ISIS reaches center of Rhamadi

[Path_Finder]

Is Mosul still in the hands of ISIS?

Yes, only Tikrit has been taken back, losing this Rhamadi is real bad, I saw one story say they are 100 miles from Baghdad, the other one says 60 miles, after Rhamadi is Fallujah which of course is a place I’ve heard of over and over.

The daily mail has a good story saying the battle for Baghdad may be next, a bit graphic story, ISIS is so evil. They need to be stopped. We will see.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Yes, only Tikrit has been taken back, losing this Rhamadi is real bad, I saw one story say they are 100 miles from Baghdad, the other one says 60 miles, after Rhamadi is Fallujah which of course is a place I’ve heard of over and over.

The daily mail has a good story saying the battle for Baghdad may be next, a bit graphic story, ISIS is so evil. They need to be stopped. We will see.

I heard on tv it was 70 miles from Baghdad. The Iraqi Army gives up easily it seems.

 

[Path_Finder]

I heard on tv it was 70 miles from Baghdad. The Iraqi Army gives up easily it seems.

Under Saddam, the army was mainly Ba’athist, so rebuilding it seems to have been a problem.

 

[grotto]

IMO Obama is aiding and abetting the Islamic terrorists thru conniving with our ME enemies.

He is not an American leader nor a patriot! IMO He needs to resign or be removed from office.

 

[bibcat]

IMO Obama is aiding and abetting the Islamic terrorists thru conniving with our ME enemies.

He is not an American leader nor a patriot! IMO He needs to resign or be removed from office.

 

[Seamus_L]

ISIS will not capture Baghdad. The city is 4 times the size of Mosul and now predominantly Shia. Mosul was majority Sunni and Ramadi is almost entirely Sunni. Big difference.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

ISIS will not capture Baghdad. The city is 4 times the size of Mosul and now predominantly Shia. Mosul was majority Sunni and Ramadi is almost entirely Sunni. Big difference.

Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Jim

 

[Path_Finder]

Looks like the only thing that can save Baghdad are coalition airstrikes, that would prevent a massive army attacking.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Looks like the only thing that can save Baghdad are coalition airstrikes, that would prevent a massive army attacking.

Iran will come to Baghdad’s rescue.

This will give Israel the green light to attack Iran, which is the goal all of this nonsense.

 

[7_Sorrows]

IMO Obama is aiding and abetting the Islamic terrorists thru conniving with our ME enemies.

He is not an American leader nor a patriot! IMO He needs to resign or be removed from office.

Unfortunately, that will never happen.

 

[Path_Finder]

Iran will come to Baghdad’s rescue.

This will give Israel the green light to attack Iran, which is the goal all of this nonsense.

I’m just thankful our troops found Saddam’s weaponized anthrax:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_biological_weapons_program

When American tanks smashed into Baghdad, Saddam had already completed construction of an anthrax production facility, which was a week away from going live.

Read more at: nationalreview.com/article/277115/saddam-what-we-now-know-jim-lacey

 

[Tomdstone]

IMO Obama is aiding and abetting the Islamic terrorists thru conniving with our ME enemies.

He is not an American leader nor a patriot! IMO He needs to resign or be removed from office.

Why are the Americans aiding and abetting Islamic terrorists?

 

[Seamus_L]

Coaltion air strikes ? ISIS has actually gained more territory since those began. Baghdad is heavily defended by Shia militias who are there in overwhelming force. And actually there are logical explanations for every disaster the government has suffered. ISIS was closer to Baghdad last year anyway.

 

[Path_Finder]

Al Malaki is the one who flexed the rules, much more so after the 2008 election.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouri_al-Maliki

 

[Path_Finder]

Unfortunately, that will never happen.

Per former Lieutenant Allen West:

What would I recommend as a strategy? First of all, I wouldn’t have completely withdrawn all our forces from Iraq, as General Lloyd Austin recommended. But right now we would deploy several Brigade/Regimental Combat Teams with a multi-faceted air support contingent, rotary and fixed wing into Kurdistan.

It’s a little late for this now but West surely is correct, the White House should have listened to the commanding officers.

More at link: allenbwest.com/2015/05/mr-president-since-you-clearly-have-no-isis-strategy-let-me-share-mine/

 

[7_Sorrows]

Iran will come to Baghdad’s rescue.

This will give Israel the green light to attack Iran, which is the goal all of this nonsense.

Why would that give Israel the green light?

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Why would that give Israel the green light?

Because Netanyahu would use it to show the West, that Iran is the aggressor who needs to be stopped.

The Saudi’s would like nothing more than for Israel to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Hopefully, we won’t be suckered into doing it for them.

Jim

 

[Seamus_L]

Ramadi isn’t going to be recaptured anytime soon, but the advance of ISIS is already being checked dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/May-20/298641-iraqi-forces-thwart-isis-attack-east-of-ramadi-overnight.ashx

 

[Path_Finder]

jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Netanyahu-ISIS-Hamas-al-Qaida-all-branches-of-the-same-poison-tree-375287

Israel indeed has addressed this situation.

Apparently others in the region note the same threat.

 

[Path_Finder]

Story of an ISIS martyr from the Northern Caucasus meaning Chechnya and other locales I believe; rferl.org/content/islamic-state-militants-mourn-martyred-comrades/27026971.html RFE runs a lot of these kinds of stories, by themselves, the Extremists often don’t look so bad. I guess the Tsarnaevs largely come from the same area as well.

Another Radio Free Europe story:

**IS Militants Use Popular Russian Web Payment System To Raise Cash **
rferl.org/content/islamic-state-funding-russian-web-payments-qiwi/27021379.html

It sort of makes you wonder who is funding ISIS.

CNN Money:
money.cnn.com/2015/05/20/news/isis-funding-squeeze/index.html

Is ISIS running out of money?

ISIS militants are having to work harder to finance their war in Syria and Iraq as low oil prices and Western military action choke off a key source of income.

Oil revenue helped fund ISIS’ rapid land grab in both countries, but the sharp fall in prices late last year, and the discounts the terrorist group has to offer buyers, are cutting into that stream of cash.

“The collapse in international oil prices since mid-2014 is likely to have pushed down their margins still further, reducing oil’s contribution to the extremist group’s overall income,” risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft said in a report this month.

ISIS still controls the majority of Syria’s oil fields – about 60% of the country’s production. But Western air strikes targeting the group’s oil assets have damaged its infrastructure, destroying wells, makeshift refineries producing gas and diesel, as well as fuel convoys.

They’ve shown ISIS operates those mobile refineries, fairly primitive so, to an extent, this should say something about how they are funding themselves. I am sure they have other sources.

They seem to be paying soldiers relatively well also.