs to doubleup on its nuke program , force Massa-Saudi-Paki axis to reveal its nukelear hand to the world ASAP.

Only the threat of an overhanging nuclear incident in Middle East can stabilize it from current scenario of it being Massa's Jihadi playground cum nursery.

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

ISIS butchers leave 'roads lined with decapitated police and soldiers': Battle for Baghdad looms as thousands answer Iraqi government's call to arms and jihadists bear down on capital
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... north.html

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 14 Jun 2014 19:00

disha wrote:Anyway, beer and popcorn for me ... one thing that is proven is that US SD does not know its bottom from its other bottom. The rest is all gup-shup,

They are located in Foggy Bottom area of DC.

Truly descriptive as they suffer from head assitis.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Jun 2014 19:03

from link above: the allies of the West in the battle for Syria...

The Islamist militia is so ruthless and extreme that even al-Qaeda has cut ties and distances itself from them.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Isis), used to be part of the international terror network, but was cast out in February this year in light of its violent behaviour towards rival jihadist groups.

It is famed - and feared - for spreading hardline Islamic law to the areas it subdues. Transgressors are sentenced to death and swiftly executed in public, their bodies left to decay in the streets.

This treatment has even been doled out against other jihadist leaders, who have been assassinated in a brutal struggle over strategy in the Middle East. Young jihadists are increasingly drawn to Isis over less extreme groups - particularly in the light of their rapid military progress through Iraq.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Jun 2014 19:06

the kurds appear to be well armed, motivated and equipped. they should be able to keep the ISIS out of their locality if turkey and iran provide logisitcal support.

I figure southern iraq can be saved only if Iran puts boots on the ground. middle aged and enthusiastic ex-servicemen signing up to get their AK47 and 3 mags of bullets isnt going to hack it. top iraqi army generals have probably been bribed to issue confusing orders, or stay out of the fight.

B52s even if sent, cannot bomb the urban areas without massive civilian casualties.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Jun 2014 19:07

a couple of iranian divisions with khan saheb providing fuel and air cover/intel ought to be able to engage the ISIS from baghdad to the north , roll them up and deposit them over the border into Syria into waiting lines of Assad.

maybe wait for and lure the ISIS into massing outside baghdad, and then trap and pound them from all sides.

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 14 Jun 2014 19:09

Ethno-sectarian map of Iraq.

vina · Post by **vina** » 14 Jun 2014 20:49

the kurds appear to be well armed, motivated and equipped. they should be able to keep the ISIS out of their locality if turkey and iran provide logisitcal support.

Aint gonna happen. An independent Kurdistan will have claims over the Kurdish areas in Turkey and Iran and prosecute those claims diplomatically and militarily.

The borders drawn by the Brits and the French post WWI in that area are cracking and realigning along natural ethnic lines. Now everyone is in a dilemma. Support the Shiites, strengthen Iran and give rise to a possible Shiite arab state stretching from Baghdad to Yemen, encompassing, S. Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, eastern Soddy Barbaria and Bharain.

Support the Kurds, then Turkey and Iran splinter.
Support ISIS, then Syria, Iraq break apart, with Turkey mortally threatened and Soddy Barbaria and the rest of the Gulf Corrupt Monarchies as sitting ducks.

Either case, Unkil is shafted. Damned if you do , damned if you dont.