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I intend to keep this open and add material as it becomes available
Fight
for Iraq
Retweeted by Rami
·
Balad
Iraq US contractors trapped
I
am writing from ballad Iraq as a employee of sallyport, ksillc..there
are approx 500 US citizens on balad air base north of Baghdad
trapped..we are part of a little known F16 iraq support mission
here...The company has reportedly for the last 3 days to fly us out,
we are now all herded into a central location on base..and being told
nothing..The clint lockheed martin, DoS and most women have already
been evacuated days ago but we are all still here. I hope this
message is received by someone that can break this as headline news
to bring attention to the situation for us..we are all worried and in
dire straight as last security Intel reports Isis elements around
us..
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1143661?ref=feeds/latest
Iran
to step in to prevent collapse of Iraqi state
Iran
is moving to stop the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis)
from capturing Baghdad and the provinces immediately to the north of
the capital.
Patrick
Cockburn
14
June, 2014
The
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is taking a central role in
planning and strategy in Baghdad in the wake of the disintegration of
the Iraqi army in the country’s north, an Iraqi source has told The
Independent.
With
the Iraqi army command completely discredited by recent defeats, the
aim of the IRGC is to create a new and more effective fighting force
by putting together trustworthy elements of the old army and the Shia
militias. According to the source, the aim of the new force would be
to give priority “to stabilising the front and rolling it back at
least into Samarra and the contested areas of Diyala”. The Iraqi
army has 14 divisions, of which four were involved in last week’s
debacle, but there is no sign of the remaining units rallying and
staging a counter-attack.
Militants
driving pick-ups with machine guns in the back have captured two
towns, Jalula and Sadiyah, in the mixed Sunni-Shia-Kurdish Diyala
province. Both have been the scene of bloody sectarian fighting in
the past and Sadiyah is only 60 miles from Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers
abandoned their positions without offering any resistance after being
given an ultimatum that they must hand over their weapons if they
wanted to leave unharmed.
The
Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, told the Iraqi Prime Minister,
Nouri al-Maliki, by phone that “Iran will apply all its efforts on
the international and regional levels to confront terrorism.” Iraq,
with its long common border with Iran and a 60 per cent Shia
majority, is Iran’s most important ally, more important even than
Syria. The Iranians are horrified by the sudden military collapse of
their ally and the prospect of a viscerally anti-Shia
quasi-independent Sunni state emerging in northern and western Iraq
and eastern Syria. This would create problems for Iran in Syria where
it has been struggling with some success to stabilise the rule of
President Bashar al-Assad.
The
leading Shia clerics in Iraq are likewise anxious about the future of
Iraq as the first Arab state to be ruled by Shia since the days of
Saladin (in the 12th century). The senior cleric, Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi
al-Karbaklai, who normally represents the Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani, the most revered Shia spiritual leader in Iraq, said at
Friday prayers “that citizens who can carry weapons and fight the
terrorists in defence of their country, its people and its holy sites
should volunteer and join the security forces”.
The
US, Britain and their allies such as Saudi Arabia and the Sunni
monarchies of the Gulf might object to further Iranian involvement in
Iraq. On the other hand, Washington’s only effective alternative
policy would be air strikes, but even these may not be enough to put
down what is turning into a general uprising of the Sunni community
in Iraq, which is five or six million strong and mainly concentrated
in the north and west.
It
is becoming clear that Isis is not the only Sunni militant group
involved in the Sunni insurgents’ multipronged offensive that was
carefully co-ordinated. Among those engaged are the Jaish Naqshbandi,
led by Saddam Hussein’s former deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri,
former members of the Baath party, the Mukhbarat security services
and the Special Republican Guard. It is these groups, rather than
Isis, which captured Tikrit.
Mr
Maliki has blamed “a conspiracy” for the army failing to fight
and, though he produced no evidence, it is possible senior Sunni
officers in the Iraqi army were involved in a plot. Some 80 per cent
of the senior officers in Saddam Hussein’s army are estimated to
have been Sunni and Mosul was famous as the home of many of them.
Saddam traditionally picked his defence minister from Mosul.
Isis
fighters are the shock troops of the Sunni offensive but are also
part of a broad anti-government coalition, the unity of which may be
difficult to maintain if Isis gives full range to its bigoted
anti-Shia ideology and starts destroying their mosques, churches and
other religious monuments. Some leaflets circulating in Mosul insist
that women should not leave the house unless absolutely necessary.
The
victories of Isis over superior forces in such a short space of time
will greatly increase its prestige and its appeal to the Sunni not
only in Iraq but in the rest of the Muslim world. It has also
captured military equipment including at least two helicopters.
Government forces have made some air attacks – such as one against
a mosque in Tikrit yesterday – but not enough to prevent the
advance of Isis, whose commanders are eager not to give their enemy
time to reorganise. Intoxicated by unexpected success the Isis
fighters will be difficult to stop.
For
the moment, the government in Baghdad appears paralysed, Mr Maliki
having failed to assemble a quorum in parliament to give him
emergency powers. But even if such powers had been secured it is not
clear how far they would enable him to tackle his main problem, which
is that security forces are refusing to fight.
'Multiple
groups may be joining ISIS jihadists in fight against Iraqi govt'
RT,
14
June, 2014
The
relative ease with which insurgents have taken control of major
cities in Iraq suggests former military officers and others may have
joined forces with jihadists to target Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki's Shiite-led government, Edmund Ghareeb told RT.
"What
also makes this interesting and what raises a lot of questions about
what's going on is that there are many forces fighting under the name
of ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)," said
Ghareeb, a professor at American University, adding that the many
groups have a common enemy in Maliki.
He
added that there could be "Iraqi officers, who are from Saddam
Hussein's army, who come from the Tikrit area and the Mosul area, and
probably that explains [how] military tactics were used, because
these were very effective. There was professional planning here."
RT:
Is it fair to say, as President Barack Obama has said, that Iraq is
solely responsible for its own security situation?
Edmund
Ghareeb: Clearly what's going on in Iraq was a surprise to the
[Obama] administration, as I'm sure that, probably, it was a surprise
to the Iraqi government as well. The rapidity with which these forces
are able to advance and take over a city like Mosul raises a lot of
questions about the Iraqi army, which was trained, supposedly, by the
United States. They, of course, didn't have very sophisticated
weapons in terms of airplanes or missiles. But this is an army where
$25 billion was spent to help prepare it for future duties, to help
protect Iraq's government, and the population of Iraq.
But
I think what is happening here is that this all raises questions
about the way the US government is looking at this situation, and, of
course, the president still has his perception of his own legacy.
President Obama, when he was a candidate for the presidency, promised
to get out of Iraq. He does not want to return to Iraq. At the same
time, this is a complex and difficult situation, and he cannot remain
totally out of touch with this situation. That's why we're seeing
this response, this careful evaluation of what the US could do or
should do. On the other hand, the president has taken into account
the political realities on the ground.
RT:
If the Iraqi army is left to their own devices, can they really
defend Iraq from this onslaught?
EG:
On the one hand, you have an army that has somewhere between 250,000
and 300,000 men. You have security forces that are close to 900,000.
So that should be sufficient to protect Baghdad and to protect some
of the cities, even against the onslaught of several thousand or
hundred, in some cases, fighters.
Of
course the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is
experienced, it's composed of many hardened fighters. What also makes
this interesting and what raises a lot of questions about what's
going on is that there are many forces fighting under the name of
ISIS. What we are seeing is that the fighters are fighting under the
banner of ISIS, and at the same time, it seems there are other
groups. You have the forces of the former vice president of Iraq,
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who is of the Naqshbandi, the Sufi order. You
have Iraqi officers who are from Saddam Hussein's army, who come from
the Tikrit area and the Mosul area, and probably that explains [how]
military tactics were used, because these were very effective. There
was professional planning here. Also, the Baathists, the former
Baathists, may also have been involved, as well as the tribes. These
people have a common stand against Prime Minister Maliki. They're all
opposed to Maliki. At the same time, I don't think these groups have
the same objectives. For example, ISIS wants to have an Islamic
caliphate. I don't think this is necessarily shared by some of the
Sufi groups, and it wouldn't be shared by the former Iraqi army
officers, or the Baath Party. Nevertheless, right now, they may be
working together against Maliki.
As
for the situation also going down in Baghdad, I don't think it will
be easy for this force to take over Baghdad, particularly if there is
a defense. The demography of Baghdad was changed over the past
several years, and it is mostly a Shiite majority city. At the same
time, there are professional and elite forces which are defending
Baghdad, so it won't be easy. Nevertheless, the fact is these forces
are moving. They've taken Mosul and, reportedly, Tikrit – though
there is a question about parts of it – and Baiji, which is a very
important town where you have oil facilities there. They are taking
the cities, and that's significant.
Iraq
blocks Twitter, Facebook, YouTube amid growing ISIS threat
RT,
13
June, 2014
The
Iraqi government has blocked access to top social media sites like
Facebook and Twitter, reportedly to hinder the activities of
militants formerly associated with Al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, thousands are
signing up to fight the jihadist insurgency in Iraq.
Numerous
media reports citing journalists and open-internet advocates said
that internet users in Iraq are getting block screens when trying to
access top social media sites and Google.
The
Kuwait News Agency cited a
source in the Iraqi Ministry of Communications who said the agency
was told to block access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as
a number of pornographic websites.
The
source did not specify why the sites were blocked, but it is believed
to be a move to thwart militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIS or ISIL) from posting videos and pictures of exploits in
the nation’s northern and western regions. The group has captured
major ground in those areas, including Mosul, the second-largest city
in Iraq.
Hayder
Hamzoz, founder of the Iraqi Network for Social Media, spread word of
the block, and Ammar Al Shahbander, the Iraq director for the
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, offered a screenshot of error
messages received
by users in Iraq.
Cyber
Arabs, an internet freedom monitor and cybersecurity training
provider in the Middle East and North Africa, confirmed with
Mashable that Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter were hampered across
Iraq.
Martin
Chulov, reporting for the Guardian, said the sites were all down due
to Iraqi government fears that ISIS would use social media to
“organise & mobilise.”
"We
are disturbed by reports of access issues in Iraq and are
investigating," a
Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. "Limiting
access to internet services – essential for communication and
commerce for millions of people – is a matter of concern for the
global community."
Twitter
and YouTube spokespersons said the companies are looking into the
reports.
There
have been reports of users losing access to messaging services
WhatsApp and Viber, as well.
Internet
activists also pointed out that blocking connections to users across
Iraq would likely not help in refuting ISIS-fueled rumors of their
own victories.
Meanwhile,
thousands of Iraqi civilians are signing up to fight ISIS – Sunni
Arab jihadists that also have a major presence in neighboring Syria.
ISIS has handily beaten Iraqi security forces in their advance
through the nation, leading Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to
announce that civilians would be armed for an offensive against
militants.
The
volunteer effort received a boost from words of encouragement from
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a top Shiite cleric adored across
Iraq.
"Citizens
who are able to bear arms and fight terrorists, defending their
country and their people and their holy places, should volunteer and
join the security forces to achieve this holy purpose," Sistani's
representative announced for the cleric.
"He
who sacrifices for the cause of defending his country and his family
and his honour will be a martyr,"he
added.
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