Posted on 06/10/2014 7:47:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
And not just Mosul, according to some reports, but the entire northern province of Nineveh has now fallen into al-Qaeda’s control. Parliamentarians from the region want a declaration of emergency and immediate government intervention, but the forces that had been in Mosul have fled — some of which abandoned their uniforms as well as their posts as the ISIS forces swarmed into the city:
Insurgents seized control early Tuesday of most of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, including the provincial government headquarters, offering a powerful demonstration of the mounting threat posed by extremists to Iraq’s teetering stability.
Fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al-Qaeda offshoot, overran the entire western bank of the city overnight after Iraqi soldiers and police apparently fled their posts, in some instances discarding their uniforms as they sought to escape the advance of the militants.
Iraq’s speaker of parliament, Osama Nujaifi, said the city that ranks as the capital of northern Iraq is now entirely in insurgent hands.
“When the battle got tough in the city of Mosul, the troops dropped their weapons and abandoned their posts, making it an easy prey for the terrorists,” he told a televised news conference in Baghdad.
CBS reports from Iraqi and Arab media that the first goal of the attack may have been to free more than 2,000 prisoners held by Iraq in Mosul. Their next goal may bring ISIS a lot closer to Baghdad:
Iraqi Parliament speaker Usama al-Nujaifi said the terrorists are now setting their sight on Salahuddin, a province just north of Baghdad.
“They have already seized the Shergat air base in Salahuddin”, Nujaifi said, adding that terrorists laid their hands on weapon depots, heavy equipment and army helicopters from abandoned army bases in Mosul.
Nujaifi appealed to the US ambassador for an American military intervention:
Nujaifi said he spoke to US Ambassador Lukman Faily, requesting U.S. support to repel the terrorists’ attack by virtue of the Joint Cooperation agreement between the two countries. Ambassador Faily promised to promptly convey our request to the U.S. administration, Nujaifi said.
This will be almost impossible to do, and entirely impossible to do quickly. We pulled out all of our forces three years ago when the Obama administration failed to negotiate for a residual force for this exact scenario. In order to land an effective fighting force to defend Baghdad and retake Mosul, we would need to commit tens of thousands of troops and a large amount of materiel in a big hurry. Logistically speaking, that would be a feat worthy of George S. Patton and the Battle of the Bulge in order for us to get to Baghdad before ISIS does, especially with Iraqi security forces collapsing.
Politically speaking, it’s a dead letter. Obama just coughed up five prizes to the Taliban in his haste to get the US out of Afghanistan. Does Iraq really expect Obama to restart the Iraq War all over again after spending his entire national political career speaking out against it? Agreement or no, Obama almost certainly won’t send combat troops into Iraq, even if it’s to fight al-Qaeda, and very certainly not before the midterm elections.
This puts Iraq in a very dangerous position, though, and the entire region. The ISIS threat now stretches from Baghdad to the Mediterranean, engulfing both Syria and Iraq. The Kurds are in danger of being cut off (which is why they’re offering Peshmerga forces to relieve Mosul if possible), and the Iranians will eventually have to intervene if no one else does, on behalf of the Shi’ites in the eastern part of Iraq. This is the reason why it made sense to keep American forces in Iraq as a back-up to Iraqi security forces, but that option is all but dead now. Unless Iraq finds some deep well of nationalistic strength and repels ISIS on its own, the only democratic Arab republic may be very short-lived indeed.
Yeah, they are running to fill the power void we left behind.
This is so bad. We won’t waste anymore blood there, but when ISIS has their own country, things are going to stink for everyone in the world. They are the worst of the worst.
Remember South Viet Nam after the Democrats gained control of the Senate and refused to honor treaties?
Deja vu all over again ping. RE: Helicopters away
In order for the US to have had any kind of lasting influence in the region we would have needed a military presence there for at least 50 years. We barely had boots on the ground before there were calls for an exit strategy. Add to that the disastrous rules of engagement our military had to contend with and you have a formula for failure.
This is what happens when we lack resolve or purpose or leaders but I want you to note carefully who this is not.. This is not Iran. This is not Shia. This is Sunni. 9/11 was Sunni. Nidal Hassan ( the terrorist at Ft Hood) was Sunni,The AlQaeda is Sunni.The Taliban is Sunni.The Muslim Brotherhood in Sunni. We as a nation are busy watching “American idle” and being lead woefully ignorant by our Government about who the real enemy is. Until we know the enemy,it is hard to know who to kill. The policy of our government is stereo type. “They all look the same”. It is dark age analyses. Do you know, for example, who does all suicide bombing?—— you guessed it. WAKE UP.
And Iraq just took possession of its first Blk 52 F16...and is supposed to get more...this could be an interesting turn of events if the goat humpers get a squadron or two of F16’s.
Realizing of course that they’ll need pilots that are worth a damn...otherwise, the birds will just be static displays.
I wonder if 0 will continue to send the F16’s to Iraq knowing how they’re faring against AQ...this would be a “tell”.
In Korea too.
But GM is alive…
(from FReeper carriage_hill on another thread)
Jumper seems to get it.
“They have already seized the Shergat air base in Salahuddin”, Nujaifi said, adding that terrorists laid their hands on weapon depots, heavy equipment and army helicopters from abandoned army bases in Mosul. Holy cow...
“There were still nazi sympathizers in postwar Germany who tried to carry on a guerrilla war against the allies but within a couple of years the German people themselves rose up against them.”
Those “insurgents” that were caught were promptly executed by occupation forces. They were not given 3 hots, a cot, and a copy of “Mein Kampf”.
Bingo. It starts with that monstrosity on the East River.
RE: But GM is alive…
Actually GM killed people too...
Whoever is training the other side is doing better than us and also doing better at recruitment. What is our purpose if they don’t want us?
The German people held a national day of protest against the nazi insurgents. I can’t remember what it was called but they encouraged each other to turn in those who refused to give up the fight.
Iran would love to have F-16s.
There are those, right here on FR even, that have said that this is Bush's fault, because we never should have been there in the first place.
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