But…but…the Pentagon says they’re losing, and have lost 25% of their territory! This story makes it clear that such statements are more about making Obama’s airstrikes look good than about reality. “Thousands of Iraqis flee as Islamic State makes gains in Sunni heartland,” by Loveday Morris, Washington Post, April 17, 2015:
SADR AL-YUSUFIYAH — Thousands of families fleeing Iraq’s western city of Ramadi choked checkpoints leading to Baghdad on Friday, after an Islamic State advance spread panic and left security forces clinging to control.
A column of traffic several vehicles wide snaked for miles at a checkpoint in Sadr al-Yusufiyah, on the edge of Baghdad province, as minibuses, cars and trucks picked up families who crossed by foot carrying their possessions in bags and wheelbarrows. Suhaib al-Rawi, the governor of Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital, described it as a human disaster on a scale the city has never witnessed before.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned that the city is at risk of falling to the Islamic State despite seven months of airstrikes by American planes in Anbar. Such a loss would be a serious blow to Iraq’s government, which recently announced a military campaign for the province after retaking the militant stronghold of Tikrit, and to the international effort to push back the militant group, whose gains in Ramadi have demonstrated its ability to create chaos even while under pressure.
The Islamic State’s atrocities
That resilience was further underscored in the Kurdish city of Irbil on Friday, where the Islamic State was suspected of carrying out a car bombing near the U.S. Consulate. Faced with the expanding crisis on his return Friday from Washington, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered immediate reinforcements to Ramadi amid claims that some Iraqi security forces had withdrawn.
“The situation is critical right now,” Rawi said of the teetering security in Ramadi. “Such a large wave of displacement has never happened in the history of the city.”
Raad al-Dahlaki, head of the Iraqi parliament’s committee for the internally displaced, said that 10,000 people had crossed into Baghdad province but that about 20,000 more remained stranded at the checkpoint because of a guarantor system, which requires fleeing families to have someone vouch for them.
Many arriving Friday in Sadr al-Yusufiyah had spent days traveling and said that few civilians had remained behind. Some were police officers who said they had left their positions after other security forces retreated and their ammunition had run low.
“How can you fight with only 20 bullets?” said a 47-year-old police officer, who said he left the Malab neighborhood of Ramadi three days ago with 18 members of his extended family. Like others interviewed, he did not want his name published because he had abandoned his post. He said that the army had also withdrawn, a claim that could not be immediately verified.
“Daesh has M-16s and M-4s, and we only have Kalashnikovs,” said another police officer, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. He said he had fled his home in Ramadi’s Soufiyah neighborhood with his wife and 1-year-old child. “I don’t think I will ever see my house again.”
Rawi said that there had been “realignments” of forces, but not retreats, and that there were assurances from the U.S.-led coalition that airstrikes would increase. Still, he said, support has been sorely lacking.
“We don’t know if it’s neglect or just a lack of capacity,” he said.
Brig. Gen. Tahseen Ibrahim, a spokesman for Iraq’s Ministry of Defense, said reinforcements from counterterrorism units have been deployed.
“Our troops are preparing themselves to attack,” he said, adding that discussions were underway as to whether to also send what are known as popular mobilization forces, which include Shiite militias, but that there was not yet an agreement.
The question of sending the largely Shiite paramilitary forces has been contentious in Anbar, a predominantly Sunni province. But as the security situation has deteriorated, a growing number of local tribal leaders and officials have said they need all the help they can get. In his sermon Friday, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, said “all sons of Iraq” should help the fight, a comment viewed as an endorsement of the militias playing a role….
Gary says
Crickets…Crickets…. Crickets….
My fellow Americans, tonight I want to speak to you about what the United States will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL.
As Commander-in-Chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people. Over the last several years, we have consistently taken the fight to terrorists who threaten our country. We took out Osama bin Laden and much of al Qaeda’s leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’ve targeted al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, and recently eliminated the top commander of its affiliate in Somalia. We’ve done so while bringing more than 140,000 American troops home from Iraq, and drawing down our forces in Afghanistan, where our combat mission will end later this year. Thanks to our military and counterterrorism professionals, America is safer.
Still, we continue to face a terrorist threat. We can’t erase every trace of evil from the world, and small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. That was the case before 9/11, and that remains true today. And that’s why we must remain vigilant as threats emerge. At this moment, the greatest threats come from the Middle East and North Africa, where radical groups exploit grievances for their own gain. And one of those groups is ISIL — which calls itself the “Islamic State.”
Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not “Islamic.” No religion condones the killing of innocents. And the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state. It was formerly al Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and Syria’s civil war to gain territory on both sides of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognized by no government, nor by the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.
In a region that has known so much bloodshed, these terrorists are unique in their brutality. They execute captured prisoners. They kill children. They enslave, rape, and force women into marriage. They threatened a religious minority with genocide. And in acts of barbarism, they took the lives of two American journalists — Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff.
So ISIL poses a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, and the broader Middle East — including American citizens, personnel and facilities. If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region, including to the United States. While we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, ISIL leaders have threatened America and our allies. Our Intelligence Community believes that thousands of foreigners -– including Europeans and some Americans –- have joined them in Syria and Iraq. Trained and battle-hardened, these fighters could try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks.
I know many Americans are concerned about these threats. Tonight, I want you to know that the United States of America is meeting them with strength and resolve. Last month, I ordered our military to take targeted action against ISIL to stop its advances. Since then, we’ve conducted more than 150 successful airstrikes in Iraq. These strikes have protected American personnel and facilities, killed ISIL fighters, destroyed weapons, and given space for Iraqi and Kurdish forces to reclaim key territory. These strikes have also helped save the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
But this is not our fight alone. American power can make a decisive difference, but we cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in securing their region. And that’s why I’ve insisted that additional U.S. action depended upon Iraqis forming an inclusive government, which they have now done in recent days. So tonight, with a new Iraqi government in place, and following consultations with allies abroad and Congress at home, I can announce that America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat.
Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.
First, we will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists. Working with the Iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions, so that we’re hitting ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense. Moreover, I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.
Second, we will increase our support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground. In June, I deployed several hundred American servicemembers to Iraq to assess how we can best support Iraqi security forces. Now that those teams have completed their work –- and Iraq has formed a government –- we will send an additional 475 servicemembers to Iraq. As I have said before, these American forces will not have a combat mission –- we will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq. But they are needed to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment. We’ll also support Iraq’s efforts to stand up National Guard Units to help Sunni communities secure their own freedom from ISIL’s control.
Across the border, in Syria, we have ramped up our military assistance to the Syrian opposition. Tonight, I call on Congress again to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equip these fighters. In the fight against ISIL, we cannot rely on an Assad regime that terrorizes its own people — a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost. Instead, we must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like ISIL, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve Syria’s crisis once and for all.
Third, we will continue to draw on our substantial counterterrorism capabilities to prevent ISIL attacks. Working with our partners, we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding; improve our intelligence; strengthen our defenses; counter its warped ideology; and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the Middle East. And in two weeks, I will chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council to further mobilize the international community around this effort.
Fourth, we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this terrorist organization. This includes Sunni and Shia Muslims who are at grave risk, as well as tens of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities. We cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient homelands.
So this is our strategy. And in each of these four parts of our strategy, America will be joined by a broad coalition of partners. Already, allies are flying planes with us over Iraq; sending arms and assistance to Iraqi security forces and the Syrian opposition; sharing intelligence; and providing billions of dollars in humanitarian aid. Secretary Kerry was in Iraq today meeting with the new government and supporting their efforts to promote unity. And in the coming days he will travel across the Middle East and Europe to enlist more partners in this fight, especially Arab nations who can help mobilize Sunni communities in Iraq and Syria, to drive these terrorists from their lands. This is American leadership at its best: We stand with people who fight for their own freedom, and we rally other nations on behalf of our common security and common humanity.
My administration has also secured bipartisan support for this approach here at home. I have the authority to address the threat from ISIL, but I believe we are strongest as a nation when the President and Congress work together. So I welcome congressional support for this effort in order to show the world that Americans are united in confronting this danger.
Now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL. And any time we take military action, there are risks involved –- especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions. But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. And it is consistent with the approach I outlined earlier this year: to use force against anyone who threatens America’s core interests, but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order.
My fellow Americans, we live in a time of great change. Tomorrow marks 13 years since our country was attacked. Next week marks six years since our economy suffered its worst setback since the Great Depression. Yet despite these shocks, through the pain we have felt and the grueling work required to bounce back, America is better positioned today to seize the future than any other nation on Earth.
Our technology companies and universities are unmatched. Our manufacturing and auto industries are thriving. Energy independence is closer than it’s been in decades. For all the work that remains, our businesses are in the longest uninterrupted stretch of job creation in our history. Despite all the divisions and discord within our democracy, I see the grit and determination and common goodness of the American people every single day –- and that makes me more confident than ever about our country’s future.
Abroad, American leadership is the one constant in an uncertain world. It is America that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the world against terrorists. It is America that has rallied the world against Russian aggression, and in support of the Ukrainian peoples’ right to determine their own destiny. It is America –- our scientists, our doctors, our know-how –- that can help contain and cure the outbreak of Ebola. It is America that helped remove and destroy Syria’s declared chemical weapons so that they can’t pose a threat to the Syrian people or the world again. And it is America that is helping Muslim communities around the world not just in the fight against terrorism, but in the fight for opportunity, and tolerance, and a more hopeful future.
America, our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden. But as Americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead. From Europe to Asia, from the far reaches of Africa to war-torn capitals of the Middle East, we stand for freedom, for justice, for dignity. These are values that have guided our nation since its founding.
Tonight, I ask for your support in carrying that leadership forward. I do so as a Commander-in-Chief who could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform –- pilots who bravely fly in the face of danger above the Middle East, and servicemembers who support our partners on the ground.
When we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped on a distant mountain, here’s what one of them said: “We owe our American friends our lives. Our children will always remember that there was someone who felt our struggle and made a long journey to protect innocent people.”
That is the difference we make in the world. And our own safety, our own security, depends upon our willingness to do what it takes to defend this nation and uphold the values that we stand for –- timeless ideals that will endure long after those who offer only hate and destruction have been vanquished from the Earth.
May God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States of America.
Westman says
Good luck with defeating an ideology with bombs. You’re correct, Daesh is not a geographical state. What you actually get, short of absolute genocide, is war as a business for as long as you wish to pursue it. There are prophets and there are profits in this campaign.
By the way, the highest clerics in your Muslim Ally States agree that killing apostates is the proper Islamic action. You need to talk with Saudi Arabia, keeper of the Holy Kabba, shining example to all Islam, and explain that their religion doesn’t prescribe all that beheading, hand removal, and wife beating. And while you’re at it ask if they think Iranians are Apostates or Jahiliyya.
What? The speech writers didn’t know that Islam is the only religion that DOES currently specify killing and has the elimination of all Jews as part of the end times? And do the writers know those towers they keep building for world record height is the fullfilment of end times prophecy in their doctrine?
I guess somebody was daydreaming at the madrassa….
You should also talk to Iran because they have some strange ideas about enslaving combatants and Democracy:
“Today, too, if there’s a war between us and the infidels, we’ll take slaves. The ruling on slavery hasn’t expired and is eternal. We’ll take slaves and we’ll bring them to the world of Islam and have them stay with Muslims.”
“Islam cannot accept that a group of people congregate and decide to initiate laws for themselves”
—-Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi
Don McKellar says
Dear Gary,
Post YOUR OWN COMMENTS not huge blocks of cut and paste texts. If you want to refer to Obamamuslim’s speech, go right ahead but provide a link instead.
Sincerely,
Your fellow Jihad Watch readers and commenters.
Pete says
I agree. I rigorously avoid any exposure to the thing calling itself Barack Obama. I do not read any news story that features him. I do not listen to or discuss anything he says. I immediately turn the channel if his face appears on my television screen.
I come here to be in a “safe” space, as it were, and I am forced to wade through the heaps of Obama garbage the individual posted here. Not appreciated.
Gary says
Guys,
I completely agree with you. I posted the speech to show Obama has failed to “degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL.” My apologies for not posting a link.
Shane says
I agree, and isn’t it sad that some of our military leaders are willing to lie to the American people in order to cover Obama’s ass. Obama has fired many officers who dared to stand up to him, and he has corrupted the ones who stayed.
Sabri S. says
Sunny muslims fleeing other sunny muslims…wtf!
Here’s a suggestion…look to intelligent American and European
Muslims for better representations of islam….these men are cowards….
Turning their families into refugees rather than stand and fight these
Isis savages
Don McKellar says
You mean like the guys from CAIR? What is a “sunny” moslem anyways? And what do you mean by “better representations of islam”? That’s an oxymoron, isn’t it? Are you making a joke?
Mac-101 says
Notice the article stated one cop only was issued 20 bullets. Not much for a fire fight, let alone how wasteful Muslims are when firin. LOL!
Mac-101 says
Havin spent a year in Iraq, I KNOW the Sunni could and did kick Shia butt. I still can’t grasp though how the Iraqi Government is so sorry that they, along with the Iranians, can’t drive them out of Iraq and Syria! Iraq should step up assistance to the Kurds if they really want them stopped. The Kurds can kick their butts if supplied with enough equipment.
.
That brings me to ask the question, Where did the massive amount of Arms and Ammo we left go to? The corrupt Iraqi gubermint and individuals sold it to ISIS and other terrorist?
.
PS: The Iranians gonna drive da Jews into da Sea but can’t handle some terrorist? LOL!
Sabri S. says
Typo…no joking here….sunni muslims…
You guys are misled….the Iraqi army and Shia are pathetic
Fighters worldwide…i could round up 500 highly trained
Men and run them out of any city I want, about 2,000
For baghdad…what does that say about the $2 trillion
Wasted on these clowns in the last decade….stupidity kills…
Both the oppressor and the oppressed.
duh_swami says
Mislead this…… “You must kill children without compassion, you must kill women, Jews, infidels and Shiites,” as “this is the true path, the path of Allah.
You need to contact Caliph Abu Bakr B, at home or his place of business, and explain it to him, how he has been misled…I’m sure he would love to discuss the finer points of Islam with you…
Sabri S. says
Gary, I am sure you mean well and your heart is in the right.
But don’t delude yourself. As someone who has lived and traveled
Throughout the middle east, here are the facts:
1. Sunni and Shia will never coexist peacefully. If you really knew the crux of that
Historical split after the death of muhammad, this is obvious.
2. The borders mean nothing. They were drawn by racist colonial powers,
Namely britain….and the UK is definitely experiencing “chickens coming home to roost”.
3. Our military should be out of these countries period. My cousin is on his 4th tour, and has
Seen his 8 year old daughter 4 times in her entire life. Enough with the propaganda lies
And imperi a list bulls hit about the real reason we are there.
4. Isis is comprised of arab sunnis. The Talib an are sunni afghans. They are the natives of their respective
Countries. In their view, the us military are the occupiers, crusaders, and “savages”…not them. Make
No mistake about it…the us is losing and will lose this fight…just like the colonial powers, russia, etc.
Our country is not exceptional here…only stupid…as if you are 15 years old or younger in these countries,
You have grown up hating america…wait for the next generation of jihadis…
Focus on the truth and facts, not this false patriotic banter
islam_Is_Islam says
@Sabri S
Through massive refugee immigration from Muslim majority countries, the US and Europe have imported this 1400-year-old, Sunni-Shia conflict into our communities. For this reason “getting our military out of these countries period” is not going to be enough. Their age-old hatred has penetrated our communities and infiltrated our infrastructure.
What steps do you suggest we take to combat the inevitable fallout that will cause collateral damage to non-Muslims while the imported Sunni-Shia follow their Koranic instructions to annihilate each other (not to mention their instructions to subdue unbelievers and kill Jews)?
Are these imported Muslims the “intelligent American and European Muslims” that you want us to look to for “better representations of Islam”? BTW, what should one look for to identify these “better representatives of Islam”?
Out of curiosity, from what pool of men would you draw the 2000 you would need to clear out Baghdad?
William Lucas Harvey Jr. says
“This story makes it clear that such statements are more about making Obama’s airstrikes look good than about reality”.
Absolutely correct.
Our apparent Pro Islam, Pro Muslim, seemingly Anti America, Anti America’s Allies such as Israel , Anti Constitution, Anti Christian, (by his very own documented Words, Actions, and Deeds), “Imperial Leader” must always be made to “Politically” look good by his Administration.
Right up to the point that the “Black Flag of Islam Fly’s over the White House” as the Islamist Muslims have openly promised.
duh_swami says
Airstrikes do not capture or control territory…Only overwhelming ground force can do that…or contaminated water, which ever comes first…
pongidae rex says
German national socialism ended with the death of Hitler. Islam will end with the obliteration of Mecca, Medina and Qom. At some point there will be an Islamist nuclear strike on the US mainland. I hope our leaders have the balls to do what will need to be done when that happens.
Alex says
Getting rid of islam would be a great thing for humanity, but I don’t think it would be possible. You have muslims in every country on Earth, and they are brainwashing their new generation of kids with hatred every single day. Pretty depressing if you ask me.
Alex says
And I forgot to mention: since Islam has become an ideology that is spread worldwide (as opposed to nazism back in WWII), “nuking” Iran or Saudi will not defeat Islam.
Gary says
So true. Depressing world events on a daily basis.
For now…. The beast, (Satan), is accomplishing his goal….. (To Rob, Steal, Kill, & Destroy.)
Nonetheless, Mohammad was wrong…. Dead wrong.
The day is coming when life will triumph!
Death has no victory! The grave has been conquered!
Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4
M S case says
Where are the Patton’s and MacArthur’s today???? We need some leadership both at the top and below
We are at war declared by insane Islamic radicals We have not declared war on them though, but they don’t care where war is declared or not and they have the will to win. We can take up the word but without the will to win the sword is useless.
If I win I can’t be stopped if I loose I shall be dead= General George Patton
It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it= General Douglas MacArthur
May God have mercy on my enemy because I won’t= General George Patton
Once war is forced upon us there is no alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War’s very object is victory not prolonged indecision= General Douglas MacArthur
You don’t win wars dying for your country you make the other SOB die for his= General George Patton
I know the Generals of the past were not perfect neither were the Commanders in Chief but Lord God Almighty we are is a situation today that demands strong leaders both military and political
Where are those leaders?????
particolor says
Playing Golf ?