Al Quaeda splinter group sweeping through Iraq

It's happening so fast?

IMO, they bided their time and waited, Lily. They were kindly supplied with modern weaponry by the US via the 'nice rebels', quietly built up their numbers, practised terrorist warfare in Syria and when the time was right struck where the Baghdad government was weakest. And if they do indeed have remnants of Saddam's Republican Guard in their ranks, then this has been a long time coming.

I shudder to think just who - or rather what - has been released from jail, and now they've got huge quantities of heavy armaments, too. They'll be gathering support from disaffected young Iraqis as they move south - who's going to stop them? I don't think anyone can, personally.

I'm not surprised civilians - and the army - are fleeing. There may be causes worth dying for, but the oil industry isn't one of them. I hope the genuinely neutral aid agencies can help the Kurds with all those hundreds of thousands of refugees - and that the Kurds aren't dragged into this.

Amazing, really, that NSA, etc., spies on everyone, but failed to notice that a 50,000-strong guerilla army was about to over-run Iraq. IMO, it's too late now.

Nah. they were busy getting info on anyone who might stop them.

I shudder to think just who - or rather what - has been released from jail,

Now that is scary and in exchange for what?   

According to AJ, Iraq state TV is claiming the army and police are fighting back in some areas; we'll see,

Lily, remember how fast Saigon fell, after events passed the tipping point?

Yes, it was like lightening.

We need another word. 'Terrorist' doesn't quite cover it, when they've removed half a billion dollars from a bank and are driving around like this, pic from rt:



An image grab taken from a propaganda video uploaded on June 11, 2014 by jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) allegedly shows ISIL militants driving at an undisclosed location in Iraq's Nineveh province. (AFP Photo / HO / ISIL)

They just need their gold chains and they'll be all set.     

Earlier today I was wonder what Israel might have to say about it. Well...

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/israeli-air-strike-hits-northern-gaza-2014611203558492773.html

Oh, that'll help no end....

The US, however, welcomed Abbas' words and suggested it was not ready to hold the new unity government responsible for the attack.

Excuse me? As far as I know, there is only one Israeli air force....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10893255/Iraq-oil-shock-would-kill-world-economic-recovery-experts-warn.html

Open warfare between the government and rebels in Iraq would pose a threat to the global economic recovery should oil production from the war-torn Middle East state suffer a serious disruption, analysts have warned

As I've just watched an Iraqi oil refinery burning, I think that is entirely possible....

Quite.  Let's look the other way there too.  Of course, you know about this?

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/isil-fighters-abduct-turkish-consul-mosul-2014611123455803410.html

Have just seen your new link, Bonny.

It's all going mad and will push people to go even more crazy?

Saw a bit about that earlier, Lily. So, what's Turkey going to do now, seeing as how they were supplying assorted terrorist groups in Syria and faking gas attacks? I wonder if Turkey has done something to upset their former friends?

Very possible, Bonny.

Even Yemen has street protests.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/yemen-reshuffles-cabinet-amid-fuel-crisis-2014611152621109213.html

It looks like any nation in the area that doesn't have a strongman in charge, be he king or politician, is going to be caught up in this.

Precisely, Bonny. Heaven knows where it will end.

This is an interesting article as an FYI.


http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/2014/06/egypt-israel-peace-dividends-enrich-elite-2014610133716913141.html

Someone always profits from misery.  

Every single time.

There is money to be made in the world apart from war. Some people can never have enough either. To hell with everyone else.     

http://news.sky.com/story/1280576/iraqi-militants-battle-will-rage-in-baghdad

Iraqi Militants: 'Battle Will Rage In Baghdad'
Insurgent fighters are told "put on your belts and get ready" - as officials allegedly call for drone strikes to halt their march.

Militants who stormed cities in northern and central Iraq now plan to launch a wave of attacks on the capital Baghdad, their leader has warned.

In a statement translated by intelligence officials, Abu Mohammed al Adnani, who heads the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), promised battle would "rage" in the city and Karbala further south.

"The battle is not yet raging, but it will in Baghdad and Karbala," al Adnani said, according to the US-based monitoring group SITE.

"Do not relent against your enemy. We have a score to settle, for there is an old balance with it (Baghdad), and we must make it even.”

Karbala, a city southwest of the capital, is considered one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims according to SITE.

ISIS seized control of Tikrit on Wednesday after a devastating show of strength in Mosul, where more than 500,000 people have fled.

Iraqi police said hundreds of prisoners were freed in the city after militants arrived in a convoy of more than 60 vehicles.

The insurgents took control of government buildings and torched a court house before moving further south and battling security forces on the outskirts of Samarra, within 70 miles of the capital.

In the north, the Iraq army on Thursday abandoned its bases in Kirkuk to the Kurdish Peshmerga, according to a spokesman.

Jabbar Yawar told the Reuters news agency: "The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga. No Iraq army remains in Kirkuk now."

A US defence official said the Iraqi government had privately asked for help in stopping them.

A formal request has not yet been made, although the US is considering sending "more weaponry", the official said.

American troops pulled out of Iraq in 2011 after a bitter conflict that left 4,800 coalition soldiers dead.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US would support a "unified approach against ISIS's continued aggression", adding it had long warned of the dangers posed by the group.

Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister, speaking on LBC show Call Clegg, said he did not think the UK should go back into Iraq.

He said: "No I don't think having made one mistake we should go and make another. There are lots of ways to try to resolve the crisis."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has condemned the abductions and the seizure of territory and urged the international community to "show solidarity with Iraq".

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency that would grant him additional powers to tackle the crisis. MPs will hold an emergency session on Thursday to vote on the measure.

An Iran President Hassan Rouhandi warned on state television it would combat terrorism by Sunni extremists in Iraq.

ISIS, which wants to create a Sunni state, or caliphate, straddling the border between Iraq and Syria, has made serious gains in Iraq in the last year, seizing control of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi.

It was formed after a split with al Qaeda's international leader, Ayman al Zawahiri

========

FFS, don't even THINK about sending US/US troops back into that mess. Iraq's own army isn't fighting/is going over to ISIS, so it isn't worth the west as much as breaking a fingernail, never mind getting any more of our best young men and women killed and maimed.

If the US is hellbent on protecting oilfields, then it can pull the Blackwater/Academi mercenaries out of Ukraine. Or warmongers like Obama, Kerry, McCann and Hague can go and fight.

And what's Psaki lying about this time? She lies every time she opens her mouth on camera, so she's bound to be lying about something now.

Especially as, on Monday, the state department was saying it didn't think ISIS had gained much territory.

From:

Iraq's Maliki 'appealed for US air strikes'
Prime minister asked US to launch strikes against ISIL last month but Washington refused, New York Times report says.

I find that hard to believe, as Obama would bomb Texas if he thought he was being dissed. What was the problem? Hadn't ISIS killed sufficient people in Syria for him?

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/12/world/meast/iraq-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

t came as little surprise when Iraq indicated a willingness Wednesday for the United States' military to conduct airstrikes against the radical Islamist militants.
Washington has provided $15 billion in training, weapons and equipment to the Iraqi government.
But several U.S. officials said the situation is "extremely urgent" and the U.S. is looking to see what more support it can provide Iraq.
Part of the help involves giving Iraq intelligence it can use to go after ISIS.


Excellent idea! Throw yet more US taxpayers' money down the toilet!

This week alone, ISIS has been equipped with everything from new pick-ups to Blackhawk helicopters, via heavy artillery, all from the US, thanks to the Iraqi army legging it.

ISIS also became the world's largest and richest private army, after looting nearly half a BILLION dollars from assorted banks.

The Iraqi government has F-16s; are their own air force now siding with ISIS?

It's rather interesting, is it not, that various reports are suggesting that far from being entirely a Mad Mullah army, ISIS has a good few of Saddam's troops at its heart, which paints a rather different picture.

As the Republican Guard were bad enough before, it's a guarantee that they're going to be even worse after more than a decade to plot revenge.

Incidentally, I suggest the US rethinks its approach to 'intelligence'. NSA and co seem to have been so busy spying on their own citizens, they failed to notice an enormous rebel army was about to overrun Iraq.

Just like they failed to notice the Boston Bombers DESPITE Russia warning the US about them.

http://news.sky.com/story/1280576/iraq-militants-parade-captured-soldiers

Video footage has emerged of militant fighters with captured Iraqi soldiers as the parliament failed to agree on a state of emergency in the country.

A senior government official told the AFP news agency that only 128 of 325 MPs attended the emergency session, which could have seen extra powers given to Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

Sounds like ISIS supporters are already in parliament itself.

An interesting development:

Iran vows to combat 'terrorism' in Iraq
President Rouhani accuses ISIL of "acting savagely" as its fighters continue their lightning advance towards Baghdad.

Predominantly Shia Muslim Iran will combat the "violence and terrorism" of Sunni armed groups who have launched an anti-government offensive in neighbouring Iraq, President Hassan Rouhani has warned.

"This is an extremist, terrorist group that is acting savagely," Rouhani said live on state television.

The president did not elaborate on what steps Iran would take to help thwart a bid by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to push towards Baghdad after seizing several cities and towns to the north.

But he said he would head to a meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council immediately after his speech.

That body decides on the Islamic state's major foreign policy and security policies, and it would have to approve any military support Tehran might want to provide to Baghdad.

"For our part, as the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ... we will combat violence, extremism and terrorism in the region and the world," said an agitated Rouhani.

The president spoke even as the heavily armed ISIL on Thursday seized a string of towns near Baghdad after a lightning offensive that began in Nineveh province late on Monday.

Iran is seen as an ally of Iraq's Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, whose government's swift loss of control has raised international alarm.

On Wednesday, the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, had condemned the "murder of Iraqi citizens" as he offered Baghdad "support" against what he called terrorism. He also did not elaborate.

ISIL is also fighting to overthrow Tehran's close ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

More at:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/iran-vows-combat-terrorism-iraq-2014612113247864941.html

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have vowed to march on Baghdad, as Iraq's parliament failed to agree the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency.

"We will march toward Baghdad because we have an account to settle there," said the armed group's spokesman on Thursday in an audio recording posted on the internet. The statement could not be independently verified.

More at:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/isil-vows-march-iraq-capital-2014612132031582716.html

I hope the US embassy has a nice flat roof, because there is every chance they are going to get to re-enact Last Helicopter Out Of Saigon before too long.