Iraq in Crisis- Merged Superthread

[jollyjacktar]

Any maybe it's not a planted story either.  Maybe it's more truth than fiction.  At the very least it's certainly not a stretch of my imagination to accept if true and factual.

 

[OldSolduer]

Any maybe it's not a planted story either.  Maybe it's more truth than fiction.  At the very least it's certainly not a stretch of my imagination to accept if true and factual.

I can't say if it's true or not BUT you can be certain a segment of the radical population will take this as gospel (sorry about the pun) or a religious fatwa if you will.....and let the atrocities begin.

And if it false whoever planted it should be placed in the stocks and ridiculed.....with rotten vegetables, fruit and smelly things.....

 

[Brad Sallows]

>All I can say is, good god, can this be true?

Seems unlikely.  Although FGM practices have been exported, they are a cultural feature chiefly of a swath of countries across sub-Saharan and northeast Africa.

Pity we can't airlift all the women as refugees to various sponsor countries and leave the men to bugger each other senseless for the next few decades until the last one dies.

 

[Kirkhill]

....
Pity we can't airlift all the women as refugees to various sponsor countries and leave the men to bugger each other senseless for the next few decades until the last one dies.

And we can't do this because.... ???      ;D

 

[George Wallace]

Pity we can't airlift all the women as refugees to various sponsor countries and leave the men to bugger each other senseless for the next few decades until the last one dies.

All you would have to do, is change their calendar so that everyday is Thursday.    >

Real problem is they procreate like rabbits with the sole intent to indoctrinate their children with barbarian beliefs.  Their restricting the education of their children perpetuates their ancient barbarian beliefs and practices.

 

[Kirkhill]

Related issue:

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-iran-fears-independent-kurdistan-10950

Kurdistan -  This is a really interesting play for the west.  Turkey, Kurdistan and Israel - and I could add Jordan to the mix as a reasonably "tolerant" state.  Enmities exist but pragmatism is strong.   

An equivalent play would be to exploit the connections between the Baluch, currently split amongst Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Oman.  That would seal the Straits of Hormuz and put the noses of the Chinese out of joint with their Gwadar investment being "internationalized".

 

[Edward Campbell]

:highjack:

This  ff topic: but ..

I'm a bit puzzled by Turkey's policies.

It seems to me that, a few years ago, the EU explicitly rejected Turkey - telling them, in so many words, that they're not European (Atatürk was wrong). So they appear, to me, to have turned their attentions to the Middle East and, more specifically, they have changed their policy towards Israel.

If the dream of a caliphate is ever to become reality it seems to me that it must be based in one of four countries: Egypt, Iran, Pakistan or Turkey. They, alone, have the socio-economic potential to dominate the region from, say, Libya to Afghanistan.

My  :2c:

 

[daftandbarmy]

All I can say is, good god, can this be true?

"In war, truth is the first casualty."

Aeschylus

 

[a_majoor]

Quotes and reports on conditions inside the new "Caliphate" Link also includes embedded videos:

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/07/24/quotes-of-the-day-1800/

Quotes of the day

posted at 10:41 pm on July 24, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Top officials crisscrossed the Capitol over the past two days, giving urgent warnings that ISIS represented a threat “worse than Al Qaeda,” in the words of one State Department official, with the capability to create a sanctuary for global jihadists working to threaten American interests.

The self-declared Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is no longer merely a terrorist organization, a top State Department official told House and Senate lawmakers, but “a full-blown army seeking to establish a self-governing state through the Tigris and Euphrates Valley in what is now Syria and Iraq.” …

“[ISIS] has proving to be… more effective in terms of organizing and developing a state structure than even core Al Qaeda, and that is why it is more than just a terrorist organization—it certainly doesn’t have the global reach in terms of terrorist capacity as core Al Qaeda, but it has the sophistication to develop what has really becoming a state-like sanctuary for a global jihadist movement,” McGurk said. “They’re a self-sustaining organization.”


***


The dawn attack began with militants firing mortar rounds on Iraqi army bases in the town of Taji, where suspects were being held on terrorism charges, prompting officials to evacuate the facilities, fearing a jailbreak.

As the convoy traveled through a remote area, roadside bombs went off and militants opened fire. The ensuing battle left 52 prisoners and eight soldiers dead, with another eight soldiers and seven prisoners wounded, they added. It was not immediately clear if the prisoners were killed by soldiers or militants, or if the extremist Islamic State group was involved. …

Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group — which seized much of northern and western Iraq last month — have staged several jailbreaks, including a complex, military-style assault on two Baghdad-area prisons in July 2013 that freed more than 500 inmates.

Apparently fearing a repeat of the incident, Shiite militiamen killed nearly four dozen Sunni detainees last month in the town of Baqouba northwest of Baghdad when the facility where they were being held came under attack, according to a report by Amnesty International.


***


“Life in Mosul is very normal,” says Abu Mustafa. Christians there are treated well, prices are low and people are safe and happy, he says, a description completely at odds with news reports and firsthand accounts describing a reign of terror against anyone in the city who hasn’t sworn loyalty to the caliph.

He seems to believe what he’s saying and performs the group’s public relations not just to blow smoke into the journalist’s eyes, but because he honestly hopes to see the caliph succeed in conquering Baghdad. And then, after the victory, he expects to see the caliphate destroyed.

“All we are doing now is just a liberation,” Abu Mustafa says. “After the liberation of Baghdad the Islamic state will be finished. The Sunni rebels are only using them against the corruption of the government.”


***
 
The new jihadist rulers of Iraq’s northern city of Mosul on Thursday completely levelled one its most well-known shrines, an official and witnesses told AFP.

The Nabi Yunus shrine was built on the reputed burial site of a prophet known in the Koran as Yunus and in the Bible as Jonah. …

“They first stopped people from praying in it, they fixed explosive charges around and inside it and then blew it up in front of a large gathering of people,” said a witness who did not wish to give his name.


***
 
“It’s reminiscent of what we saw in Europe in the build-up to the Second World War or the ethnic cleansing witnessed during the Balkans in the early 1990s,” said former British ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell. “It’s as if the world is asleep and doesn’t care.” …

With the exception of Pope Francis and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, world leaders have largely been silent about the religious cleansing that is spreading throughout Iraq and Syria — despite urgent calls from religious leaders in the region for an international response to what Ban called a “crime against humanity”. …

Last Friday, the U.S. State Department condemned “in the strongest terms” the hounding and persecution by Isis, calling its ultimatum in Mosul that Christians leave, pay a tax, convert to Islam or face execution as “abominable actions” aimed at dividing and destroying Iraq.

But President Obama has yet to speak on the atrocity. Neither have Europe’s leaders.


***
 
Last weekend Isis gave the city’s Christians a stark choice: convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or face death. “They said there is no place for Christians in the Islamic state,” one distraught refugee said from the safety of Bashiqa, 16 miles from Mosul. “Either you become Muslim or you leave.” Mosul’s last 1,500 Christian families were reportedly robbed at Isis checkpoints as they fled.

Hundreds have found shelter in areas between Mosul and Irbil – the capital of the Kurdistan regional government – that are controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, but they face an uncertain future.

“If Isis stays, there is no way the Christians can return,” Father Boutrous Moshi said from Qara Qoosh, a Christian area south-east of Mosul. “It is up to God whether we return or not. They have not burned the churches but they did set fire to the pictures and the books and broke the windows.”


***

Local Chaldeans Worry About ISIS Deadline


iraqi Christians leave Mosul after ISIS give them deadline to convert,...

***
 
“ISIS is a lot more radicalized against Christians than the Malaki government is, but the Malaki government has not overseen a necessarily hospitable place for churches and Christians to exist,” says the founder and president of The American Islamic Forum for Democracy.

“The number of Christians has decreased [in Iraq] . . . since the ruthless dictator Saddam Hussein left,” he added.

Iraq “has been listed on our commission’s list of countries of particular concern for a number of years.”

The targeting against Christians by ISIS is more extreme, he said.

“ISIS came out of Syria . . . and they are imposing a radicalized version of Sharia law, which they will enact a genocide by doctrine and by Sharia,” Jasser added. “And this is not just unique to Iraq.”


***
 
“Our Brothers in the Islamic State … announcing an inclusive caliphate is a good job,” said Sudan’s Al-Attasam belKetab wa al-Sunna, which broke from Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood in 1991 to establish a stricter Islamist movement.

“We announce our support to this blessed step,” added the Salafi group, which had called for a boycott of 2010 presidential and parliamentary elections because they were based on a secular constitution.


***
 
That’s the general feeling here now: everything is gone. My relatives who fled own nothing anymore. While my niece is happy to take care of her mother and brothers, she needs help from the church. Yesterday my brother went to church to collect mattresses and food for my aunt and her sons and brought them to my niece’s house. It’s very important to have this support from the church now. The support was given by Open Doors through a partner organization.

Sometimes I feel like crying, but I pray that God gives me strength. Christians in Iraq have shown their support for the most affected Christians by holding gatherings and planning marches.

We also changed our Facebook profile pictures to the letter N for Nasrani, meaning “Christians.” In Mosul, this letter was used to mark the Christian houses.

It’s encouraging to see that around the world people are supporting us. We are still proud to be Christians. We will always be Christians.

 

[Edward Campbell]

More, in this story, also from the Guardian, this time 'sourced' back to Reuters, saying that face veils will be mandatory for women.

 

[Kirkhill]

:highjack:

This  ff topic: but ..

I'm a bit puzzled by Turkey's policies.

It seems to me that, a few years ago, the EU explicitly rejected Turkey - telling them, in so many words, that they're not European (Atatürk was wrong). So they appear, to me, to have turned their attentions to the Middle East and, more specifically, they have changed their policy towards Israel.

If the dream of a caliphate is ever to become reality it seems to me that it must be based in one of four countries: Egypt, Iran, Pakistan or Turkey. They, alone, have the socio-economic potential to dominate the region from, say, Libya to Afghanistan.

My  :2c:

Here's why I have hope for Turkey as a "pragmatic" anchor in the Middle East.

ISTANBUL -- Women shouldn’t laugh in public. Or at least that’s what Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc seems to think.

“Where are our girls, who slightly blush, lower their heads and turn their eyes away when we look at their face, becoming the symbol of chastity?” he asked at a meeting on Monday held by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), according to the Hurriyet Daily News.

“She will not laugh in public. She will not be inviting in her attitudes and will protect her chasteness,” he added, lamenting what he says has been a steady decline in morality for men and women in Turkey.

Link

The response from Turkish women.....

I know clocks can be turned back - and violence can ensue - but I believe that entrenched culture is hard to overcome.

 

[CougarKing]

ISIS fighters begin to take Kurdish territory as well:

From Reuters via the Straits Times

Islamic State captures Iraqi town, oil field: Witnesses
PUBLISHED ON AUG 3, 2014 4:12 PM

(Reuters) - Islamic State Sunni insurgents have captured the northern Iraqi town of Zumar and a nearby oil field after a battle with Kurdish forces who had control of the area, witnesses said on Sunday.

Islamic State, which staged a lightning advance through northern Iraq in June, has warned residents of nearby villages along the border with Syria to leave their homes, suggesting they were planning an assault, witnesses said.

The militant group, which controls large swathes of northern and western Iraq, has threatened to march on Baghdad but has stalled its campaign just north of the town of Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad.

But it has been trying to consolidate its gains, setting its sights on strategic towns near oilfields, as well as the border with Syria so that its fighters can move easily back and forth and bring in supplies.

An official in the Northern Oil Company said Islamic State fighters had taken control of the Ain Zalah oil field and a nearby refinery. The insurgents had already seized four oil fields, which help fund their operations.

(...EDITED)

 

[tomahawk6]

Turkey is firmly in the control of the islamists.The Army has been neutralized so there is no group able to overthrow the regime.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

A report (02 August) from the BBC:

Syria villagers drive out Islamic State jihadists

Tribesmen in three villages in eastern Syria have driven out Islamic State (IS) militants, in a rare display of local resistance to the group.

Four days of fighting left nine IS fighters, three tribesmen and five civilians dead, UK-based Syrian opposition activists say.

The jihadists' actions in the Ashara area had bred resentment locally, another activist based in Turkey said.

In neighbouring Iraq, IS fighters fought Kurdish forces at Zumar.

IS is dedicated to building an Islamist state in Syria and Iraq.

It built on its gains in Syria this summer to sweep through western and northern Iraq with support from local Sunni Muslims, overrunning the city of Mosul and threatening the capital Baghdad.

In recent weeks, it also expanded territory under its control in Syria, capturing parts of the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor.

Formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis), it has been accused of atrocities in areas under its control, carrying out mass executions of Shia Muslim prisoners and forcing out other non-Muslims such as Mosul's ancient Christian community.

'Wide resentment'
Fighting erupted on Wednesday after IS detained three tribesmen, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkish-based activist Mustafa Osso said.

The detentions apparently broke an agreement with local people in the villages of Kishkiyeh, Abu Hamam and Granij, and tribesmen torched the IS headquarters in Ashara in retaliation, the Observatory said.

IS reportedly rushed in reinforcements from the Iraqi border town of Qaim but were forced out of the villages.

Tribesmen also captured the nearby Tanak oil field, according to the Observatory.

"There has been wide resentment recently because of Islamic State's acts," Mr Osso told AP news agency.

"This is a very important area for Islamic State because it is rich with oil and borders Iraq."

IS is one of the larger groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

More than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria and more than nine million have been forced to leave their homes since the uprising against Mr Assad began in March 2011.

Kurdish clash

In Iraq, jihadists attacked Kurdish forces in Zumar on Friday and fighting has continued since, with at least 14 Kurds and an unknown number of IS fighters killed.

There were conflicting reports on whether Kurdish peshmerga fighter or IS forces held the town.

"Many Islamic State vehicles are wandering the town of Zumar and I can also see the flags on top of buildings," on resident told Reuters news agency.

Control of Zumar would give the jihadists access to a small oilfield and nearby refinery, adding to four oil fields they have already seized, according to Reuters.

Kurdish forces have become the only effective opposition to IS in northern Iraq since government troops were driven out of Mosul and other areas in June.

Reports say Islamic State fighters were also involved in deadly clashes overnight with Iraqi troops in the mainly Sunni town of Jurf al-Sakhar, 50km south-west of Baghdad.

At least nine soldiers are said to have been killed.

Article Link

 

[Cdn Blackshirt]

Turkey is firmly in the control of the islamists.The Army has been neutralized so there is no group able to overthrow the regime.

My apologies Tomahawk6, but can you elaborate on that?

Given Erdogan's support of Hamas it's not totally shocking.  I just hadn't heard of the connection before.


Thanks in advance, Matthew.

 

[tomahawk6]

Here's an old story that should provide some background.

http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/02/14/generals-opting-out-as-turkish-military-seen-turning-from-secular-to-islamist/

 

[CougarKing]

Iraqi forces under Maliki provide air support to Kurdish forces:

Reuters

Iraqi PM orders air force to help Kurds fight Islamic State

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his air force for the first time to back Kurdish forces against Islamic State fighters after the Sunni militants made another dramatic push through the north, state television reported on Monday.

ens of thousands of people have fled one of the districts seized by Islamic State fighters in the offensive and are now surrounded, the United Nations said on Monday. The Sunni militants often execute people in areas they have captured.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters, who gained experience fighting Saddam Hussein's troops, were regarded as one of the few forces capable of standing up to the Sunni insurgents, who faced almost no opposition from Maliki's U.S.-trained army during their lightning advance through the north in June.

Then on Sunday the Islamic State inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Kurds with a rapid advance through three towns to reach the Mosul Dam, acquiring a fifth oil field to fund its operations along the way.

(...EDITED)

 

[tomahawk6]

Mod's it has been suggested to me to change the title of this thread.I agree but I no longer can edit the topic.Perhaps a mod might do this for us ? I suggest the new title "2014 Iraq in Crisis".Of course if anyone has a title please submit it.

 

[CougarKing]

Mod's it has been suggested to me to change the title of this thread.I agree but I no longer can edit the topic.Perhaps a mod might do this for us ? I suggest the new title "2014 Iraq in Crisis".Of course if anyone has a title please submit it.

How about "Iraq under siege: the rise of the ISIS terror group", since Iraq might be in the same sort of instability beyond 2014?

 

[CougarKing]

Updates which show how oppressive ISIS rule is: no religious minority, whether they be Christians, or an even smaller group called the Yazidis, are safe.

Iraq jihadists remove crosses from churches, burn manuscripts
AFP NewsAFP News – 2 hours 13 minutes ago

Quote:

Jihadists who took over large areas of northern Iraq Thursday have forced 100,000 Christians to flee and occupied churches, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako said.

"There are 100,000 displaced Christians who have fled with nothing but their clothes, some of them on foot, to reach the Kurdistan region," he told AFP.

"This is a humanitarian disaster. The churches are occupied, their crosses were taken down," said Sako, the leader of Iraq's largest Christian denomination, which is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church.

He added that up to 1,500 manuscripts were burnt.

The Islamic State (IS) group, which swept across much of Iraq's Sunni heartland two months ago, attacked several towns and villages east of its main hub of Mosul, the country's second city.

Among them was Qaraqosh, Iraq's largest Christian town with a population of around 50,000, and several surrounding areas that were previously controlled by the Kurdish peshmerga force.

(...EDITED)

Yahoo News

From Agence-France-Presse via Yahoo Australia

UN condemns jihadists over attacks on Iraq's Yazidi minority

Dohuk (Iraq) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned attacks by jihadists in northern Iraq, warning those responsible could face trial for crimes against humanity, amid fears the besieged Yazidi minority could be wiped out.

(...EDITED)

"Over the past 48 hours, 30,000 families have been besieged in the Sinjar mountains, with no water and no food," said Vian Dakhil.

"Seventy children have already died of thirst and 300 elderly people have also died,"

Dakhil said 900 unarmed Yazidi men had been killed by the militants since they took over Sinjar and surrounding villages on Sunday. Their women were enslaved as "war booty", she said.

(...EDITED)