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ISIS set four captured Iraqi men on fire by hog-tying them upside down, hanging them from a pole, then burning them alive. Once again, the savage execution was captured on video and shared on social media accounts friendly with the terror group as part of its propaganda and fear campaign. The four men in orange jumpsuits introduce themselves on camera and are made to watch videos of other ISIS executions before they’re marched out to the desert, with chains around their wrists and ankles, to their fate. After a man wearing camouflage and a mask explains how the men must...

One of the best lessons I learned in my years of service in the military is a quote often share with y’all: “the enemy has a vote.” You can try and sell the American people — and others — a politicized line such as “al-Qaida has been decimated and destroyed” or “we have reached the framework of a deal with Iran” or “ISIS is not Islamic,” but the bad guys are not affected by empty rhetoric. And here we go again with the Obama administration and the conflagration against Islamic terrorism. We’ve been told that ISIS has stalled. Their recruiting...

Senior Republican Sen. John McCain blasted Pentagon officials on Friday for dramatically downplaying the role of Ramadi as the key Iraqi city stood on the brink of being taken over by ISIS. "Disregarding the strategic importance of Ramadi is a denial of reality and an insult to the families of hundreds of brave young Americans who were killed and wounded during the Surge fighting to free Ramadi from the grip of Al-Qaeda," McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a written statement released by his office, which was later joined onto by Repbulican Sen. Lindsey Graham. McCain,...

Air strikes killed at least 38 people yesterday as security forces held off attacks on a strategic town and an oil refinery, officials and witnesses said. In the town of Baiji, north of Baghdad, air strikes killed at least 19 people and wounded at least 17 in the morning, while further raids in the evening killed six more. Officials said the dead and wounded were civilians, and it was unclear if there were any casualties among the militants, who were the target of the strikes. State television said 19 "terrorists" were killed in the earlier Baiji raids. In the Husseibah...

There has been more fierce fighting in Iraq as Isis forces battle to control areas in the north and east of the country. The fate of the country's biggest oil refinery remains unclear, as fighting continues between Sunni jihadists led by Isis, and Iraqi government and Kurdish forces. The BBC's Fergal Keane went to Jalula in northern Iraq, and obtained exclusive footage of Isis suspects surrendering to Kurdish forces. Link

Sunni rebels in Iraq say they have fully captured the country's main oil refinery at Baiji, north of Baghdad.The refinery had been under siege for 10 days with the militant offensive being repulsed several times. The complex supplies a third of Iraq's refined fuel and the battle has already led to petrol rationing. Insurgents, led by the group Isis, have overrun a swathe of territory north and west of Baghdad including Iraq's second-biggest city, Mosul. They are bearing down on a vital dam near Haditha and have captured all border crossings to Syria and Jordan. A rebel spokesman said the...

Hundreds of Iraqi troops battling for control of the vital Baiji oil refinery are outnumbered, surrounded and remain trapped inside the facility, a U.S. official told ABC News. The battle for the refinery was in its fifth day today, although fighters for the radical Islamic militia ISIS have apparently taken control of much of the facility and are willing to keep the government forces isolated until they run out of food and ammunition, sources said. [....] Both sides have claimed to be in control of the facility, but witnesses have reported that ISIS has hung its black banners from the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Hundreds of Iraqi troops battling for control of the vital Baiji oil refinery are outnumbered, surrounded and remain trapped inside the facility, a U.S. official told ABC News. The battle for the refinery was in its fifth day today, although fighters for the radical Islamic militia ISIS have apparently taken control of much of the facility and are willing to keep the government forces isolated until they run out of food and ammunition, sources said. "There is very little the Iraqi government can do to save or liberate those guys," a U.S. official told ABC News. There...

Iraqi government forces engaged in fierce fighting with Sunni militants for control of the country's biggest refinery today as embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki resisted a growing clamour from the U.S. to step down. Pictures emerged today showing rebel forces had raised black jihadist banners and manned checkpoints around the key strategic oil facility in Baiji despite government forces insisting they were in 'complete control' of plant. Workers who had been inside the complex, which spreads for miles close to the Tigris river, said Sunni militants seemed to hold most of the compound in early morning and that security forces...

Iraq's biggest oil refinery, Baiji, has been shut down and its foreign staff evacuated, refinery officials said on Tuesday, adding that local staff remain in place and the military is still in control of the facility “Due to the recent attacks of militants by mortars, the refinery administration decided to evacuate foreign workers for their safety and also to completely shut down production units to avoid extensive damage that could result," a chief engineer at the refinery said on condition of anonymity.

The crisis in Iraq has prompted U.S. contractors with personnel there to evacuate them from areas near Baghdad that are increasingly in the line of fire as insurgent fighters capture more territory with the apparent end goal of seizing the Iraqi capital. The individuals are being “temporarily relocated by their companies due to security concerns in the area,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement Thursday evening. The individuals involved include U.S. citizens who are currently working under contract with Iraq’s central government in support of the Pentagon’s foreign weapons sales program. [....] On Thursday, the electronics giant...

SNIPPET: "Iraqi soldiers foiled a potentially deadly suicide attack today at the border crossing at Al Qaim in western Anbar province. From Aswat al-Iraq (Voices of Iraq): “A force from the 28th infantry division managed to defuse a car bomb and to kill its driver in al-Qaim, Anbar province,” said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The suicide driver carries the Kuwaiti nationality, and had on his possession a fake ID issued from Baiji,” the statement added. “The car was loaded with three tons of Chlorine and C4 as well as other chemical materials,” it added. Having closely...

US troops on Iraqi murder charge Two American soldiers have been charged with the murder of an Iraqi prisoner, US military officials have said. Staff Sgt Hal Warner and 1st Lt Michael Behenna are accused of the premeditated murder of Ali Mansour Mohammed. They have also been charged with assault, making a false official statement and obstructing justice. Military officials did not provide details on how or when Mr Mohamed was killed, but they said he was released from prison in mid-May. Staff Sgt Warner will face a hearing later this month to determine whether a trial should be held,...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military has charged two soldiers over the killing of an Iraqi prisoner, military officials said on Saturday. Staff Sergeant Hal Warner and 1st Lieutenant Michael Behenna, stationed near Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, were charged with premeditated murder over the death of Ali Mansur Mohamed, the U.S. military said in a statement. Mohamed was originally believed to have been released from U.S. custody in mid-May, the statement said. Military officials were unable to immediately provide details on how Mohamed was killed. Warner would face a hearing later this month to determine whether...

Excerpt - Iraqi militants are taking most of the $US1.5 billion a year that's stolen from Iraq's main oil refinery through smuggling and corruption, the government told parliament today. Speaking at the second reading of the 2007 budget, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said crime is behind the crisis in the oil industry, which is struggling to meet Iraq's own fuel needs despite having the world's third biggest reserves. "We have a system and an administration which encourage corruption," said Mr Salih, who has oversight over the economy. ~ snip ~

The first species to be erased from this planet’s great and ancient Order of Cetaceans in modern times is not one of the charismatic sea mammals that have long been the focus of conservation campaigns, like the sperm whale or bottlenose dolphin. It appears to be the baiji, a white, nearly blind denizen of the Yangtze River in China. On Wednesday, an expedition in search of any baiji, run by Chinese biologists and baiji.org, a Swiss foundation, ended empty-handed after six weeks of patrolling its onetime waters in the middle and lower stretches of the river, the baiji’s only known...

Soldiers Raid Iraq City June 7, 2005 BAIJI, Iraq - By military estimates, the odds in this unruly city situated at the apex of the Sunni Triangle should be firmly in favor of the Americans. In a nine-hour raid that began well before dawn Monday, more than 600 soldiers stormed house by house through some of Baiji's most troublesome neighborhoods. Armed with a list of "high value targets" that included names, aliases and physical descriptions, they searched for the "less than a couple dozen" insurgents who the top Army commander here estimates have made this dusty, dangerous city a hotbed...

U.S. Soldier Dies in Iraq Grenade Attack

Police flee as Saddam loyalists fuel city revolt By Patrick Cockburn in Baiji 06 October 2003 Iraqis shouting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans have staged an uprising in the important oil refining city of Baiji, burning down the mayor's office, fighting with American troops and forcing local police to flee. About a thousand people, some holding pictures of Saddam Hussein, were in a stand-off with American troops last night, with tanks surrounding the police station in the city, 160 miles north of Baghdad. Loyalty to the ousted president, who is still being sought by Allied troops, is strong in the Sunni Muslim...

A pipeline on fire close to the refinery of Baïji, in the north of Iraq A pipeline located close to the refinery of Baïji, to 200 km in the north of Baghdad, was on fire Friday morning, noted a journalist of the AFP. "I heard Thursday evening an explosion after the prayer towards 20H00", indicated Ali Jassan, an inhabitant of district Al-Karada of Baïji, located not far from the pipeline. Significant black fume released Friday morning from the pipeline, preventing from approaching the place of the disaster, according to the journalist of the AFP. American helicopters flew over the...