We'd better be well advanced in getting the relevant assets in place for a major under fire personnel extraction effort. Looks like we're going to need it.
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Pentagon orders aircraft carrier to Gulf in case Iraq military option needed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered an aircraft carrier moved into the Gulf on Saturday, readying it in case Washington decides to pursue a military option after insurgents overwhelmed a string of Iraqi cities this week and threatened Baghdad.
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Kurds Seize Disputed Oil Hub Amid Iraq Chaos (assume control of "majority of the Kurdistan region")
AP ^ |
After a decades-long dispute between Arabs and Kurds over the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, it took just an hour and a half for its fate to be decided.
As al-Qaida-inspired militants advanced across northern Iraq and security forces melted away, Kurdish fighters who have long dominated Kirkuk ordered Iraqi troops out and seized full control of the regional oil hub and surrounding areas, according to a mid-ranking Army officer. He said he was told to surrender his weapons and leave his base.
"They said they would defend Kirkuk from the Islamic State," said the Arab officer, who oversaw a warehouse in the city's central military base. He asked that his rank not be made public.
The Kurdish takeover of the long-disputed city came days after the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other Sunni militants seized much of the country's second largest city of Mosul and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit before driving south toward Baghdad. Their lightning advance has plunged the country into its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops.
A spokesman for Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, said they had only moved in after Iraqi troops retreated, assuming control of the "majority of the Kurdistan region" outside the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government.
"Peshmerga forces have helped Iraqi soldiers and military leaders when they abandoned their positions,"
A lawmaker from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led bloc condemned the peshmerga's move, calling it a "plot" carried out in coordination with the regional government that would "lead to problems."
"The Kurds have taken advantage of the current situation. They seized Kirkuk and they have other plans to swallow other areas," Mohammed Sadoun told The Associated Press.
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Report: Hundreds of American Civilians Besieged by Terrorists at Air Force Base in Iraq
As the Al Qaeda aligned ISIS jihadists roll on towards Baghdad, there are reports that at least 200 Americans were trapped and surrounded at the Balad Force Air Base. An anonymous contractor claiming to be among the besieged U.S. citizens posted this call for help on CNN’s “IReport” website yesterday:
I am writing from ballad Iraq as a employee of sallyport, ksillc..there are approx 500 US citizens on balad air base north of Baghdad trapped..we are part of a little known F16 iraq support mission here…The company has reportedly for the last 3 days to fly us out, we are now all herded into a central location on base..and being told nothing.
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ISIS Leader: ‘See You in New York’
When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi walked away from a U.S. detention camp in 2009, the future leader of ISIS issued some chilling final words to reservists from Long Island.
The Islamist extremist some are now calling the most dangerous man in the world had a few parting words to his captors as he was released from the biggest U.S. detention camp in Iraq in 2009.
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U.S. preparing for dialogue with Iran on Iraq security -report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is preparing to open a direct dialogue with longtime adversary Iran on security in Iraq and ways to push back Sunni militants who have taken over large areas of the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.Citing senior U.S. officials, the newspaper said the dialogue was expected to begin this week. It comes as the United States and other world powers strive for an agreement with Tehran to curb its nuclear program.
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U.S. starts removing embassy staff from Baghdad as ISIS grabs Iraqi town of Tal Afar [Obama Golfs!]
U.S. starts removing embassy staff from Baghdad as ISIS grabs Iraqi town of Tal Afar BY LIZ SLY AND ABIGAIL HAUSLOHNER June 15 BAGHDAD — Al-Qaeda renegades captured another major town in northern Iraq on Sunday, forcing hundreds of families to flee into the surrounding desert as their country’s grim descent into a new round of bloodletting continued unchecked.
The fall of the religiously mixed town of Tal Afar to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria raised the specter of deepening sectarian violence, as the U.S. government announced that it is drawing down staff at its embassy in Baghdad.
Citing the “ongoing instability and violence in certain areas,” a State Department statement said the embassy will also beef up the number of security personnel deployed at the heavily guarded mission, which is in the fortified Green Zone. A separate Pentagon statement said “a small number” of Defense Department personnel was being sent to augment security at the facility.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS URGENT PART 1
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SAMEER N. YACOUB The Associated Press
06/15/2014 5:24 AM
06/15/2014 10:28 PM
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The Islamic militants who overran cities and towns in Iraq last week posted graphic photos that appeared to show their gunmen massacring scores of captured Iraqi soldiers, while the prime minister vowed Sunday to "liberate every inch" of captured territory.
The pictures on a militant website appear to show masked fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, loading the captives onto flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs. The final images show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot at several locations.
Chief military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed the photos' authenticity and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by ISIL. He told The Associated Press that an examination of the images by military experts showed that about 170 soldiers were shot to death by the militants after their capture.
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Captions on the photos showing the soldiers after they were shot say "hundreds have been liquidated," but the total could not immediately be verified.If you have any problems with my posts or signature
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ASSOCIATED PRESS URGENT PART 2
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the ISIL militants' claim of killing the Iraqi troops "is horrifying and a true depiction of the bloodlust that those terrorists represent."
She added that a claim that 1,700 were killed could not be confirmed by the U.S.
On Friday, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay warned against "murder of all kinds" and other war crimes in Iraq, saying the number killed in recent days may run into the hundreds. She said in a statement that her office had received reports that militants rounded up and killed Iraqi soldiers as well as 17 civilians in a single street in Mosul. Her office also heard of "summary executions and extrajudicial killings" after ISIL militants overran Iraqi cities and towns, she said.
The grisly images could sap the morale of Iraq's security forces, but they could also heighten sectarian tensions. Thousands of Shiites are already heeding a call from their most revered spiritual leader to take up arms against the Sunni militants who have swept across the north in the worst instability in Iraq since the U.S. withdrawal in 2011.
ISIL has vowed to take the battle to Baghdad and cities farther south housing revered Shiite shrines.
Although the government bolstered defenses around Baghdad, a series of explosions inside the capital killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 40, police and hospital officials said.
Security at the U.S. Embassy was strengthened and some staff members sent elsewhere in Iraq and to neighboring Jordan, the State Department said. A military official said about 150 Marines have been sent to Baghdad to help with embassy security.
The State Department issued a travel warning for Iraq Sunday night that cautioned U.S. citizens to avoid "all but essential travel to Iraq."
"Baghdad International Airport has been struck by mortar rounds and rockets, and the Mosul International Airport has been the target of militant assault," the travel warning added.
While the city of 7 million is not in any immediate danger of falling to the militants, food prices have risen — twofold in some cases — because of transportation disruptions on the main road heading north from the capital. The city is under a nighttime curfew that begins at 10 p.m.
In a fiery speech to volunteers south of Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to regain territory captured last week by the ISIL.
"We will march and liberate every inch they defaced, from the country's northernmost point to the southernmost point," he said. The volunteers responded with Shiite chants.
On Saturday, hundreds of armed Shiite men paraded through the streets of Baghdad in response to a call by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Iraqis to defend their country. ISIL has vowed to attack Baghdad but its advance to the south seems to have stalled in recent days. Thousands of Shiites have also volunteered to join the fight against the ISIL, also in response to al-Sistani's call.
Armed police, including SWAT teams, were seen at checkpoints in Baghdad, searching vehicles and checking drivers' documents. Security was particularly tightened on the northern and western approaches, the likely targets of ISIL fighters on the capital.
The city looked gloomy Sunday, with thin traffic and few shoppers in commercial areas. At a popular park along the Tigris River, only a fraction of the thousands who usually head there were present in the evening. In the commercial Karada district in central Baghdad, many of the sidewalk hawkers who sell anything from shoes to toys and clothes were absent.
According to police and hospital officials, a car bomb in the city center killed 10 and wounded 21. After nightfall, another explosion hit the area, killing two and wounding five. A third went off near a falafel shop in the sprawling Sadr City district, killing three and wounding seven. And late Sunday, a fourth blast in the northern Sulaikh district killed four and wounded 12.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Suicide and car bombings in recent months have mostly targeting Shiite neighborhoods or security forces.
Psaki said in a statement that much of the embassy staff will remain even as parts of Iraq experience instability and violence.
"Overall, a substantial majority of the U.S. Embassy presence in Iraq will remain in place and the embassy will be fully equipped to carry out its national security mission," she said.
Some staff was temporarily moved elsewhere in Iraq and to Jordan, she said.
Secretary of State John Kerry called foreign ministers in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to discuss the need for Iraqi leaders to work together.
The USS George H.W. Bush arrived in the Persian Gulf as President Barack Obama considers possible military options, although he has ruled out putting American troops on the ground in Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby has said the move will give Obama additional flexibility if military action were required to protect American citizens and interests in Iraq.
In neighboring Iran, the acting commander of the Islamic Republic's army ground forces, Gen. Kiomars Heidari, said Iran has increased its defenses along its western border with Iraq, though there was no immediate threat to the frontier.
Iraqi government officials said ISIL fighters were trying to capture the city of Tal Afar in the north and firing rockets seized from military arms depots. The officials said the local garrison suffered heavy casualties and the main hospital was unable to cope with the wounded, without providing exact numbers.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. Tal Afar is mainly inhabited by Turkmen, an ethnic minority.
Al-Moussawi, the military spokesman, confirmed fighting was raging at Tal Afar, but indicated that the militants were suffering heavy casualties. On all fronts north of Baghdad, he said, a total of 297 militants have been killed in the past 24 hours.
There was no way to independently confirm his claims.
ISIL and allied Sunni militants captured a large part of northern Iraq last week, including the second-largest city of Mosul and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, as Iraqi troops, many of them armed and trained by the U.S., fled in disarray, surrendering vehicles, weapons and ammunition to the extremist group, which also fights in Syria.
The photos of the Iraqi soldiers purported to have been killed did not provide a date or location, but al-Moussawi said the killings took place in Salahuddin province. Its capital is Tikrit.
The photo captions said their deaths were to avenge the killing of an ISIL commander, Abdul-Rahman al-Beilawy. His death was reported by both the government and ISIL shortly before the al-Qaida splinter group's lightning offensive.
"This is the fate that awaits the Shiites sent by Nouri to fight the Sunnis," one caption read, apparently referring to al-Maliki.
Most of the soldiers in the photos were in civilian clothes. Some were shown wearing military uniforms underneath, indicating they may have hastily disguised themselves as civilians to try to escape.
Some of the soldiers appeared to be pleading for their lives; others seemed terrified.
All the soldiers appeared to be in their early 20s, with some wearing European soccer jerseys. Some of the militants wore black baggy pants and shirts, many of them had sandals or flip flops.
Iraqi authorities appear to be trying to limit the dissemination of such images and other militant propaganda being shared through social media and to deny the militants their use for operational purposes.
Martin Frank, the CEO of IQ Networks, an Internet service provider in Iraq, told the AP that authorities have ordered multiple social media sites, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, to be blocked. On Sunday, they tightened the restrictions further by telling network operators to halt traffic for virtual private networks, which allow users to bypass Internet filters.
Internet traffic in several areas overrun by militants, including Mosul and Tikrit, was ordered cut off altogether, he said. No timeframe was given for the shutdowns.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement Sunday night warning "against sectarian rhetoric that could further exacerbate the conflict," and calling on all Iraqi leaders, "to ensure that their followers avoid acts of reprisal."
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Do you think that the government of Iraq can ever reclaim Mosul? I don't. I believe Mosul, Tikrit and the surrounding territory is gone for good.Originally posted by wa3zrm View PostComment
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Will ISIS plan a 9/11-style terror plot against the U.S.?
Republicans are sounding the warning that the next 9/11-like terror plot could emerge from the regions of Iraq and Syria that are currently dominated by an extremist group bearing down on Baghdad.
As the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) - which has already captured the cities of Tikrit and Mosul and is threatening to take the capital city as well - grows in strength and numbers, will it pose an immediate threat to the United States homeland as well?
Experts say the group's increasing power and reach is concerning, though it's not entirely clear when they might be able to threaten the U.S.
"You've got motivation mixed with opportunity, ideology and foreign fighters and all of that looks like a very extreme version of Afghanistan in the '90s, plus what was happening in Iraq after the Iraq war," said CBS News National Security Analyst Juan Zarate. "This is a cauldron of future terrorist threats to the west."
The bigger danger, Zarate said, is that the U.S. does not yet know exactly what the group will look like once it evolves. While ISIS might not launch an attack on U.S. soil tomorrow, he said, "I think the grave threat here is that you have the seeds of a new terrorist movement emerging very aggressively."
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Barack Obama Golfs While the Middle East Burns
Last weekend Barack Obama played his 175th and 176th rounds of golf as president. He played first at Sunnylands, the famously private course on the Rancho Mirage, California estate of the late billionaire Walter Annenberg. Obama next played at Porcupine Creek, the equally private course on the nearby estate of the very-much-alive tech billionaire Larry Ellison.
The White House said Obama received regular briefings on the worsening crisis in Iraq during his golf weekend. "The president directed [National Security Adviser Susan Rice] to continue to keep him apprised of the latest developments," said spokesman Josh Earnest, "as his national security team continues to meet through the weekend to review potential options."
Earnest's report was the latest in a long tradition of presidents trying to assure the public they're on top of things even as they hit the links for a leisurely round, sometimes in fabulously luxurious settings. Presidential golf can be a sensitive subject, especially if there is an international crisis at hand. Nevertheless, Obama continues to play, even as fears grow that events in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere have brought the world to a very dangerous point.
SNIP
Obama has never made the golf missteps Bush did, in part because he would never allow the public a good look at him playing what some still consider a frivolous, rich guy's sport. "Like JFK, he had downplayed his love of golf during the [2008] campaign for political reasons," wrote sympathetic journalist Jonathan Alter in The Promise, a book about Obama's first year in office. "Obama barred cameras from the course when he played. Wrong Image."
Now, perhaps more than ever, it's still the wrong Image. Will the president keep playing while his – and the world's – problems mount?
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Blowback! U.S. trained ISIS at secret Jordan base
JERUSALEM – Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by U.S. instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials.
The officials said dozens of ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The officials said the training was not meant to be used for any future campaign in Iraq.
The Jordanian officials said all ISIS members who received U.S. training to fight in Syria were first vetted for any links to extremist groups like al-Qaida.
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