Thread: Al-Qaeda over runs Iraq's third largest city

Iraq is back, Wall Street, Big Oil not amused
Feckless Obama administration’s post-colonial non-policies likely leading to serial political and stock market disasters.
commdiginews.com

Iraq is back, Wall Street, Big Oil not amused

By Terry Ponick, Communities Digital News
8 hours ago


Iraqi soldiers. Where are they today? (Public domain photo, Spc. Jeffrey Alexander, US Army, via Wikipedia.)

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2014 – Since the media, the Democrats and the organized left decided to go collectively ballistic after the Y2K elections, business, the markets, and politics itself have been increasingly and inextricably entwined in an ever-tightening Gordian knot.
Latest case in point: the ongoing and seemingly instantaneous collapse of the at-least-moderately independent Iraq and Afghanistan that this country shed a great deal of blood to set in place. Yes, Iraq is back, and Wall Street, Big Oil and ultimately the voters will not be amused at what comes next.
As the hard left’s designated water carriers, the MSM have almost universally created a pernicious new myth of a perpetually evil America that’s succeeded in undermining almost any remaining political or economic advantage this country has left. This has aided and abetted Barack Obama, who is at last being recognized as likely the worst president the U.S. has ever had.

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READ ALSO: Eric Cantor’s election defeat: Wall Street loses a good right arm

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Obama can’t solve the current Iraq disaster without essentially repealing his own utterly disastrous international policies or lack thereof, which, of course, he will never do since he is more infallible than the Pope. So this story, a veritable American Dunciad, is likely to end badly while somehow being reported by the media as yet another manifestation of the brilliance of the current administration. Everything else must still be Bush’s fault.
Case in point: this morning’s beyond-stupid international newspaper headlines, as in the Syndney Morning Herald’s “Western invasion paved way for Iraq’s terror crisis,” and the predictably Maoist Guardian trumpeting “We anti-war protesters were right: the Iraq invasion has led to bloody chaos.”
Headlines like these are bloody stupid as far as we’re concerned, including the media insistence on describing the resurgent, beheading-happy Al Qaeda terrorists, aka “ISIS,” as “militants.” Please.
In truth, it’s the left’s suicidal tendencies that are enabling the current mess that’s endangering long-stable Western institutions and democracy itself. American business, investments, and the American people themselves will pay dearly for this along with the editors and headline writers who pen such stupid stuff.
All this, of course, began to have a serious impact on the markets, in evidence during yesterday’s trading and in the forefront yet again today. While markets have arrived at historical or near-historical peaks this month, the continuing low-volume rally is getting long of tooth, and “sell in May,” which didn’t work this year, may soon become a more convincing “sell in June.”
As of roughly noon today, the Dow is down over 60 points, with the S&P 500 off about 7.50 and the NASDAQ down roughly 14. Averages are weak, though not yet a disaster, but traders—at least those who aren’t enjoying their mansions and yachts out in the Hamptons—are getting nervous.

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READ ALSO: Gorilla in the room: Obamacare and unemployment

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The Eric Cantor upset yesterday got the country club Republicans all wobbly with uncertainty. The seemingly-out-of-nowhere Iraq collapse has goosed oil prices nicely even as OPEC is allegedly tightening the supply strings to counter the current U.S. fracking-led crude oil bounty.
As CNBC reported this morning, “Brent futures rose above $110 a barrel and crude jumped above $106 a barrel, with futures lately up $1.50, or 1.6 percent, at $106.02 a barrel, amid a Sunni militant uprising in Iraq that had rebels controlling two cities.”
And this cynical Administration has literally opened the floodgates for hundreds of thousands of amnesty-seeking illegal aliens to swarm into the American Southwest—a veritable World War Z of permanent, lockstep Democrat-to-be voters who, when forcibly legalized as citizens through mass amnesty, will put an end to America’s two-party system.
For markets, which traditionally hate uncertainty, all this miserable convergence of events may begin to look like fiscal Armageddon, so mass selling in a thin market could commence at any time. Indeed, there’s evidence that a lot of professional traders were slipping out the back door as early as February this year.
It’s a mess, all right, and there’s no way out. Although we were never there, it’s beginning to feel to us like it must have felt in this country circa 1859-1860 when another disastrously feckless Administration, led by Democrat James Buchanan, sat around watching the Nation collapse into Civil War while the country was forced to await for many long months, the arrival of an actual new and effective President to take a stand.
Hopefully for both the American people and the markets, the interregnum period of this utterly failed presidency will not lead to similar bloodshed when a new leader attempts to repair this country before it goes the way of the Roman Empire, not with a bang but a whimper.
Today’s trading
Just when we were getting cautiously optimistic, the world is getting out of control again as per our above observations, souring the remaining optimism of those American investors who aren’t on summer hiatus and of headline-driven HFTs alike.
Stocks are trending broadly down today, and this trend could continue off and on for quite some time.
As Iraq boils, beaten down precious metals, particularly gold and iffy supplies of palladium could be a decent trade, although we hesitate to put the yellow metal in an uptrend as of yet. Our favored ways of trading these, as we’ve mentioned before, are the ETFs SGOL for gold and PALL for palladium, in part because they’re supported by actual bullion in their vaults and also because our discount brokerage lets us trade them without a commission.
Short to midterm treasurys, via ETFs, may temporarily be a good trade as well, although the general trend is likely in the opposite direction longer term.
Meanwhile, we’re challenged as to just what will benefit in this kind of environment, so we’re back to what we started doing in April, selling, little by little, positions where we’re decently up at the moment.
I.e., it’s “defense time” again, so caution is the watchword. If things deteriorate faster, we may decide to hedge with a few different short ETFs. But not yet.

http://www.commdiginews.com/business...7c4QL0iH3A2.01

Drudge Report

BAGHDAD ON THE BRINK



Iraq crisis: Islamist militants warn battle will 'rage' after seizing Mosul and Tikrit
Islamist militants who have overrun cities in Iraq have warned battle will “rage” as...
The Independent

Iraq crisis: Baghdad prepares for the worst as Islamist militants vow to capture the city




Collapse of Shia-dominated regime could provoke Iranian intervention

Patrick Cockburn
Thursday 12 June 2014

Iraq is breaking up. The Kurds have taken the northern oil city of Kirkuk that they have long claimed as their capital. Sunni fundamentalist fighters vow to capture Baghdad and the Shia holy cities further south.

Government rule over the Sunni Arab heartlands of north and central Iraq is evaporating as its 900,000-strong army disintegrates. Government aircraft have fired missiles at insurgent targets in Mosul, captured by Isis on Monday, but the Iraqi army has otherwise shown no sign of launching a counter-attack.
The nine-year Shia dominance over Iraq, established after the US, Britain and other allies overthrew Saddam Hussein, may be coming to an end. The Shia may continue to hold the capital and the Shia-majority provinces further south, but they will have great difficulty in re-establishing their authority over Sunni provinces from which their army has fled.

Read more: Robert Fisk: Sunni caliphate bankrolled by Saudi Arabia
Patrick Cockburn: ‘Do not fall prey to your vanities’ - the philosophy of Iraq’s new conquerors
Iraq crisis: Islamist militants attack Tikrit and near Baghdad after 500,000 are forced to flee Mosul
Iraq crisis: Capture of Mosul ushers in the birth of a Sunni caliphate

It is unlikely that the Kurds will give up Kirkuk. “The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga [Kurdish soldiers],” said the peshmerga spokesman Jabbar Yawar. “No Iraqi army remains in Kirkuk.”
Foreign intervention is more likely to come from Iran than the US. The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran would act to combat “the violence and terrorism” of Isis”. Iran emerged as the most influential foreign power in Baghdad after 2003. As a fellow Shia-majority state, Iraq matters even more to Iran than Syria.
Iran will be deeply alarmed by the appearance of a fanatically Sunni proto-state hostile to all Shia in western Iraq and eastern Syria. Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, the Isis spokesman, said today that the Shia, 60 per cent of the Iraqi population, “are a disgraced people”, accusing them of being “polytheists”.
Iraq’s Shia may well conclude that their army has failed them and they must once again rely on militias like the Mehdi Army which was responsible for the slaughter of Sunni in 2005 and 2006. At that time, much of Baghdad was cleansed of Sunni. The loss of Baghdad has never been forgotten or forgiven by Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia, which has long hoped to reverse the Shia dominance in Iraq.

In pictures: Attacks by Islamist militants cause thousands to flee Mosul
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In Mosul, Isis has so far been careful not to alienate the local population which on the west bank of the Tigris River is Sunni. There are large Kurdish neighbourhoods in the east of the city. Refugees are finding it difficult to enter the Kurdistan Regional Government zone because of stringent checks and single men, suspected of being insurgents, are not allowed entry.
Inside Mosul people reached by The Independent say they are afraid. One woman described how a local petrol station was burnt down by looters though Isis tried to protect it. She said her younger brother had gone to repair it. She says that when her two brothers came back from doing the repair job, “I was horrified that they might have been photographed, their names known and they might be punished when the defeated forces come back.” A reason why many people are fleeing Mosul or are terrified by the prospect of a successful counter-attack by the government is that all the Sunni population is liable to be mistreated as Isis supporters, regardless of their sympathies.
Isis has tried to show that it can run Mosul and the electricity supply has improved to six hours a day since the Iraqi army left. The Isis spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani has told victorious fighters “not to bother those who do not bother you”. But other proclamations announce the full application of Isis’s fundamentalist creed.
The Kurds are taking advantage of the disarray of the government in Baghdad to seize territories along the “trigger line”. This stretches from north-east of Baghdad to the Syrian frontier west of Mosul. The Iraqi Kurds have advanced further towards establishing an independent state, but it is unclear how far they will commit troops to rescue the Baghdad government.
Iranian intervention would probably come through massively strengthening Shia militias. But the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will find it very difficult to reverse the defeats of the last week.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...t-9530899.html

Fox News

"Baghdad is going to be overrun. The Green Zone is going down." – U.S. intelligence official
Iran is coming to the aid of its historic nemesis, sending elite fighters to Iraq in the wake of a Sunni insurgency that has claimed two key northern cities and now threatens Baghdad.



As Jihadists Take Aim At Baghdad, Iran Steps in to Help Historical Foe
After U.S.-trained security forces dropped their weapons and fled their posts in...
Fox News

As jihadists take aim at Baghdad, Iran steps in to help historical foe

By Lisa Daftari
Published June 12, 2014FoxNews.com

Sept. 22, 2011: Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard march during a parade to commemorate the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) in Tehran.Reuters

Iran is coming to the aid of its historic nemesis, sending elite fighters to Iraq in the wake of a Sunni insurgency that has claimed two key northern cities and now threatens Baghdad, Fox News has learned.
Some 150 fighters from the Revolutionary Guards elite Quds force have already been dispatched by Tehran, and the division's powerful commander, Qassem Suleimani, met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Thursday and pledged to send two notorious Iranian brigades to aid in the defense of Baghdad. That could amount to as many as 10,000 soldiers sent to fight the Sunni group known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

Maliki is believed to be considering the offer, especially in light of reported decisions by the U.S. to reject his request for American airstrikes against the Al Qaeda-affiliated militants who have recently overrun Mosul and Tikrit and appear to be preparing for a march on the capital. The two brigades that Suleimani offered are Asaab Ahel Haq, a Shi’ite paramilitary unit, and the Shi’ite insurgency group Kata'ib Hezbollah.

“Baghdad is going to be overrun. The Green Zone is going down.”- U.S. intelligence official

After U.S.-trained security forces dropped their weapons and fled their posts in Mosul, the regime in Baghdad has reason to fear for its survival, an intelligence official said.
“Baghdad is going to be overrun," he said. "The Green Zone is going down.”
Although Iran and Iraq were at war in the 1980s, both the Maliki regime and the rulers in Tehran are Shi'ite, and Iran does not want a fanatical jihadist takeover of its neighbor. Iran has positioned troops along its border with Iraq and has threatened to bomb opposition forces if they come within about 60 miles of Iran’s border, according to an Iranian army general.
News about the fall of these two cities, which caused about 500,000 to flee, worried Iran. Mosul is in the western Iraqi province of the Biblically-mentioned Nineveh, which shares a 300-mile border with Syria, where the Iranian government has been pulling the political and financial puppet strings to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power against the opposing rebels and militants.
In addition to protecting the strategic border to Syria, Iran’s government has interests in safeguarding holy shrines and sites in Najaf and Karbala, significant to the Shiite Islamic religion. Many Iranians make pilgrimage to these sites every year.
Predominantly Shiite Muslim Iran will combat the "violence and terrorism" of Sunni extremists who have launched an anti-government offensive in neighboring Iraq, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned on Thursday.
“This is an extremist, terrorist group that is acting savagely," Rouhani said live on state television.
If Iraq's pleas for support are rebuffed by the U.S., it may have no choice but to turn to Iran, said experts.
“My sources tell me Maliki believes he is in a desperate situation and wants and needs our support," said retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane, former vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army. "If he doesn't get it in a way that will help him, he will certainly turn to Iran.”
Iran has more to offer than just the region's most powerful army, Keane said. Tehran could support Maliki with intelligence and advisors, too.
ISIS, a Sunni Islamic jihadi group, which is an offshoot of Al Qaeda, has gained control of geopolitically vital cities in both Syria and Iraq over the last year. It considers Shi'ite Muslims heretics that must be killed at the sword. Its goal is to cleanse Iraq from its Shiite influences.
ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani said in an audio released by intelligence sources that the group is planning to march toward Baghdad and other pivotal cities, including Karbala and Najaf.
"March to Baghdad al-Rashid, the Baghdad of the Caliphate. We have a score to settle...Be certain of the victory of Allah as long as you fear Him," Al-Adnani said in the recording.
As ISIS forces have stormed their way across northern Iraq, they have put into effect Sharia law on the citizens of Nineveh province, circulating a document on social media warning local leaders and religious sheikhs not to “work with (the Iraqi) government and be traitors.” The document also prohibits women from leaving the house unless absolutely necessary and for women to “dress decently and wear wide clothes.”
The document also bans drugs, alcohol, cigarettes in public and the possession of guns and non- ISIS flags.
ISIS terrorists in Iraq are allegedly made up of Tunisians and Yemenis, along with other “international fighters,” according to one Iraqi witness.
As the militants went from Mosul to Tikrit, they seized oil fields in Salahuddin province and looted the central bank and collected $420 million. They also took 48 Turkish citizens hostage as they seized the Turkish consulate in Mosul, which could bring another regional power down on them. Many eyes are on Turkey, a NATO ally, that has shown interest in northern Iraq for some time now for economic reasons and to support Iraq’s marginalized Kurdish minority.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey held an emergency briefing with high ranking security officials and the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, who said, “No one should try to test the limits of Turkey’s strength.”
Fox News' James Rosen contributed to this report.
Lisa Daftari is a Fox News contributor specializing in Middle Eastern affairs.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/06...istorical-foe/

[Watch] Judge Jeanine, Col Allen West on Situation in Iraq, Al-Qaeda Growth

Posted on 12 June, 2014 by Rick Wells


Lt Col Allen West is interviewed by Judge Jeanine regarding the situation in Iraq.
West says that, in spite of the situation today, he doesn’t feel that Iraqis were better off under Saddam, but he points to the fact that the resurgence of al-Qaeda is not a surprising development. He details how he and others were cautioned by Israel, during a visit by their congressional delegation, not to reduce forces to zero in Iraq.
Benjamin Netanyahu told the members that if they did so, an incredible vacuum would be created and who knows what would fill it. Now we are finding out.
West points out that the withdrawal of all military forces by B. Hussein Obama was a political decision, not a thoughtful strategic one.
Col West identifies one of the problems with the inability or unwillingness of the Iraq army to defend their country as being a purge of top leadership which was conducted by the American-installed president, Al-Maliki. His cronies took the positions from which the qualified military leadership was removed.



http://gopthedailydose.com/2014/06/1...-qaeda-growth/

Fox News

The Obama administration's apparent miscalculation of the threat posed by Al Qaeda-aligned militants in Iraq drew severe criticism Thursday from top Republican lawmakers, who accused President Obama and his national security team of "taking a nap," warning "the next 9/11 is in the making."



Obama Team Accused of Underestimating Iraq Unrest
The Obama administration appears once again to have been caught off guard by an explosion of violence in a country U.S. forces helped liberate from a dictator.
Fox News

‘Taking a nap’: Obama team accused of underestimating Iraq unrest

Published June 12, 2014FoxNews.com

Video at the page link:


The Obama administration's apparent miscalculation of the threat posed by Al Qaeda-aligned militants in Iraq drew severe criticism Thursday from top Republican lawmakers, who accused President Obama and his national security team of "taking a nap," warning "the next 9/11 is in the making."
Amid criticism from lawmakers, the White House appeared to open the door to the possibility of U.S. airstrikes, but stressed that sending American ground troops is not an option.
"We are not contemplating ground troops," Press Secretary Jay Carney said. "We are assessing what we can provide additionally."
The administration once again appears to have been caught off guard by an explosion of violence in a country U.S. forces helped liberate from a dictator. Al Qaeda-aligned Sunni militants were advancing south and threatening to move on Baghdad on Thursday after overrunning the northern Iraq cities of Mosul and Tikrit -- with Iraqi government forces in rapid retreat.
GOP lawmakers vented that advances made by the militant Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are confirming their "worst fears" about what would happen in the wake of the Obama-ordered U.S. troop withdrawal in 2011.
"What's the president doing? Taking a nap," House Speaker John Boehner snapped, before abruptly ending his weekly press conference on Thursday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Iraq is "collapsing," calling it another potential Benghazi and urging the president to address the American people.
"The next 9/11 is in the making," Graham said.
Obama, asked about the violence in Iraq, said Thursday that the U.S. can't be "everywhere all the time," but said he's concerned about what he described as an "emergency situation." He said his administration is in close consultation with Baghdad, and acknowledged they "need more help" from the U.S. and international community.
"My team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them. I don't rule out anything," Obama said.
Carney later clarified that the president, in his comment, was referring to the question of airstrikes.
White House and State Department officials earlier said the administration is considering sending additional aid, but have not specified what that might be. The Iraqi government reportedly is seeking U.S. airstrikes. Republican lawmakers and military analysts are urging the administration to quickly piece together a gameplan.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Thursday that the current national security team is a "failure," urging Obama to get a "new team." He also took a shot at Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying: "We need a new chairman."
The escalating violence follows repeated assurances by the Obama administration that Al Qaeda is "on the run" and that its offshoots are not the threat they're made out to be.
As recently as Monday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said of the situation in northern Iraq, "I don't get the sense that they're gaining a lot of territory."
Obama also brushed off concerns about Al Qaeda affiliates during an interview with The New Yorker, in a piece published in January.
"If a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant," the president said. That was in regard to concerns, at the time, that Islamist militants had taken over Fallujah -- the comment also followed Islamist militants overrunning the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans.
Yet in Iraq, militants with ISIS have made considerable gains since January. (They were listed in 2004 by the State Department as a terrorist organization under their old name, Al Qaeda in Iraq, shortly after the group formed.)
Gen. Jack Keane, former Army vice chief of staff and Fox News military analyst, said the administration has not put enough effort into forming a "comprehensive strategy" to partner with governments in the region to share intelligence and battle Al Qaeda affiliates.
"This caliphate exists, and it will be the most menacing thing in the Middle East if unattended," Keane said.
He acknowledged that the administration has "decimated" the Al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan to a degree. But he said: "The fact of the matter is the Al Qaeda and its affiliates ... is on the rise in the Middle East and in Africa."
Keane also said the U.S. lost leverage with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom Keane said needs to be saved "from himself." U.S. lawmakers have faulted Maliki's Shiite-led government for alienating the Sunni minority, in turn fueling tensions and giving Sunni militants an opening to exploit.
The Wall Street Journal reported that, privately, administration officials acknowledge they were caught off guard by the sudden developments in northern Iraq, where security forces abandoned their posts and militants overran key locations.
Military leaders reportedly said they thought Iraq's forces could hold off ISIS -- they were wrong.
Amid the deliberations, congressional Republicans continue to fume over the administration's response to the terror attack in Benghazi in 2012, for which nobody has yet been brought to justice, and have launched a formal select committee investigation.
The developments also follow President Obama foreign policy speech last month at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he backed a policy of restraint abroad and called for a wind-down of U.S. "military adventures."
Few expect that U.S. ground troops would be dispatched to Iraq, no matter how dire the situation becomes.
At issue now, among other things, is whether to provide more military aid and approve airstrikes. Maliki reportedly has sought U.S. airstrikes, but so far has been turned down.
A statement from the National Security Council made no commitment.
"We are not going to get into details of our diplomatic discussions but the Government of Iraq has made clear that they welcome our support in their effort to confront [ISIS]," spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said. "We have expedited shipments of military equipment since the beginning of the year, ramped up training of Iraqi Security Forces, and worked intensively to help Iraq implement a holistic approach to counter this terrorist threat. Our assistance has been comprehensive, is continuing, and will increase."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, in a statement overnight, offered "condolences" to the families of those killed, but did not specify what actions the administration would take.
"The United States will stand with Iraqi leaders across the political spectrum as they forge the national unity necessary to succeed in the fight against ISIL," he said, adding "we will also continue to provide, and as required increase, assistance to the Government of Iraq to help build Iraq's capacity to effectively and sustainably stop [ISIS's] efforts to wreak havoc in Iraq and the region."
To date, the U.S. has provided considerable military assistance. The State Department said Wednesday that that has included: 300 Hellfire missiles, millions of rounds of small arms ammunition, machine guns, grenades, rifles and more. Officials say the U.S. also supplied Bell IA-407 helicopters and is set to send over F-16 fighter jets.
A statement from Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz.,; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., blamed the current situation on the U.S. decision to withdraw all troops from Iraq.
"We call on the president to explain to Congress and the American people how he plans to address the growing threat to our homeland and our national security interests posed by the rapidly expanding Al-Qaeda safe haven in Iraq and Syria," they said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014...n-by-surprise/

Americans being evacuated from Iraqi air base as militants advance

Published June 12, 2014FoxNews.com

Video at the page link:


Americans were being evacuated Thursday from a major Iraqi air base as Al Qaeda-aligned militants toppled cities in the country's north and threatened to advance toward Baghdad.
A senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that Americans were being evacuated from a base in Balad, which had been one of the largest training missions in Iraq.
The three planeloads of Americans are mostly contractors and civilians. The State Department said Thursday that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is operating as usual.
But the evacuation means that the vital training mission at Balad, about an hour northwest of Baghdad, has been suspended indefinitely -- despite repeated administration statements that it would continue to support Iraq's military.
Regarding those assurances, one U.S. official clarified to Fox News: "At the same time, we are not going to do anything stupid."
The development signals the worsening security environment in the northern part of the country. One senior official told Fox News that the focus for evacuation at this point is on people outside of Baghdad.
Two senior intelligence sources, though, told Fox News there is serious concern about how to evacuate other Americans out of Iraq if the situation further deteriorates.
"We need places to land, we need safe and secure airfields," one source said, noting that the militants are "seizing airfields and they have surface-to-air missiles, which very clearly threatens our pilots and planes if we do go into evacuation mode."
Sources said "all western diplomats in Iraq are in trouble," and American allies are scrambling to put together an evacuation plan. Military officials said there are "not a lot of good options."
The Obama administration is still trying to determine how to assist the Nouri al-Maliki government, while making clear it does not want U.S. troops in the middle of the fight.
"We are not contemplating ground troops," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday.
According to the White House, Vice President Biden spoke Thursday with Maliki and expressed "solidarity" with the Iraqi government in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Obama promised Thursday to send more military aid, without saying what kind of new assistance would be given to Baghdad. Two U.S. officials who are familiar with ongoing negotiations told The Associated Press the White House is considering air strikes and increased surveillance, requested this week by the Iraqi defense minister, as the insurgency nears Baghdad.
The Iraqi government has been asking for more than a year for surveillance and armed drones to combat a Sunni insurgency that has gained strength from battlefield successes in neighboring Syria.
Republican lawmakers were harshly critical Thursday of the administration's response. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called for Obama to replace his national security team.
House Speaker John Boehner snapped: "What's the president doing? Taking a nap."
Obama commented on the violence shortly afterward.
"What we've seen over the last couple of days indicates the degree to which Iraq is going to need more help," Obama said. "It's going to need more help from us, and it's going to need more help from the international community."
Several thousand Americans remain in Iraq, mostly contractors who work at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on programs to train Iraqi forces on American military equipment like fighter jets and tanks. Those being evacuated from Balad on Thursday included 12 U.S. government officials and military personnel who have been training Iraqi forces to use fighter jets and surveillance drones.
Other U.S. contractors are at a tank training ground in the city of Taji, just north of the capital, that is still in operation for now.
In addition to the possible military assistance, State Department spokeswoman Psaki said the U.S. is sending about $12 million in humanitarian aid to help nearly a million Iraqis who have been forced from their homes by recent fighting in the nation's north and west.
Fox News' Justin Fishel and Adam Housley and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014...raqi-air-base/

#Iraq · Trending

Yahoo News

President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he is looking at all options in helping the Iraqi government face down a growing insurgency. ‪#‎Iraq‬
Read more: http://yhoo.it/TOAI9b



Obama says he's looking at all options in confronting Iraq insurgency
President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he is looking at all options in...
Yahoo News

Article/video at the page link:


http://news.yahoo.com/obama-says-hes...ml?cache=clear

This is one of the Murderers that @BarackObama & @HillaryClinton & @JohnKerry said were no threat to America so they released him along with 4 other murderers in exchange for the Traitor Bowe Bergdahl. Here is what Ted Nugent For United States Senate 2014 had to say about this scum bag.
Please Like & Share & Make this Viral since the media refuses to show the truth to protect their Boss Obama...

One of the subhuman mongrels our president set free. Feel safer yet? Is subhuman mongrel too offensive a term? Have we all lost our minds/souls? Obama is a leader? Of what? God help us all. Wake the hell up America. The enemy is in the Washington DC & they are out of control - Ted Nugent

Apocalyptic Assault by Islamist Militants Underway in Mosul, Iraq



by Katie Gorka 11 Jun 2014 138 post a comment

Al-Qaeda Group Takes Mosul: What It...

Video at the page link:

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Ian Bremmer, president and founder at Eurasia Group, discusses the taking of Mosul in Iraq by Al-Qaeda and what type of support may come from the United States. He speaks on Bloomberg...




Mosul, the capital of the Nineveh province in Iraq, is currently under assault. In a letter posted on the website First Things, Dominican Friar Fr. Najeeb Michaeel, O.P. has written from Mosul:

Bad news. I write you in a situation of violence in Mosul that is very critical and even apocalyptic. Most of the inhabitants of the city have already abandoned their houses and fled into the villages and are sleeping in the open without anything to eat or drink. Many thousands of armed men from the Islamic Groups of Da’ash have attacked the city of Mosul for the last two days. They have assassinated adults and children. The bodies have been left in the streets and in the houses by the hundreds, without pity. The regular forces and the army have also fled the city, along with the governor. In the mosques, they cry “Allah Akbar, long live the Islamic State.” Qaraqosh is overflowing with refugees of all kinds, without food or lodging. The check points and the Kurdish forces are blocking innumerable refugees from entering Kurdistan. What we are living and what we have seen over the last two days is horrible and catastrophic. The priory of Mar Behnam and other churches fell into the hands of the rebels this morning... and now they have come here and entered Qaraqosh five minutes ago, and we are now surrounded and threatened with death... ray for us. I’m sorry that I can’t continue... They are not far from our convent...

According to CNN, militants believed to be from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took control of the airport, government offices, and TV stations. Iraqi police and soldiers fled from the onslaught. The militants freed around 1,000 militants from the Mosul prison.
The Iraqi government has asked the United States for help, under the terms of the Strategic Agreement. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki has asked the parliament to declare a state of emergency and called on all able Iraqi men to come out and help defend the country.
While the majority of Mosul’s 1.8 million inhabitants are Sunni Muslim, the city has historic importance for the world’s Christians. Mosul encompasses the ancient city of Nineveh, which is first mentioned in Genesis 10:11: “Ashur left that land, and built Nineveh". It was to the city of Nineveh that God sent Jonas to preach repentance, and in the end the city was saved from destruction.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq had about 1.4 million Christians, but in the lawlessness and civil unrest of recent years, that population has come under constant attack and is believed to be down around 400,000. Some of Iraq’s Christians have argued that creating an autonomous Christian province around the Nineveh plain would be one possible way to ensure their future, but it has remained a contentious issue.


Katie Gorka is the president of the Council on Global Security.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2...-in-Mosul-Iraq