The Battle of Baghdad

[Darrell Hougen]

Reagan told a joke that he had heard from about Eastern Europe that went something like this:

An American dog, a Polish dog and a Russian dog were visiting the U.S. and the American dog was telling the other dogs that if you bark long enough, someone will come along and give you some meat.

The Polish dog said, "What's meat?" And,

The Russian dog said, "What's bark?"

Darrell

[Selene]

If this wasn't so serious it would be laughable!

WASHINGTON — President Obama is considering airstrikes or airdrops of food and medicine to address a humanitarian crisis among as many as 40,000 religious minorities in Iraq who have been dying of heat and thirst on a mountaintop after death threats from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, administration officials said on Thursday.

The president, in meetings with his national security team at the White House on Thursday morning, has been weighing a series of options ranging from dropping humanitarian supplies on Mount Sinjar to military strikes on the fighters from ISIS now at the base of the mountain, a senior administration official said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/obama-weighs-military-strikes-to-aid-trapped-iraqis-officials-say.html?emc=edit_na_20140807&nlid=53564225

[william.scherk]

If this wasn't so serious it would be laughable!

WASHINGTON — President Obama is considering airstrikes or airdrops of food and medicine to address a humanitarian crisis among as many as 40,000 religious minorities in Iraq who have been dying of heat and thirst on a mountaintop after death threats from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, administration officials said on Thursday.

I don't understand the 'laughable' part, Adam. Which situation or reaction would be laughable -- the airdrops of water, food and medications for the Yezidi folks that fled their villages and towns with nothing, and whose children are dying? Or maybe you mean that the airstrikes would do nothing to damage IS? Or perhaps that it is laughable for this administration to attempt to save lives in Iraq? Maybe more likely is that you think that the administration is too slow to react, too confused, too constricted by its military stance in Iraq ... ?

Now that you have recovered from the boredom of reading about the Ahmadiyya and the Ismailis, here's a bit of background from a Telegraph columnist:

Death of a religion: Isis and the Yazidi

They are scared of lettuce. They abhor pumpkins. They practise maybe the oldest religion in the world. And now, after at least 6,000 years, they are finally being exterminated, even as I write this.

If you haven’t noticed this epochal crime – the raping and the slaughter – you’re not alone. Of late, the world has focused on the horrors of Gaza. When we’ve had time to acknowledge the Satanic cruelties of Isis, in Iraq, we’ve looked to the barbaric treatment of women, and Christians. Yet the genocide of the Yazidi, by Isis, is as evil as anything going on right now in the Middle East; it is also uniquely destructive of a remarkable cultural survival.

So who are the Yazidi? Some years ago I studied them when researching a thriller. I also traveled to meet their small diaspora community, in Celle, north Germany. And what I found was astonishing.

Yazidism is much older than Islam, and much older than Christianity. It is also deeply peculiar. The Yazidi honour sacred trees. Women must not cut their hair. Marriage is forbidden in April. They avoid wearing dark blue because it is "too holy".

They are divided strictly into castes, who cannot marry each other. The upper castes are polygamous. Anyone of the faith who marries a non-Yazidi risks ostracism, or worse. Yazidism is syncretistic: it combines elements of many faiths. Like Hindus, they believe in reincarnation. Like ancient Mithraists, they sacrifice bulls. They practise baptism, like Christians. When they pray, they face the sun – like Zoroastrians. There are also strong links with Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam.

[...]

And now, in the dusty cities of northern Iraq, Yazidism is finally dying. Moloch has returned to devour the gentle and peaceful Yazidi people, in the form of hateful, virulent, sadistic Islamism. Put it another way, the devil has revealed a sense of irony, even as the rest of us sit back, and passively watch the most ancient culture in the world being erased from human history.

Edited August 7, 2014 by william.scherk

[Selene]

The Yazidi honour sacred trees.

Wow, I wonder if they knew Martin Buber...

[william.scherk]

Another article calling on the USA to act swiftly to help the Yezidi in their emergency. Here's a lengthy passage from Tom Rogan at the National Review.

This isn’t complex. As Max Terzano has noted, the U.S. has a clear moral responsibility to support the Kurdish people. But there’s another issue here. In the Middle East, U.S. credibility has plummeted. If America now ignores the Yezidi–Kurdish plight, doing so will broadcast a terrible message: that our friendship means little and that alternative allies — Iran, for example — might be a better bet. In essence, not only will our humanitarian reputation suffer a hammer blow, so will our broader strategic interests.

Fortunately, we have good options. With the U.S. Air Force’s 728th Air Mobility Squadron at Incirlik Air Force Base, Turkey (a few hundred miles from Sinjar), America has a preexisting infrastructure to support airdrop missions into northern Iraq. In addition, squadrons from the USS George H. W. Bush carrier group are currently supporting intelligence operations over Iraq. Those squadrons could also be used for strike operations against IS, pressuring the group’s rapid-maneuver warfare and degrading its heavy-weapons assets.

Through air support to Kurdish forces and the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian supplies to the Yezidi, the U.S. could avert a humanitarian catastrophe. Moreover, as the U.S. Navy’s unimpeded air operations in Iraq illustrate, the U.S. has air superiority and the risks of this operation would be low.

This being said, I recognize that Americans have very little appetite for new operations. It’s also deeply unfair that this responsibility falls on America: The U.N. is a pathetic joke, and European defense policy is an equal disgrace. Beyond America, international humanitarianism is nothing more than dinner-party rhetoric.

Still, the world is what it is. The Middle East is a political ecosystem of immense complexity, shaped by a multitude of actors. That makes hesitancy understandable. Yet America must understand that our physical separation from the world won’t shelter us from its problems. We must accept that our deliberate neglect of strategic purpose only invites alternate strategic purpose: the purpose of IS and its opposite fanatics in Iran. And we must realize that those threats aren’t static. Uncontested, these political cancers will spread toward us.

To be sure, we cannot solve every problem. But today, in Iraq, we should provide support to friends facing massacre.

Also, below, a report from Rudaw (the Kurdish news portal) that details the situation on the ground, the absence of the Iraqi army, the weakness of the KRG Peshmerga, the heavy weight of the Islamic State, the first attempts at airdrops. I am cynical about the international response to The Ancient Religion Dying On A Mountain story. Nobody, not even the USA, did a fucking thing when the Christians were cleansed from Mosul. Why should they do anything about the Ancient Religion? (aside from the obvious that the Christians ended up in safe refuges, while the Yezidis on the mountain have no exit route. Oh and that they are classed by IS as scarcely human and can be killed without compunction)

40 Yezidi Children and Elderly Starve to Death on Mountain Refuge

[william.scherk]

The Yazidi honour sacred trees.

Wow, I wonder if they knew Martin Buber...

Laughable.

[william.scherk]

If this wasn't so serious it would be laughable!

WASHINGTON — President Obama is considering airstrikes or airdrops of food and medicine to address a humanitarian crisis among as many as 40,000 religious minorities in Iraq who have been dying of heat and thirst on a mountaintop after death threats from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, administration officials said on Thursday.

American air-drops have just begun, according to ABC -- and at least one (disputed) report suggests that US air force has now bombed IS positions in the empty Yazidi towns ... some of the weakest for lack of water have already died on the mountain. Let it be no laughing matter to preserve their lives.

Edited August 7, 2014 by william.scherk

[Wolf DeVoon]

While we await the latest nationally televized appearance of the teleprompter telling Obama just what the US is doing in Iraq at some point over the next 60 minutes, there are conflicting reports about what may or may not be happening in Iraq now. On one hand there appears to be confirmation that the US has begun airdropping humanitarian supplies to the thousands trapped in the Iraqi mountains, as we earlier reported would likely happen. On the other hand, the NYT tweeted that the US is now also bombing ISIS targets in Iraq. [Zero Hedge]

The Pentagon denies bombing Iraq. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/08/07/235716/islamic-state-pushes-back-kurdish.html

[anthony]

Was the West genuinely caught flat-footed? I mean, everybody knew ISIS/ISIL's intent and methods, months ago, right? They boasted of it openly.

The largest propaganda campaign I've known in the ME certainly went into gear on Gaza. A red herring? Is there such cohesion, and such presumption of Western short (and easily distracted) attention span amongst Jihadis - that they could make great advances and gains and run roughshod over civilians in Iraq, and believe nobody would notice, or care?!

I'm anticipating all those lovely people on social media and in the UN, who maybe now will turn their attention from Israel and begin denouncing ISIS in similar terms they did the Israelis: "genocide", "occupation", targeting innocents, disproportionate force, war crimes.. etc. ( I am holding my breath. Is this wise?)

[Wolf DeVoon]

Oh, shit, here we go again.

President Obama Authorizes Air Strikes On Iraq

Islamist Fighters Rout Kurds, Seize Dam

Kurds have been battling a group of militants from ISIS who are using powerful American weapons they took from the battlefield, left by the Iraqi Army. “They are literally outgunned by an ISIS that is fighting with hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. military equipment seized from the Iraqi Army who abandoned it,” Mr. Khedery said. [NY Times]

[Jules Troy]

Did some of the Iraqi army actually join forces with ISIS?

[Wolf DeVoon]

Did some of the Iraqi army actually join forces with ISIS?

Iraqi soldiers ran from battle, took off their uniforms, abandoned humvees, artillery, and at least one helicopter, three weeks ago.

Hundreds were caught and killed, some beheaded by ISIS (aka ISIL).

Infinitely worse: It's been alleged that ISIL in Syria was armed by the CIA via -- guess where? -- Benghazi.

The best kept secret of the Benghazi scandal, at least as far as Congress is concerned, is the CIA gun-running operation out of Benghazi, Libya, to the CIA’s latest al-Qaeda affiliates fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The U.S. support of various al-Qaeda affiliated and inspired groups, including al-Nusra and ISIL, either directly or through proxies, is well-known.

“The New York Times reports that a 50 man cell of ‘rebels’ trained and armed by the CIA and US special forces is to sneak over the border from Jordan into Syria this week to begin fighting government forces there, a move that should prompt concern given that moderate rebel forces are now fully infiltrated by extremist al Qaeda linked terrorists,” Steve Watson wrote in September, 2013.

The same month, the U.S. brazenly announced it was arming al-Qaeda. “The United States has officially announced it is now delivering ‘lethal aid’ to the ‘rebels’ engaged in attacks against the Syrian government. In addition to sophisticated communications equipment and advanced combat medical kits sent by the CIA, the State Department is sending vehicles and other munitions, according to the Washington Post,” we reported.

“We’ve come full circle from going after al-Qaeda to indirectly backing al-Qaeda,” Bill Gertz quoted a U.S. official as stating following a promise in June by the Obama administration to increase arm shipments.

http://www.infowars.com/saudi-arabia-sunni-caliphate-nato-run-secret-terror-army-in-iraq-and-syria/

Is there any proof? - maybe.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/this-is-what-benghazi-consulate-really-was/

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/former-special-forces-commander-was-us-running-guns-syrian-rebels-benghazi-cia-no

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-syria-heavy-weapons-jihadists-2012-10

http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/sources-slain-u-s-ambassador-recruited-jihadists/

Is it plausible? - yes.

Saudis want Iranian-backed Maliki government to fall

Obama bows to Saudi king

Obama second visit, king's secret desert oasis

(photos) http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/31/reporter-tweets-insider-photos-of-obamas-visit-to-tightly-controlled-saudi-arabia/

U.S. Signals Iraq's Maliki Should Go [Wall Street Journal]

Pretty ugly, huh?

[Jules Troy]

Did some of the Iraqi army actually join forces with ISIS?

Iraqi soldiers ran from battle, took off their uniforms, abandoned humvees, artillery, and at least one helicopter, three weeks ago.

Hundreds were caught and killed, some beheaded by ISIS (aka ISIL).

Infinitely worse: It's been alleged that ISIL in Syria was armed by the CIA via -- guess where? -- Benghazi.

The best kept secret of the Benghazi scandal, at least as far as Congress is concerned, is the CIA gun-running operation out of Benghazi, Libya, to the CIAs latest al-Qaeda affiliates fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The U.S. support of various al-Qaeda affiliated and inspired groups, including al-Nusra and ISIL, either directly or through proxies, is well-known.

The New York Times reports that a 50 man cell of rebels trained and armed by the CIA and US special forces is to sneak over the border from Jordan into Syria this week to begin fighting government forces there, a move that should prompt concern given that moderate rebel forces are now fully infiltrated by extremist al Qaeda linked terrorists, Steve Watson wrote in September, 2013.

The same month, the U.S. brazenly announced it was arming al-Qaeda. The United States has officially announced it is now delivering lethal aid to the rebels engaged in attacks against the Syrian government. In addition to sophisticated communications equipment and advanced combat medical kits sent by the CIA, the State Department is sending vehicles and other munitions, according to the Washington Post, we reported.

Weve come full circle from going after al-Qaeda to indirectly backing al-Qaeda, Bill Gertz quoted a U.S. official as stating following a promise in June by the Obama administration to increase arm shipments.

http://www.infowars.com/saudi-arabia-sunni-caliphate-nato-run-secret-terror-army-in-iraq-and-syria/

Is there any proof? - maybe. Is it plausible? - yes. Saudis want Iranian-backed Shia government of Iraq to fall.

[Jules Troy]

What they (we) SHOULD be doing is giving a friendly nudge to Pahlavi to retake the throne in Iran. They blew their chance during the student rebellion. Apparently there are 1.3 or so expat Iranian Persians that would love to see the overthrow of Islam in Iran and the implementation of either a republic like the US or with the monarch in place somewhat like the British have. Talk to anyone that had been out of Iran since the revolution and they all reminisce about the days while the shah was there and how beautiful it was.

The clerics I believe are most worried about a Velvet Revolution at this time. Non violent civil disobedience. Who knows they may one day sort themselves out.

[Francisco Ferrer]

I imagine there are a few who reminisce about the good old days of SAVAK, nail extractions, cattle prods in the rectum, and acid in the nostrils.

[Wolf DeVoon]

What they (we) SHOULD be doing is giving a friendly nudge to Pahlavi to retake the throne in Iran. They blew their chance during the student rebellion. Apparently there are 1.3 or so expat Iranian Persians that would love to see the overthrow of Islam in Iran and the implementation of either a republic like the US or with the monarch in place somewhat like the British have. Talk to anyone that had been out of Iran since the revolution and they all reminisce about the days while the shah was there and how beautiful it was.

He's dead. You knew that, right? Cancer in 1980. Unless you mean Reza, owner of Medina Development Company, although it is unclear how this entity conducts business or where its revenues come from (...CIA?) He has an office in Dallas, close to W.

Not so easy to invade and conquer Iran. 60 million people, fairly well equipped, disciplined army.

[Francisco Ferrer]

Obama bows to Saudi king

Obama is embarrassing. Everyone knows that is not how a U.S. president should greet Saudi royalty.

[Jules Troy]

What they (we) SHOULD be doing is giving a friendly nudge to Pahlavi to retake the throne in Iran. They blew their chance during the student rebellion. Apparently there are 1.3 or so expat Iranian Persians that would love to see the overthrow of Islam in Iran and the implementation of either a republic like the US or with the monarch in place somewhat like the British have. Talk to anyone that had been out of Iran since the revolution and they all reminisce about the days while the shah was there and how beautiful it was.

He's dead. You knew that, right? Cancer in 1980. Unless you mean Reza, owner of Medina Development Company, although it is unclear how this entity conducts business or where its revenues come from (...CIA?) He has an office in Dallas, close to W.

Not so easy to invade and conquer Iran. 60 million people, fairly well equipped, disciplined army.

[Jules Troy]

That is correct, his son the prince.

Also correct about invading. No Iran needs to be conquered from within. The revolution in 79 was meant to create a paradise(aren't they all). What they created was hell on earth and many know this.

[Jules Troy]

I imagine there are a few who reminisce about the good old days of SAVAK, nail extractions, cattle prods in the rectum, and acid in the nostrils.

[Jules Troy]

And the gang rapes followed by execution of thousands of 10-14 year old girls in Evin prison shortly after the 79 revolution for the sole crime of being a 3rd or 4th cousin to a "dissident" Shah loyalist is um..better? Why the rape? Because it was the prison guards belief that murdered virgins get instant passage to heaven so they wanted them to go to hell instead.

[Francisco Ferrer]

Jules Troy wrote, "Talk to anyone that had been out of Iran since the revolution and they all reminisce about the days while the shah was there and how beautiful it was."

I have talked to some of the old pro-Pahlavi Persians. For them SAVAK was beautiful.

(The "Greatest Generation" of Russians who fought under Stalin thought the same about the KGB.)

For the old Persians the difference between the hell on earth of the current Islamic regime and the beauty of the Shah's rule was that somebody else's son was the one getting the cattle prod.

[Jules Troy]

Oh well in that case carry on, nothing to see here.

Oh wait, Iran under the Shah was the only ME country to recognize the right of Israel to exist!

Under the Shah the universities were diverse and people could you know..talk there without getting their heads cut off!

Under the Shah women could walk down the street without a burka and not have to worry about getting gang raped by muslim extremists!

Under the Shah Iran had very good relations with the USA.

Under the Shah there was no revolutionary guard training Hezbollah orrrrrrrrr supplying rockets to HAM ASS.

Under the Shah no crazy fucking muslims where trying to enrich Uranium..,derpness

[Selene]

Oh well in that case carry on, nothing to see here.

Oh wait, Iran under the Shah was the only ME country to recognize the right of Israel to exist!

Under the Shah the universities were diverse and people could you know..talk there without getting their heads cut off!

Under the Shah women could walk down the street without a burka and not have to worry about getting gang raped by muslim extremists!

Under the Shah Iran had very good relations with the USA.

Under the Shah there was no revolutionary guard training Hezbollah orrrrrrrrr supplying rockets to HAM ASS.

Under the Shah no crazy fucking muslims where trying to enrich Uranium..,derpness

Very nicely done.

Excellent rhetorical technique.

Also reminds me how negative FF is 99% of the time.

A...

[william.scherk]

Oh well in that case carry on, nothing to see here.

Well, no, though I appreciate the sarcasm. There is lots to see 'here' (there, in Iran's history).

Oh wait, Iran under the Shah was the only ME country to recognize the right of Israel to exist!

Nope. Don't forget Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt.

Under the Shah the universities were diverse and people could you know..talk there without getting their heads cut off!

This is special pleading, spurious. "Under the Shah, some good things happened on the surface. These cherry-picked good things outweigh the bad things." Really, not.

Under the Shah women could walk down the street without a burka and not have to worry about getting gang raped by muslim extremists!

Under the Shah, anyone could be arrested at any time by the fearsome secret police. Torture, summary executions, the whole nine yards. This was a dictatorship in every sense of the word.

Under the Shah Iran had very good relations with the USA.

Sort of true. True in the way that the USA has very good relations with the religious dictatorship of royal Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Under the Shah there was no revolutionary guard training Hezbollah orrrrrrrrr supplying rockets to HAM ASS.

True, but so what? Because the current Islamic Republic is a mad religious dictatorship that oppresses its people -- this does not make the Shah's regime a beautiful thing without question.

Under the Shah no crazy fucking muslims where trying to enrich Uranium..,derpness

Well, is this your prescription for the USA to get in bed with any authoritarian regime, regardless of their oppression?

In any case, Jules, pining for an Emperor to return to the Peacock Throne is pointless. There will not be a resumption of royal rule. (this does not make the current regime into a good thing).

Edited August 8, 2014 by william.scherk