IS Routs Peshmerga, Takes Control of Sinjar Mountains, Jeopardizes Yazidi Homeland
Sunday, August 3rd, 2014
Summary: IS scores major victory today, breaks Peshmerga forces, conquers strategic Kurdish area and displaces hundreds of thousands of Yazidi Kurds. The expulsion of Mosul’s Christians was devastating, but today’s expulsion of Yazidis is much bigger. This raises the question of whether the Kurds can hold out against IS in Iraq, as well as in Syria. It appears that IS’ next major front, in both countries, could be against the Kurds.
IS Routs Peshmerga, Takes Control of Sinjar Mountains, Jeopardizes Yazidi Homeland
by Matthew Barber
(thanks to Christine Allison for input)
Beginning in the early hours of the morning, IS forces attacked the Sinjar Mountains. The Kurdish Peshmerga defended the area for two hours before being overcome and retreating.
The Kurdish loss of this strategic territory resulted in the flight of hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees.
Sinjar lies west of Mosul and Tel ‘Afar, both under IS control. Though a disputed territory not officially part of Kurdistan Province, and somewhat disconnected from Dohuk, the nearest Kurdish governorate, it has nonetheless been an island of Peshmerga control on the Syrian border. The Kurdish role in administering and protecting the area, as well as the claim that this disputed territory should belong to a future Kurdistan, stem from the Kurdish-speaking population of Sinjar. Located near the Kurdish part of Syria, Sinjar is also surrounded by areas inhabited by Arab tribes that have often been in competition with Kurds. Some of these tribes worked with al-Qaida during the War in Iraq, and yesterday they aided IS in preparing for today’s takeover of Sinjar.
Sinjar (“Shingal” in Kurdish) is one of a few key areas that constitute the homeland of the Yazidi religious minority. One of the few remaining non-Abrahamic religions of the Middle-East, the Yazidis are a particularly vulnerable group lacking advocacy in the region. Not belonging to the small set of religions carrying the Islamic label “People of the Book,” Yazidis are branded mushrikiin (polytheists) by Salafis/jihadists and became targets of high levels of terrorist attacks and mass killing orchestrated by al-Qaida-affiliated jihadists, following the instability brought about by the War in Iraq.
Today’s IS assault is already bringing about devastating consequences for Yazidis, who make up about 340,000 of Sinjar’s 400,000 inhabitants (this is a high estimate). Many have fled on foot through the desert, without food or water.
Others fleeing in cars for Dohuk have been unable to make a clean escape, due to the inability of the roads to accommodate such a large flux of people. Thousands of cars are currently stranded west of the Tigris River.
As I write this, the fight has moved to the Wana District south of the Mosul Dam Lake, where ISIS is trying to gain control of the Mosul Dam. The fight in that area is about 7km from where today’s Sinjar refugees are trying to cross the Tigris to reach Dohuk.
The mountain stronghold of Sinjar is a special center of Yazidi tradition that has long offered its people refuge from waves of religious persecution, including Ottoman attempts to wipe out all Yazidis who refused to convert to Islam. Modern warfare has made the community’s position more precarious, and today’s IS offensive has the potential to do irreparable damage to the stability of this Middle Eastern minority.
Yazidi religious practice is connected to a network of sacred places within the essential areas of the homeland; if contact with Sinjar’s holy places is severed and its population dispersed, the religious tradition will be further endangered as Yezidism moves a step closer to extinction.
Just over two weeks ago, another ancient religious community was eliminated, en masse, from its homeland, when Christians were expelled from Mosul. Prior to this, IS engaged in high levels of violence against the Shabak minority that inhabits villages just outside of Mosul. Many Shabak, as well as Shiite Turkomen, fled IS violence for the relative safety of Sinjar, and today are being made to flee again, joined this time by the indigenous Yazidi population.
No sooner did IS takeover Sinjar when they immediately began destroying religious sites. A Shiite holy place is shown below, before destruction:
And the same site after being blown up today:
The burden of the refugee crisis on Kurdistan Province is difficult to calculate. Many Iraqi Arabs have taken refuge here since the beginning of the War in Iraq. Afterwards, Kurdistan became inundated with thousands of Syrian refugees during the last several years of conflict in Syria. Then it received Arabs from Mosul when ISIS took over the city. When Mosul’s Christians were expelled two weeks ago, they all fled to Kurdistan, as some Shabak that didn’t flee to Sinjar had done. Now everyone in Sinjar is coming as well (those who fled Mosul plus Sinjar’s Yazidis), except for those in Sinjar’s western areas that have headed for Syria. (Syria a destination for refugees… who would have thought?)
Though a number of outstanding issues regarding territory, sovereignty, and borders (involving Baghdad, Kurdistan, Assyrians, Yazidis, etc.) remain unresolved, if the Peshmerga fails to stand, there won’t be much left to resolve. Commitment to a united Iraq notwithstanding, the US must seriously consider the possible outcome of what is transpiring now. A few days ago, everyone in Kurdistan was confident that all areas under Peshmerga control would remain impervious to jihadi incursions. The collapse of the Peshmerga—who had the advantage of the mountain’s higher ground—in the face of the IS onslaught, came as a surprise. Many are voicing concerns about just how resilient Kurdish forces can remain in the long-term, and whether they will maintain a weapons advantage.
Widespread pleas for support of various kinds—humanitarian and weapons—have intensified in Kurdistan, coming from the recently expelled Chaldean and Assyrian Christians, as well as from majority Kurds concerned about defensive capabilities. Amidst these cries, Yazidi religious figures met with US embassy officials today and requested help in the aftermath of the Sinjar disaster.
The question now is: what kind of action can make a difference?
Round-Up
A number of sites have reported on today’s events:
IS terrorists take over Yezidi villages: A short chronicle – Ezidi Press
+++01:30 am+++ Terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) attack the Yezidi village Siba Sheikh Khidir and the surrounding villages. Armed Yezidi civilians and Peshmerga fighters stationed on site resist for several hours
+++05:30 am+++ The IS terrorists are gaining the upper hand. The much-needed help by Peshmerga backup remains off
+++07:30 am+++ Peshmerga units withdraw from the disputed areas. Only armed Yezidi civilians continue to resist. Panic spreads over the affected villages, it is certain that the Yezidis will not be able to put up further resistance by their own
+++09:00 am+++ IS terrorists take over the villages Til Benat, Siba Sheikh Khidir, Til Keseb and Til Aziz. Thousands Yezidis flee from their villages to the north of Shingal and try to seek shelter in the mountains. Yezidi civilians provide the refugee flows fire cover
+++10:00 am+++ The IS marches towards the city of Shingal, Yezidi civilians skirmish with them. Desperately, women, children and old men are trying to escape. Yezidi men bring their families to safety and return to the fightings. In the north, YPG and Peshmerga units mobilize in order to go to the rescue
+++10:30 am+++ First major units of YPG and Peshmerga arrive at the disputed territories in the south of Shingal. More fighters are on the way. Battles now take place on several fronts
+++11:10 am+++ IS terrorists begin to destroy holy pilgrimage sites of Shiites and Yezidis
+++11:25 am+++ There is already a shortage of drinking water and food for toddlers. Because they were forced to leave their homes on the spur of the moment, the Yezidi refugees from Shingal had no way to carry food
+++11:55 am+++ Heavy fightings take place in the border town of Rabia, where YPG and Peshmerga forces fight together against IS terrorists. Shingal is now attacked from both the north and south. As a result Rabia´s residents flee to areas of Shingal which are not occupied yet
Iraq jihadists seize another town from Kurdish forces – AFP
Jihadists raised their black flag in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar on Sunday in a second straight day of advances against Kurdish forces, forcing thousands of displaced people back on the road.
The Islamic State’s capture of Sinjar raised fears for minority groups that had found refuge there and further blurs the border between the Syrian and Iraqi parts of the “caliphate” which the IS declared in June.
“The (Kurdish) peshmerga have withdrawn from Sinjar, Daash has entered the city,” Kurdish official Kheiri Sinjari told AFP, using the former Arabic acronym for the IS. …
… Sinjar had sheltered thousands of people who were displaced by the huge offensive IS launched in the region nearly two months ago.
Among them are many of Iraq’s minorities, such as Turkmen Shiites who fled the city of Tal Afar, about half-way between Sinjar and Mosul, when jihadist fighters swept in.
Sinjar is also a historical home for the Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority which follows a pre-Islamic faith derived in part from Zoroastrianism.
IS militants refer to them as devil worshippers and they have been repeatedly targeted.
“Thousands of people have already fled, some to nearby mountains still under Kurdish control and also towards Dohuk,” in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, another PUK official said.
He also said that IS fighters had destroyed the small Shiite shrine of Sayyeda Zeinab shortly after taking control of Sinjar.
“The number of displaced people is not known. However, initial reports range from the thousands of families to a figure of 200,000 people,” said Brendan McDonald, a senior officer of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“Based on reports we are receiving, there is an immediate need for water, food, shelter and health services,” he told AFP. …
… The peshmerga are widely perceived as Iraq’s best organised and most efficient military force but the autonomous Kurdish region has been cash-strapped and its troops stretched.
Its regional government has not been receiving the 17 percent share of national oil revenues it is owed by Baghdad and is struggling to sell its own, smaller production independently.
According to a senior official, a Kurdish delegation is currently in the United States to demand military equipment. …
U.N.: jihadist takeover of Iraq town sparks ‘humanitarian tragedy’ – al-Arabiya
UN Calls for Urgent Cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil in the wake of Sinjar tragedy
Baghdad, 3 August 2014 – The United Nations in Iraq has confirmed reports that ISIL and associated armed groups have seized control of nearly all of Sinjar and Tal Afar districts in Ninewa Province, including the oil fields of Ain Zala and Batma, bordering the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
According to reports, as many as 200,000 civilians, most of them from the Yezidi community, have fled to Jabal Sinjar. The humanitarian situation of these civilians is reported as dire, and they are in urgent need of basic items including food, water and medicine. An unknown number of civilians are also reported to have moved towards Dahuk and Zako in the Kurdistan Region.
The United Nations has grave concerns for the physical safety of these civilians – particularly those now trapped in Jabal Sinjar area, as it is now surrounded by ISIL militants.
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, stated “A humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar. The Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government should urgently restore their security cooperation in dealing with the crisis. I call on all Iraqi authorities, civil society and international partners to work with the United Nations to ensure the delivery of life saving humanitarian assistance”. “I also call on the Kurdistan Regional Government to ensure that those civilians fleeing the violence are facilitated entry to the Kurdistan Region in order to receive protection and humanitarian assistance,” he added. …
Peshmerga Forces Prepare for Major Offensive Against ISIL – Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Ali Awni, an official from Kurdistan Democratic Party reveals to Rudaw that despite claims to the contrary, not all of Sinjar is under the effective control of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). He said, “Peshmerga forces are stationed in one part of Sinjar, and are waiting for reinforcements to arrive”. He also added,”A heavy force from Peshmerga under the leadership of Mansoor Barzani has arrived in the area, and in the next few hours will conduct a major offensive operation against ISIL to get rid of them in the area”. Anwar Haji Osman from the Ministry of Peshmerga briefly commented saying, “Peshmerga are planning an operating, and will have a big victory in the area soon. ISIL will have no choice but to leave this country, and they know this very well”.
Yazidis flee westward from Sinjar to Syria – from @ArjDnn
Added August 4, 2014:
Comments (81)
Ghufran said:
Terrorists under the banner of FSA/ aljabhaa alislamiyya shelled Damascus with 11 katiosha tickets killing a child and wounding a dozen people.
Social media clearly showed increased resentment among Damascenes who are fed up with this ” revolution”.
طز فيكم و به الثوره تبعكن
The army may enter darayya in the next few days if locals fail to convince foreign jihadists to withdraw.
Local fighters are ready for a deal.
August 3rd, 2014, 2:56 pm
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
The world is preoccupied with hysterical rage over Gaza. Who cares about the Yazidies.
August 3rd, 2014, 3:14 pm
Passerby said:
Can’t help Assad destroy them, the Sunnis wouldn’t like it. (Assuming Assad could be convinced to quit supporting them.)
Needless to say, can’t help Iran in any way, the Israelis and the Sunnis wouldn’t like it.
And of course, we can’t helps the Kurds, Turkey, “Iraq” etc. wouldn’t like it. (The he11 with them.)
——-
Looks to me like Al-Qaeda in Iraq/ISIS/IS/Shocked Quartz Pigment is focusing on their WMD program and not doing anything that would cause anyone to interrupt it. Not like anyone in the area cares about the Yazidies either. In fact, it’s rather likely that sewer of low-lifes is happy about it.
Didn’t hurt the India Hindus let them go, they have friends. Lots of talk, but left the Samarra Shrine alone. And of course, Assad’s best friend.
August 3rd, 2014, 7:43 pm
Passerby said:
…“The IS attacked us by mortars and bombs,” said one woman in Lalish, who asked not to be named.
“When they entered the city they were covering their faces. They killed so many people. I saw the bodies. I saw so many people die …” she said, trailing off in tears.
Those arriving in Lalish said all the women and children who were able to fled.
“They are killing everyone,” said 16-year-old Evan. “The Sunnis are OK, but the Shia and Yazidis they are killing, even women and children.”
“Some families escaped to the Sinjar mountains, but they hit them with mortars. I think they are all dead now. I saw the explosions,” Evan said.
Arian, a young boy from the city of Bashika, said many of the families were fleeing his city fearing they may be next.
“My aunt was in Sinjar. They were coming here by car but the IS blew out their tires. I’ve been trying to call her back, but she is not answering her phone,” he said frantically.
Local media is so far reporting 100 deaths including 30 executed in Sinjar city.
Anger over the abandonment by Kurdish forces was high.
“They told us they would send reinforcements,” said one man, himself a member of the peshamerga forces. “All the Kurds left and it was just us trying to fight. No one came. We had no choice but to run too.”
In the village of Asyan, fleeing families took shelter in the homes of friends and relatives.
A man who had served as the bodyguard of the head of the Iraqi police force in Mosul before the IS takeover there, said most Yazidis had already fled the city due to almost annual mass killings of Yazidis carried out by Sunni extremists. Of the handful of families that remained, he said all managed to escape with their lives.
“When the IS came, we had to escape in secret,” he said, adding that personally they wanted him dead on two counts, for his religion and his work. “We left all our weapons, uniforms and vehicles behind so we looked like civilians. We know the back streets and managed to escape.”
The conversation was interrupted by a frantic Skype call — a sister living abroad, pleaded for the family to leave the entire district and flee to Erbil.
“In every home there are two or three families,” said Dilshad Sluyman, a resident of Asyan who is also hosting Yazidis who fled Sinjar. “They all left everything behind, but the worst thing is not the killing but forcing us to become Muslim. This is worse than death.”
Sluyman said many of those who fled said women were being forced to convert and then kidnapped by the IS. Man were executed directly.
…In April, 2007, a bus carrying workers from a textile factory in Mosul was Hijacked. Muslims and Christians were released. The 23 remaining Yazidi passengers were executed. In August that same year, two trucks loaded with explosives almost wiped out two entire Yazidi villages killing more than 500.
In August, 2009, two suicide bombers targeted a cafe in Sinjar, killing 20 and wounding 30 more.
The Yazidi faith, which predates Islam, is a closed religion. Converts are not accepted, neither is intermarriage with other faiths. They revere the archangel Melek — who Muslims identify as Shaitan or Satan — who refused to bow down to God. But unlike the Satan of Christian and Muslim faiths, their Melek was not renounced by God and they believe evil exists only the hearts of wrongdoers, not in the form of a fallen angel.
As IS continues to push forward through the night, the Yazidi community is bracing for the worst.
“All people are sad for those killed and disturbed also because no one knows what will happen. We hear from many people they may be here in three or four hours. We are afraid they will destroy our temple,” said Dilshad Sluyman.
“They believe that if they kill one of us it’s like an automatic visa to heaven.”
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/iraq/140803/islamic-state-captures-sinjar-yazidis
Jews, Samaritans, Alawites, Mandaeans, on and on, all these ancient closed/semi-closed religions/groups in the Middle East that somehow survived Christianity and Islam. Lots of history in there in those beliefs, traces of things long ago..
August 3rd, 2014, 8:16 pm
Passerby said:
Ok, that’s one vote against ancient religious groups in the Middle East, (or support for ISIS exterminations.)
——
I find the Mandaeans particularly interesting. Followers of John the Baptist, (or rather the same religion, it preceeded him.) They have lots of parallels to the sayings of the Historical Jesus not found in Christianity. Islam does too, something Muslims seem to be oblivious to. April Deconik has a nice list of the Muslim ones.
Historical Jesus primarily being the Gospel of Thomas. Not appealing to authority, they have a bad record, but for brevity, to my knowledge 100% of Fulbright Scholar/Guggenheim Fellow type academic experts think it’s decades older than the Christian Gospels.
And it has all these things, found in the Mandaean writings, like the Ginza Rba, and Islam, and even the Alawite stuff, not found in Christianity.
And these guys worshipping Melek, and the Muslims thinking it ‘s the devil-god and it sounding a lot like Malek/Moloch…
Seems a particular shame, they are exterminated. It’s a sewer, but that’s a particular shame.
August 3rd, 2014, 9:54 pm
Syrian said:
Yeah Amir, it really baffled me also, to why do the western world hold Israel to a higher standard to that of IS.
August 3rd, 2014, 9:56 pm
Passerby said:
A higher standard than any country on earth, unless you can point out one that showed more restraint when thousands of rockets were deliberately shot at their civilians.
Any other such country on earth, it would come to a stop within 24 hours, whatever level of force was required.
Well, know of an exception?
August 3rd, 2014, 10:18 pm
Passerby said:
Ok that’s 3 “NO” votes that can’t point out an exception.
So far, so good.
August 3rd, 2014, 11:25 pm
JK said:
Hello, would you be so kind and share the link to the video from which the screengrab of the destroyed shrine was taken, or at least the details of the programme.
August 3rd, 2014, 11:50 pm
ALAN said:
ISIS Captures Iraq’s Biggest Dam: Baghdad Water Supply In Jeopardy
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-03/isis-captures-iraqs-biggest-dam-baghdad-water-supply-jeopardy
August 4th, 2014, 2:07 am
ALAN said:
Facts All US Citizens Need to Know About Israel and Palestine
Americans: your taxes are killing our children in the Gaza Strip.
Americans: your silence means that you are partners in a mass Killing Gaza’s children!
Because war law is so crystal-clear, arrests of US/UK/Israel “leaders” is the only ethical demand of an informed and free public. Without arrests, these unlawful armed attacks and crushing economic starvation from siege will continue.
Israel Bombs Gaza Back to the Stone Age … as Collective Punishment
Israel Bombs Another UN School – Killing Women and Children – Despite UN Telling Israel 17 Times that the School Sheltered Civilians
Lancet Medical Journal Denounces Israel’s Aggression, Targeting of Children, and Attempts to Kill Gaza – Seven Quotes
Israel Takes Away 44% of Gaza Land … Herds Gazans Into Remaining Area
Debunking the Claim that Palestinians Use Civilians as “Human Shields”
Jews Stage Massive Anti-War Protests In Tel Aviv, New York and Elsewhere
Analogy to US media reporting on Israel & Gaza: ‘1776: Congress vows to destroy England!’
US ‘News’ lying sack of spin warmonger: ‘It’s in the Hamas charter they want to kill all Jews’
Israeli Lawyer Doesn’t Deny Nuremberg Crimes on Palestinians (What the Nazis Did to the Jews)
Human Rights Watch Findings on Gaza Massacre
Game-changing US/Israel lies: Hamas and Iran demand Palestinian justice, not to ‘destroy Israel’
Confused about Hamas, ‘rockets’, war in Gaza? Those plus: Israeli occupation, lawful versus unlawful war, Israel illegal weapons, targeting hospitals
Knowing war law exposes ALL US/UK/Israel war ‘reasons’ as BS propaganda; Oaths require leaders’ arrests
August 4th, 2014, 5:42 am
habib said:
The solution is easy. Arm Assad and his allies to the teeth. Don’t support the Salafist terrorists.
August 4th, 2014, 7:12 am
habib said:
6. Syrian said:
What difference do “higher standards” do when there are never any consequences?
August 4th, 2014, 7:19 am
ALAN said:
10- cont-ing:
ISLAMIC STATE MAY SOON UNLEASH CATASTROPHIC FLOOD ON BAGHDAD
http://www.infowars.com/islamic-state-may-soon-unleash-catastrophic-flood-on-baghdad/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/world/middleeast/isis-iraq.html?_r=2
Thank taxpayers Americans! Thanks to George Washington on his country noble role in the Middle East
http://youtu.be/z2jFmbUAH_k?t=1s
August 4th, 2014, 7:31 am
ALAN said:
We’d like to thank Barack Obama and Lockheed Martin for supplying the bombs what IDF drops on schools & hospitals in Gaza
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bt_B9F8CEAAkA7_.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bt_B9k4CEAA4Yft.png:large
Matthew
Light transmission to Mosul will not obscure the sunlight on Gaza
August 4th, 2014, 8:13 am
Matthew Barber said:
JK,
It came from the PUK Media website, who reported it.
MTB
August 4th, 2014, 8:15 am
Mahmood said:
First, Yazidis are not Kurds. Their tribal lraders who fled to England after the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003.
Second, they resorted to the so-called Kurfish region in the north of Iraq for protection. But, they are ethnically and culturally and even religion-wise different. Most of their men were Arabian attire with the traditional head cover called “Ghoutra”, or the other similar version with zigzag decoration called “Yashmak”, which is usually fixed on top with black fixture called “Egal”.
Third, the region they inhabit in northwest of Mosul, Northern Iraq, is not Kurdish.
The propblem with ISIS is that they are far-right extremists that they show no room for tolaeration of any kind that they lost any sympathy from supposedly fellow Muslims. They destroyed many Muslim mosques and holy shrines.
Nationalist Kurds try to find political gains in the present-Iraq turbid waters by taking in, and showing willingness to protect Christian and Yazidi minorities in order that they annex the areas they inhabit to the so-called region of Kurdistan in any future division of Iraq. Some theses areas have oil reserves.
August 4th, 2014, 8:43 am
ALAN said:
Do you want to discuss the ISIS in Iraq? Rolex watches and female genital mutilation, forced religious conversions and masked militants seeded with CIA, Mossad and MI6, militants, jihadists and western mercenaries?
The genocidal blitz into Gaza is only a continuation of policies over six decades old. At first, most of us saw it as just staged another spectacle in Mousl and Sinjar
August 4th, 2014, 11:48 am
SimoHurtta said:
2. AMIR IN TEL AVIV said:
The world is preoccupied with hysterical rage over Gaza. Who cares about the Yazidies.
Hysterical rage? Well soon Amir it will turn to real actions and then it is time to pack your suitcase, but where can you move? Nobody wants millions of such religious racist lunatics as their neighbors.
What Amir has the situation of Yazidies and other Kurds to do with Jews mowing grass (= killing children), as you there call it, in Gaza?
Do you mean
A) it is OK to slaughter Muslims and Christians in Gaza because Yazidies have problems somewhere else or
B) if Yazidies and other religious/ethnic minorities in Middle East would not have problems Jews would not now be killing children in Gaza?
This constant comparison by pro-Israelis what Jews in Israel do to what happens or happened long ago in some other part of the world is really absurd and weird. What if somebody after some years tries to justify and undermine the killing of lets say 500 Jews in France because thousands of Tamils were massacred in Sri Lanka in 2009 or that the Huguenots had religious “problems” in France in the 16th century?
I already explained to your mathematically less talented tribal brother in religion, Akbar, that comparing the amount of killed in today’s Syria and now in Gaza is not wise from your Israeli Jewish propagandist angle. Syria is about 14 times bigger by population than Gaza is. So the amount of 1,850 slaughtered in Gaza would answer 25,900 killed in a country sized Syria. Further in making the figures comparable. The Syrian civil war has taken already years. So we could multiply that what you Jews have achieved in less than a month with for example 24 (months) which would lift the amount of slaughtered 24 x 25,900 to staggering 621,600. Which is much more than the 200,000 killed in Syria of which you grinning with badly hidden schadenfreude have so many times mentioned here in SC.
August 4th, 2014, 12:08 pm
Matthew Barber said:
Mahmood,
On the contrary: the vast majority of Yazidis identify as Kurds. This naturally flows from having Kurdish as their native tongue. Of the entire population of Iraqi Yazidis, only two small villages have Arabic as a native language, rather than Kurdish. Of the Kurdish-speaking Yazidis, there is a small minority that identify as a distinct ethnicity. This trend is based around a political movement in Sinjar, favored by only some Sinjaris. This movement has never gained currency among the ascendent strata of Yazidi society.
In sum: Almost all Yazidis are native speakers of Kurdish; of these, almost all identify as Kurds, including Yazidis of Dohuk, Sheikhan, Baadre, and most of those in Sinjar, with only a minority of Sinjar Yazidis self-identifying as a distinct ethnicity.
I’m not sure what is intended by your statement that their “tribal leaders fled to England” post-Iraq War. Yazidis do belong to tribes, as do practically all Kurds. And many fled the violence of war, as have many from all communities. And many have returned. So I’m not sure how this statement relates to your idea that Yazidis are not Kurds.
Moving on, your statement “they resorted to the so-called Kurdish region in the north of Iraq for protection” seems to suggest that their origin was elsewhere, and they “relocated” to their current areas. But if that is true, you didn’t bother to mention where they came from. Do you have some kind of interesting theory about Yazidi origins? A cursory look at any histories of Yazidis will reveal that Sinjar, Sheikhan/Lalish, eastern Anatolia, and parts of Kurdish Syria are their traditional homelands. (All of which are part of traditional Kurdish areas, as well.)
None of this is to say that Yazidis, as well as other minorities, (many of which were not traditionally concerned with the “ethnicity” question) have not been victims of a tug-of-war between Arabization and Kurdish nationalist schemes. I fully agree with your statement that “Nationalist Kurds try to find political gains in the present-Iraq turbid waters by taking in, and showing willingness to protect Christian and Yazidi minorities in order that they annex the areas they inhabit to the so-called region of Kurdistan in any future division of Iraq. Some theses areas have oil reserves.”
This is very true. But I think we must ask what the alternatives are. Either Kurdistan absorbs and protects those areas, or… we wait for the Assyrian nationalist army to materialize and step in to protect those areas?
At present, it all comes down to a contest between ISIS and Kurdistan. One will be the winner, the other will lose. The withdrawal of the KRG from territories that you may think should be “independent” or carry some kind of semi-autonomous federal status would spell the end of minorities in those areas. And this is NOT a dynamic that has suddenly emerged with the appearance of ISIS; it has been the same reality for over a decade, when the Peshmerga were the only thing preventing the mass destruction of Yazidi society by al-Qaida jihadists (who nevertheless did manage to sometimes inflict heavy losses against Yazidi civilians in some of the single most deadly instances of post-Iraq War terrorism in the entire country). And even nostalgic appeals to the days of “security” under Saddam don’t hold water for Yazidis, who experienced the twisted campaign of forced relocation combined with the destruction of hundreds of their villages—a territorial & demographic manipulation strategy masterminded by Saddam.
Kurdistan is the best chance they’ve had… which probably explains why the great majority is happy to identify as “Kurdish,” while the counter-movement has never picked up steam.
August 4th, 2014, 5:11 pm
Austin Michael Bodetti said:
I wonder how safe Arbil will be.
August 4th, 2014, 5:32 pm
Ghufran said:
Barzani the sneaky politician has miscalculated and now he has to befriend people he does not like. Isis will never permit a secular or semi secular Kurdish state near its currently held territories. Isis is now a regional and international problem and it requires a regional and international intervention especially after Isis took over oil fields and water supplies including Mosul Iraq’s biggest dam. One problem is the unmeasured but existing support Isis has among some Sunnis. Every major victory by Isis was facilitated by prework with local Sunni groups and leaders who decided to side with Isis for one reason or the other. Isis will continue to buy friends until a major military strike is launched agsinst it. Those who are preventing or delaying such a strike are friends of terrorists and virtual allies of Israel.
August 4th, 2014, 9:58 pm
Passerby said:
If the civilized world, continues to abandon the Kurds, as it has always done, in the current situation, if they do fail to stand against ISIS, we will rue the day.
Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq won’t like it?
Nope, no one on that list I’m trying to impress.
August 4th, 2014, 10:12 pm
Passerby said:
“… Those who are preventing or delaying such a strike are friends of terrorists and virtual allies of Israel.”
And since the US could break the back of the International Oil Cartel with the stroke of a pen and never does, Israel must control that too, as it funds all it’s enemies. So Israel must control all it’s enemies, not just ISIS.
So, perhaps it would be more concise if you informed us, in your world view, of what Israel does NOT control.
Seems that would be a much shorter list. Save a lot of typing.
August 4th, 2014, 10:19 pm
Passerby said:
Just trying to build up morale? The totally clueless, babe in the woods, US government has developed a spine?…
US to Give Kurdish Forces Air Support
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Rudaw has learned from a high-level American official that the United States has offered the Kurds air support in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The official source who didn’t want to be named said that the US would also provide the Kurdish Peshmerga with arms and military expertise.
The American offer is said to include humanitarian aid to be transported by air to the people of Shangal and Zumar who have been displaced as a result of fighting in their areas.
This newspaper has also learned that a number of European countries have contacted the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) with offers of military support….
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/040820146
Me, I’d give anyone with a serious army fighting ISIS air support, including Iran. And I’d destroy anyone like Assad that is helping them. Assad would make the right choice given those options, after all, it means he won the war. He’d stab ISIS in the back in a heartbeat.
August 4th, 2014, 10:29 pm
mjabali said:
Matt barber is talking as if the Kurds did not kill hundreds of thousands of Assyrians and Kaldanis in the 20th C. If you add up the Turks, all of Eastern Turkey and many parts of what is today Kurdistan is Assyrian and Kaldani land were wiped out.
Matt Barber forgot the claims of the central Iraqi government on this land.
Another point: They are called Ezidyz and not Yazidis…please..there is a huge difference…
August 4th, 2014, 10:46 pm
Passerby said:
BAGHDAD: 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.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Iraqi-PM-orders-air-force-to-help-Kurds-fight-Islamic-State/articleshow/39659038.cms
Seems the civilized world could do better than those obsolete Russian dive bombers. Granted some politicians would have to eat a lot of crow.
August 4th, 2014, 10:54 pm
Passerby said:
I donno’ the story about the US providing air support showing up a half hour before the Iraqi government openly saying they will do the same, is probably not a coincidence.
Barak Hussein Obama leads America back to war in Iraq…savor the moment folks…
August 4th, 2014, 11:17 pm
ALAN said:
Gaza 2014
http://youtu.be/hFOZc2-A37I?t=1s
**
Senator David Norris” Israel bombs first and weeps later”.
http://youtu.be/keS-LDl_ewA?t=10s
August 5th, 2014, 7:42 am
Musa said:
Wow. This is really heartbreaking because the Yazidis have even fewer options for refuge than other Iraqis. They can’t safely go to Sunny areas, they can’t safely go (or even get to) Shia areas. The Yazidis haven’t committed any atrocities either to even remotely justify this.
August 5th, 2014, 10:04 am
ALAN said:
EXTREMISTS DESTROY THE SPLENDORS OF BABYLON
http://spectator.org/blog/60095/extremists-destroy-splendors-babylon
Simon Elliot, aka Al-Baghdadi, son of Jewish parents, Mossad agent
http://croah.fr/corbeau-dechaine/simon-elliot-alias-al-baghdadi-de-pere-et-mere-juifs-et-agent-du-mossad/
August 5th, 2014, 10:08 am
Jasmine said:
Matthew
Somebody Else is posting as Jasmine in the previous post.
Is this allowed or shall I change my name to Lilly .
August 5th, 2014, 11:42 am
ALAN said:
the US government and military know, without a doubt, that the “Saigon Moment” is coming to Baghdad, and quickly.
The Kurdish Peshmerga is one of the most fierce, and disciplined, fighting forces in the region.
US to Give Kurdish Forces Air Support
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/040820146
August 5th, 2014, 1:01 pm
omen said:
Social media clearly showed increased resentment among Damascenes who are fed up with this ” revolution”.
damascenes still hate bashar more.
August 5th, 2014, 1:36 pm
omen said:
just wondered what that would look like.
August 5th, 2014, 1:58 pm
Passerby said:
” …If the dam fails, scientists say Mosul could be completely flooded within hours and a 15-foot wall of water could crash into Baghdad.
ISIS fighters first moved toward the Haditha Dam, located in western Iraq on the Euphrates River, last week. On Monday, the insurgents and other tribal Sunni troops resumed the advance, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
On Wednesday, Sunni connivance around Haditha increased, with reports that disparate militant groups and tribal leaders were negotiating the surrender of the town of Haditha, which would open the whole of Anbar province to ISIS…”
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/07/02/water_wars_in_the_land_of_two_rivers?utm_content=bufferdabda&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Yeah, on the “Don’t fight for Baghdad, make it a liability to the Shiites,” a 15 foot wall of water should work nicely. Although I suspect they’re focused on options a great deal more lethal than that. Just need a little more time…
August 5th, 2014, 3:18 pm
Passerby said:
“…By a little after 3 p.m., when most people in Johnstown were settling in to be marooned for the evening, club officials and the laborers they recruited, as well as a good sized audience from the little community of South Fork just below the dam, watched in dumbfounded horror as the dam “just moved away. ”
Within the hour, a body of water which engineers at the time estimated moved into the valley with the force of Niagara Falls, rolled into Johnstown with 14 miles of accumulated debris, which included houses, barns, animals and people, dead and alive.
Those who saw it coming described it as a rolling hill of debris about 40 feet high and a halfamile wide. But most only heard the thunderous rumble as it swept into the city to add Johnstown to a wake that already included bits and pieces of the communities of South Fork, Mineral Point, Woodvale and East Conemaugh.
Some continued to wait out the disaster in their houses, others were picked up by the flood wave for a wild ride through the town to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company’s Stone Bridge where debris piled 40 feet high and over 30 acres, then caught fire…
…The lake was a little over two miles long, a little over a mile wide at its widest spot, and 60 feet deep at the dam itself.”
http://www.jaha.org/FloodMuseum/history.html
Mosul Dam: 11.1 cubic kilometres (2.7 cu mi) of water
Fun With Math:
Johnstown Volume <= 3kilometers(2mi+)*2kilometers(1mi+)* 15/1000 kilometers(60ft max)= 60/1000 cubic kilometers = 0.06 cubic kilometers.
And Mosul Dam holds 11.1/.06 = 185 times as much water, which all things being equal, would be about 6 times as high (cube root).
6*40 feet high = 240 feet high.
But all things aren't equal.
—————
The Banqiao Reservoir Dam (simplified Chinese: 板桥水库大坝; traditional Chinese: 板橋水庫大壩; pinyin: Bǎnqiáo Shuǐkù Dàbà) is a dam on the River Ru in Zhumadian City, Henan province, China. Its failure in 1975 caused more casualties than any other dam failure in history. The dam failures killed an estimated 171,000 people;[1] 11 million people lost their homes…
…The total capacity of reservoir was 492 million m³"
More Fun With Math
How many cubic kilometers is 492 million cubic meters? About .8 cubic kilometers.
So, Mosul Dam holds ~=11/.8 ~= 10 times as much water as what killed 171,000 and left 11,000,000 homeless in China.
All things being equal.
August 5th, 2014, 3:55 pm
omen said:
i remain moderated at the wall. if someone would be so kind, please request Majedkhaldoun return to the blog.
🙏
http://7ee6an.wordpress.com/
August 5th, 2014, 4:24 pm
Uzair8 said:
I’m really worried about the fate of the Yazidi people (and the Kurds for that matter). Why doesn’t someone go in and help them?
Turkey should go in and smash the ISIS dogs.
I hope PM Erdojan makes a move.
August 6th, 2014, 1:56 am
ALAN said:
It is the US-Israeli-Saudi trick. Is exactly the wasps nest.
http://youtu.be/JNoP-tQ5mCw?list=UUSLfzD-bhd87qM0ZPuX_ipg
August 6th, 2014, 12:29 pm
jo6pac said:
Alan your right the Amerikan taxpayer paying for the genocide in Gaza.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/08/04/cash-weapons-surveillance/
August 6th, 2014, 4:43 pm
Jasmine said:
This what happened when you combine tar with retard in Islam,it is another episode of melting the minorities in the Middle East,it is one more atrocity to be added to the history of human kind.
Ethnic cleansing is on its full gear now in Iraq,and hope is totally lost in the future of this nation.
How many more people have to suffer till a new map of the region emerge?
Surprisingly or not really,Saudi Arabia has pledged one billion to the Lebanese Army,while still financing ISIS in Syria,in a way they are making sure that the fight will never end,till all minorities are wiped out.
Signed:
The real Jasmine
August 6th, 2014, 4:55 pm
Matthew Barber said:
Jasmine,
I’m sorry that one got by us. I fixed the problem by banning that account, so you can go back to being your old self.
New Jasmine, you’re very welcome to join us here; just choose a new username and a different email from the one you used before.
Original Jasmine, I should remind you that “retard” is a banned word on Syria Comment; we do not allow the use of terms that are offensive to people with disabilities.
Omen, Majedkhaldoun is very welcome to return to the blog. I informed him of such the same week he was banned. The sole condition was to apologize for using a term of insult offensive to homosexuals. That offer remains open.
I miss him too.
August 6th, 2014, 9:18 pm
ALAN said:
Hurry up to buy tickets immediately. They have a limited number of seats. American film – an Israeli named wasps nest.
Kurds from Turkey, Syria enter Iraq to battle Islamic State
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/08/06/4056326/kurds-from-turkey-syria-enter.html
August 7th, 2014, 4:07 am
Jasmine said:
Thanks Matthew.
I totally agree with you,it is an insult to the retarded people to use their condition to describe ISIS.
I just can’t find a suitable definition for this pandemic (ISIS)it has no cure so far,it is like Ebola virus.
August 7th, 2014, 9:18 am
ALAN said:
The FOX
https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/1521420_284364565081657_8665923510421465714_n.jpg?oh=028dfe04fc5bf1bd17ab3d4287931783&oe=545844D7
https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10411256_689414887791367_6991511424566700725_n.jpg?oh=81c35456b714fdcfd0871377a257b1d1&oe=5447420E
August 7th, 2014, 2:49 pm
ALAN said:
US air dropping supplies to victims of their own ISIS mercenaries is beyond despicable. WHY THEY FUNDING TERRORISTS!
August 7th, 2014, 3:53 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
Now everybody is scared and histerycal about ISIS. Who did create all conditions for the grow up of this monster ? Assad did.
Why all leaders of ISIS military forces appear with hidden face on cameras ? It is a mystery we could ask to Iran and Assad maybe…
August 7th, 2014, 5:06 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
ALAN like ASSAd appears to be the saver of Human Kind…. this is really despicable.
They have been promoting chaos and destruction, killing unarmed demonstrators, bombing full villages and cities, now you feel sorrow for populations…. but only when you are not the ones who are dropping bombs…
‘Aib Aleikum, Allah Yahkumkum ya mujrimiin !!!
August 7th, 2014, 5:10 pm
Passerby said:
There is only one force on earth that can help them.
The United States of America.
But when I said Barak Hussein Obama was about to lead the USA back into war in Iraq, it was 13 to 0 that it wasn’t going to happen. With such an informed and worldly group, that pretty much means I’m wrong and they are doomed.
We’ll see, won’t we?
August 7th, 2014, 5:35 pm
Passerby said:
Jets, explosions reported near Islamic State lines as Kurds beg for U.S. help
IRBIL, Iraq — Jet aircraft attacked Islamic State positions outside the town of Kalak, 25 miles northwest of Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, a resident of Kalak told McClatchy early Friday.
The resident, reached by phone from Irbil, said she had seen the aircraft and had heard the explosions coming from behind Islamic State lines, which are slightly more than a mile away. The resident said because it was dark she could not see any markings on the aircraft.
Kurdish television reported that the bombers were American. There was no confirmation from U.S. officials in Washington.
Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2014/08/07/3338835/islamic-state-pushes-back-kurdish.html#storylink=cpy
I am so proud to be an American.
August 7th, 2014, 5:49 pm
Passerby said:
A Return to the Fight in Iraq
With the threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria growing more horrific and dominant, and even reliable Kurdish forces having trouble holding ISIS back, President Obama may have already begun airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops…
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/08/07/a-return-to-the-fight-in-iraq
Well, I”ll give him credit, he’s doing the right thing, even if it does mean political suicide.
August 7th, 2014, 6:03 pm
Passerby said:
*Your comment is awaiting moderation.*
DOHUK, Iraq — American military forces bombed at least two targets in northern Iraq on Thursday night to rout Islamist insurgents who have trapped tens of thousands of religious minorities in Kurdish areas, Kurdish officials said.
Word of the bombings, reported on Kurdish television from the city of Erbil, came as President Obama was preparing to make a statement in Washington.
Kurdish officials said the bombings targeted fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria who had seized two towns, Gwer and Mahmour. Residents who had fled those areas by car were heard honking their horns in approval…
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/american-forces-said-to-bomb-isis-targets-in-iraq.html?_r=0
They’ll forget. No one ever thanks us, never any gratitude, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc. etc. etc. but we always step forward and stand in the breech.
Yeah, all your failures, and all the failures of those like you, are the fault of the USA. The he11-hole you live in would be paradise if it weren’t for us.
August 7th, 2014, 6:11 pm
Passerby said:
(CNN) –
U.S. humanitarian airdrop missions have started in Iraq, a senior U.S. official told CNN Thursday.
“An effort has begun,” the official said. Planes are in the air, the official said, but they have not yet started dropping aid. There are fighter jets for protection, the source said…
Is it the Rusian air force saving them? The Europeans? Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, China? How hard can it be to drop some food?
But it isn’t is it?
It’s the United States of America, and yeah, we ARE special, we”re the only ones that show up.
August 7th, 2014, 6:48 pm
Passerby said:
Ok, that’s two votss for letting them all die and be sold into slavery.
And you are wondering why where you live is such a sewer?
August 7th, 2014, 9:38 pm
Passerby said:
“Earlier this week, one Iraqi in the area cried to the world, ‘there is no one coming to help.’ Well, today America is coming to help,” the president said.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/did-the-u-s-just-bomb-iraq-20140807
So proud to be an American. So proud.
And shame on the rest of the world!
August 7th, 2014, 9:59 pm
JOSHUAH DAVIDSON said:
HERE WE COME TO SAVE THE DAY!!!
THE CHRISTIANS AND THE JEWS!!!
O YEAH!!!
AMERICA THE CHRISTIAN/JEWISH NATION GETS IT DONE!
ALL PRAISE THE POWER OF YHVH/YESHUSHUAH/JESUS NAME! LET ANGELS PROSTRATE FORTH. BRING FORTH THE ROYAL DIADEM AND CROWN HIM LORD OF LORDS!!!
August 7th, 2014, 10:53 pm
ALAN said:
You like someone who sings to himself in the bathroom! Stop chatter
The number of your posts 18 times on the subject of bla bla
August 8th, 2014, 1:22 am
Syrialover said:
One thing the dazed and dysfunctional Arab League SHOULD be doing:
Setting up a Middle Eastern Guantanamo in which to dump all the sickos, sadists and juvenile fantasists of ISIS and their Shia counterparts when they are rounded up.
1. It should be in some grim remote desert location with rules that make Guantanamo look like a holiday camp.
2. Significantly, have it internationally agreed there will be ZERO channels for “human rights” junketers and representatives of governments to plead for special rights and return of their own nationals.
and 3. Though it also goes against my normal beliefs, I also advocate routine mass executions without trial for the degraded real-life nobodies and nasty sub-animals who invaded and did the same to unprotected innocent citizens or locals who were defending their home countries.
The world is starting to realise that people aboard these super terrorist junk ships are too debased, brain-damaged and dangerous to have a future in any human society anywhere.
Don’t passively wait for the west to figure out a plan – let the functioning governments of the region take the lead and start preparing rubbish disposal units for them, and do it now!
August 8th, 2014, 5:27 am
Passerby said:
“Those who are preventing or delaying such a strike are friends of terrorists and virtual allies of Israel.”
Ghufran
Ok, according to Ghufran’s understanding of the world, everyone on the planet is a friend of terrorists except the United States of America.
A broken clock is right twice a day.
August 8th, 2014, 6:10 am
Passerby said:
57. ALAN said:
You like someone who sings to himself in the bathroom! Stop chatter
The number of your posts 18 times on the subject of bla bla
From YOU Alan?
August 8th, 2014, 6:13 am
Jasmine said:
Passerby
You posted nearly 20 times to tell us how great USA is,we got it.
You should give the credit to Bush who ruined Iraq,now the Iraquis are paying the price of spreading your democracy.
Now Saint Obama is coming to protect its own interest under the pretext of saving humanity.
Are you going to change your name to staying put?
August 8th, 2014, 7:42 am
Observer said:
Here we go again.
The Golf of Tonkin incident that was not one.
The UN force to defeat the commies in Korea.
The massive airlift to save the Jewish State in 73.
The Iraqi soldiers removing babies from incubators in Kuwait in 91.
The non existent relation between OBL and Saddam.
The WMD and the mushroom cloud over our cities.
The genocide of Yazidis in Iraq.
All of a sudden, Barak finds his lost humanity. The same Barak that said we should not go an save the Congo, and the same Barak who forgot his humanitarian intervention when the iPad Retard was gassing his own people and when 9 million Syrians were being displaced. Barak needed congress to save millions of Syrians but does not need one to save 40 000 Yazidis. What an incompetent farcical nincompoop of a leader of the free world we have today.
The advisors in Vietnam swelled to 450 000 and the liberation of Kuwait so that the family can enjoy once again their golden toilets was 500 000.
It is not Yazidis it is Erbil and the oil fields you stupid. After all we are allies of such abominations as the Royal Family of Saud, the Right Wing Extremist Parties of Bibi and Lieberman in the Jewish State, the Mullahstan when it suits us of Iran, and who knows perhaps the Islamic State when it starts to gobble up most of Syria and Iraq and parts of Lebanon.
Airstrikes my foot, humanitarian droppings my toes, we are about to enter into another 150 year if not a 1000 year Shia Sunni civil war as well as a 100 year at least Jewish Muslim war.
Winston Churchill said it correctly: Americans will always do the right the thing; after they have exhausted every other means. We never learn, and we continue to go out and try to slay monsters only to have blowback after blowback come our way.
Protecting the consulate in Erbil or so he says. Where was he in Benghazi then?
I think he is trying to outdo GWB as the worst President we ever had, certainly in Foreign Policies he outdid his predecessor.
August 8th, 2014, 8:59 am
Passerby said:
Oh yeah, Jasmine, Iraq was a paradise, a mere 100,000 slaughtered per year on average, many by WMD, including his own people.
Your kind of place, huh?
August 8th, 2014, 10:20 am
Passerby said:
So many deliberate lies, so little time…
Non-existant, Observer? Don’t read the papers much, huh?
Like Saddam offering Osama sanctuary, even the 9/11 commission saying they had constant meetings, set up by Saddam’s old friend, Zawahiri.
Did the 9/11 Commission know what they were meeting about? No they didn’t. No one knows.
And Bill Clinton long before GW bombing Osama’s “pharmecutical” plant with it’s connections with Saddam’s WMD program?
And the fact that Saddam Hussein was the biggest supporter of state terrorism in world history. The open reward of $50,000 for the suicide bombers. Safe haven for Abu Nidal, always Saddam’s boy, who blew up and hijacked more airplanes than Al-Qaeda ever dreamed of. Too bad he shot himself in the head 6 times in Baghdad right after 9/11, he was the expert.
Or ISIS/Al-Qaeda in Iraq being created by Saddam to plant in the No-Fly Zone to torment the Kurds. Always supplied by Saddam and getting their medical care in Baghdad.
Or the rather obvious fact that ISIS is still controlled by the Saddam Regime that increasingly are openly running their army.
And more…
August 8th, 2014, 10:29 am
Passerby said:
And yea, Observer, we did defeat the Kingdom of Communist Korea and Communist China in Korea.
But the Kingdom of Communist Korea is your kind of place, huh? The way a government should be run and how it should treat it’s people, huh?
Will/would have the Saddam Regime-ISIS/Saddam use WMD in the US cities?
Hard to day, my guess is yes. In your opinion, what happens after that? What will happen to the human race? What is at stake? Here’s a hint, there won’t be an internet for us to be talking on, in the event we are still alive.
August 8th, 2014, 10:42 am
Jasmine said:
Passerby
Saddam looks like a saint compare it to your new creation ISIS.
Regime change didn’t work brilliantly in Iraq and you never learn from your mistake,you tried it again in Syria,or you didn’t want to learn at all,this is always the plan.
Let the nations decide about choosing their leaders,and stop policing the world in a selective way when it suit your interests,you present always your ideas of democracy and freedom to cover up your hidden agendas.
Propaganda has a short life ,Syrians knew better and proved that they are the real politicians.
August 8th, 2014, 12:18 pm
ALAN said:
Jasmine :
I think it is appropriate to say that the United States is a country with no values , no principles, and no ethics. The oil and financial interests blinded their minds and insight. The fact that they are not interested in what is happening in Iraq , Syria,and in Libya! It is important to have the security of oil and provide it marketing by US damned dollars ! America is villainous state par excellence.It is a matter of fact.
August 8th, 2014, 1:29 pm
Syrialover said:
Something about the infuriating and sickening images of the massacre by ISIS of the brave young men in Deir Ezzor who tried to fight them:
As usual the filthy cowards of ISIS killing helpless prisoners are masked. Their victims are not. They die as humans, to be recognised and mourned.
And avenged!!!!
They will be. They will be.
August 8th, 2014, 1:41 pm
Syrialover said:
And if the weak thrill killers and childish fantasists of ISIS think the masks will protect them from being recognised when it’s all over, they are in for a shock when digital images of their eyes, hairline, body shape and related identification methodology nails them.
They will bawl like babies for their mothers and beg to be rescued by their home governments.
Any “Middle Eastern Guantanamo” (#59) should ensure the walls are too thick and it is too far away from civilization for anyone to hear them.
August 8th, 2014, 1:59 pm
ALAN said:
America helps Iraq, With More Bombs?
This is another case of “blowback”. The US funded and trained ISIS to send against Syria’s Assad. Then ISIS decided they had had enough of fighting the US’ war in Syria and took their US taxpayer paid-for weapons and headed into Iraq, which was looking more attractive. The Iraq security forces, also trained by the US, dropped their US taxpayer paid-for weapons and ran, allowing ISIS to add to their arsenal of US taxpayer paid-for weapons and march towards Baghdad. So n ow Obama had ordered US warplanes (paid for again by the US taxpayers) to start dropping bombs (paid for again by the US taxpayers) onto ISIS to destroy their weapons (paid for again by the US taxpayers), along with a token number of food packages (paid for again by the US taxpayers) so Obama can pretend this is a humanitarian mission rather than invasion number three of Iraq.
As heading deeper into WW3, no matter who is fighting who, somehow the US taxpayer gets soaked for the bill!
Herd of taxpayers: Sympathize with you.
August 8th, 2014, 2:03 pm
ALAN said:
A Lockheed Martin -death exporter factory- in the US that manufactures Hellfire air-to-ground missiles has been operating seven days a week to provide weapons destined for Iraqi government and Kurdish forces under pre-existing support arrangements.
The White House says it has been consulting with the US Congress over its intervention but does not believe it needs authorisation for military action and merely plans to file a report under the war powers act if air strikes go ahead. Obama’s authorisation for the Pentagon to carry out attacks is “geographically restricted to Iraq” and does not include Syria.
August 8th, 2014, 2:28 pm
Jasmine said:
Alan
It is so ironic ,USA is helping the Syrian army indirectly now.
They could still bomb ISIS in Syria without declaring it,if they are really serious about their operation,it is not that hard to locate them,I would never complain.
August 8th, 2014, 2:41 pm
Passerby said:
Passerby
Saddam looks like a saint compare it to your new creation ISIS.
Let’s see now, the United States of America is the only country on earth helping the refugees, the only one fighting ISIS to save them, but somehow is some twisted way, they are our creation?
And black is white, up is down, and words have no meaning.
August 8th, 2014, 3:51 pm
Passerby said:
“68. ALAN said:
Jasmine :
I think it is appropriate to say that the United States is a country with no values , no principles, and no ethics…”
Only to those that support genocide of those with a different religion. Only to those with those “principles and ethics”.
And who cares what they think.
August 8th, 2014, 3:55 pm
Passerby said:
ALAN said:
“..House says it has been consulting with the US Congress over its intervention but does not believe it needs authorization…”
What a bummer, huh? The Unites States actually being able to save the lives of all those nasty ethnic minorities that are better off dead and sold into slavery. A dark day, huh?
August 8th, 2014, 4:03 pm
Passerby said:
“More information has come in from AP. The spokesman for Iraq’s human rights ministry says hundreds of women from the Yazidi religious minority have been taken captive by militants from the Islamic State group.”
Abandoned by the entire world, left to their fate…all except one that is…
“CNN says there was a drone strike on mortar position outside Erbil at 10am. When fighters returned after initial strike, they were re-engaged and at 11.20am, four FA/18 Hornets off carrier George H W Bush hit a convoy of Islamic State fighters.”
It’s not enough, can’t just poke them in the eye with a sharp stick and sit back and congratulate yourself, we are now at the top of their revenge list. It’s on.
August 8th, 2014, 4:18 pm
Syrialover said:
OBSERVER #61
I know, I know. Little Barak Obama’s inadequacies and deepening failure in his role are daily spelt out in stinging criticisms and unease about him from all sides of politics in the USA.
So we can leave it to them.
Let’s be glad for ANY high-tech strike against ISIS, no matter how belated, poorly executed and badly rationalized.
They have to be wiped out like a filthy plague of pests or the Ebola disease.
That’s all that matters.
August 8th, 2014, 4:46 pm
Passerby said:
In reference to my Fun With Math analysis of Mosul Dam and past dam failures above there’s this independent analysis…
“…Mosul was completed in 1984 on a soluble foundation of gypsum, anhydrite, and karstic limestone. To save construction time, foundation grouting was not completed ahead of time. It began seeping immediately upon filling of the reservoir in 1985.
“This has created a cyclical problem because the seeping of reservoir water into the soluble foundation causes the foundation material to dissolve, which leads to larger open spaces, which in turn leads to larger quantities of water seeping into the foundation and then more dissolution,” Richard Coffman, assistant professor of civil engineering at University of Arkansas, said.
Coffman conducted extensive studies of the dam, using satellite-based radar images taken from March 2003-April 2007. He determined the structure is subsiding at a rate of 8 millimeters per year.
“Simply put, if ISIS does not continue grouting operations, the dam may fail,” Coffman said during the time in which the dam takeover was believed to have been successful. “If failure occurs, Mosul will be inundated with approximately 30 meters of water and Baghdad with 5 meters of water.”
http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2014/08/reports-isis-seizes-control-of-iraq-s-750-mw-mosul-dam.html
And if it’s blown up, more than that in the first surge, and it’s not water, it’s a meat grinder/battering ram of debris.
All now the choice of ISIS. Do they want to take out Baghdad, empty the city, kill or send homeless in the countryside starving 6,000,000 Shiites? Gotta take out Mosul to do it.
Surely they are too moral and reasonable to do that…
It’s the Saddam Regime, do they want to destroy the dam and both cities? Probably not, but it’s their choice now,
August 8th, 2014, 7:45 pm
Passerby said:
Dear Clueless Harmless Buffoons running the US Government,
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that it’s now the choice of those “JV” guys “wearing Laker uniforms” whether the Green Zone is hit by a wall of water 30 feet high, full of battering rams.
And something else bad will happen at the same time. Massed suicide bombers, poison air, poison ground, something else.
Please factor that into your plans for defending it.
I just thought I’d point it out, since you have no remote clue, and this would make Benghazi look like a Sunday picnic,
Passerby
August 8th, 2014, 7:54 pm
omen said:
really? don’t you think that’s just a wee bit heavy handed? i’ve seen all manner of bigotry slide by without it being sanctioned with something draconian like being banned. we used to get a warning first.
August 9th, 2014, 9:40 pm