The Kurds in Iraq are saying they will call for Autonomy.....they are pulling out of Maliki's Government. Now threats between Maliki and the Kurds raise more tensions. This while the Kurds in Syria are calling for help against ISIL. What say ye? Kurds seize Iraq oilfields, ministers pull out of government..... Kurdish forces seized two oilfieds in north Iraq on Friday and took over operations from a state-run oil company, while Kurdish politicians formally suspended their participation in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government. The moves escalated a feud between the Shi'ite-led central government and the autonomous Kurdish region driven by a Sunni insurgency which threatens to fragment Iraq on sectarian and ethnic lines three years after the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Regional Kurdish President Massoud Barzani last week told his parliament in Arbil to prepare a referendum on independence, infuriating Maliki. The relationship hit a new low this week when the prime minister accused Kurds of allowing their capital to be used as a base for the Islamic State and others, including former members of Saddam Hussein's now-banned Baath Party. In protest against the accusation, the Kurdish political bloc announced they were suspending their participation in Baghdad government on Friday. Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the Kurds will continue to attend parliament.....snip~ http://news.yahoo.com/iraqs-foreign...spend-participation-government-100106910.html
Btw......The way I have titled the thread is so that, it can be used to keep updated and for those that would not want to start a thread over a specific news story. With all that is taking place with Iraq.
Here is some of what I had taking place in Iraq. We will stand by Isis until Maliki steps down, says leader of Iraq's biggest tribe..... The leader of Iraq’s biggest tribe has refused to break his military alliance with the Islamist extremist group, Isis, saying he will march a hundred thousand men on Baghdad if Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, does not step down. In an interview with The Telegraph, Ali Hatem Suleimani distanced himself from Isis’s sectarian massacres but rejected demands that he break with the group and help form a united Sunni-Shia government. “We can fight Isis and al-Qaeda whenever we want to,” he said. “But now are fighting for our lands and our tribes. We are not responsible for Isis. Look what has Maliki has done – look at the two million refugees. He has destroyed and killed – and where was the world then?”.....snip~ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-down-says-leader-of-Iraqs-biggest-tribe.html
Just remember, "Iraq" is a nation created by Europeans after WWII. It has absolutely nothing to do with ethnic, religious, or tribal preferences, culture, or history. What is happening in the Middle East is the breakdown of these artificial boundaries and a return to the tribal culture which is the only thing most Arabs adhere to. All ISIS is doing to pitting these various groups against one another in order to establish their own radical style of government. I do not think it will last as tribal leader began to fight back against yet another group seeking to overturn their historic autonomy.
Report: Iran Is Sending Drones, Weapons to Iraq Iran is secretly flying surveillance drones over Iraq and sending military equipment there to help Baghdad in its fight against Sunni insurgents, The New York Times reported Wednesday. A "small fleet" of Ababil drones was deployed to the Al Rashid airfield near Baghdad, the newspaper said on its website, citing anonymous U.S. officials .Ababil drones, less sophisticated than U.S. unmanned aircraft, are designed in Iran and have a nearly 10-foot (three-meter) wingspan. They are used for surveillance and are unarmed. Tehran has also installed an intelligence unit at the airfield to intercept electronic communications between ISIS fighters and commanders. Iran is also sending two flights daily to Baghdad with 70 tons each of military equipment and supplies."It's a substantial amount" of material, a U.S. official told the newspaper. "It's not necessarily heavy weaponry, but it's not just light arms and ammunition." Tehran has massed 10 divisions of its army and its Quds Force troops along the border, ready to act if the Iraqi capital or Shiite shrines are threatened, The New York Times added.....snip~ http://www.newsmaxworld.com/GlobalTalk/Iraq-Iran-US/2014/06/26/id/579402/#ixzz361aLBoKk
Its going to last awhile.....unless it starts getting addressed. Currently the only thing holding ISIL off from hitting the Shia Holy Ground in Samarra. Is the Shia.....100k strong. Al Qaeda in Iraq was in decline at the time, but under Baghdadi, the group grew from a local Al Qaeda affiliate into a regional force dedicated to establishing a Sunni caliphate in Iraq and Syria. That meant defying Al Qaeda chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, challenging Syrian jihadist group, Jabhat al-Nusra, and taking full advantage of the chaos and militant-attracting environment of the Syrian civil war. As of mid-June, ISIL had $2 billion in the bank. Not a bad turn-around. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/...so-far-about-isil-leader-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi
With them going Religious likes.....I doubt any will be about looking at taking the money and run. This doesn't count anything they have recently taken.....they have moved tanks into Syria and we did confirm they took 6 Blackhawk helicopters. Now we know they have some Sunni with pilot ability coming up out of the Baathists. They are trying to mop up the Kurds in Syria.....while the Kurds in Iraq are protecting their own. Of course this doesn't count the issue that will take place with the Saud and who is in line for Ascension.
Update: The Baath declare war on ISIL/ISIS in Iraq. This is good as it will bring some more up against ISIL/ISIS. What say ye? Baath in Iraq declares war on ISIS..... Outlawed Baath party in Iraq announced, the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria “ISIS” organization because of the last displacement of Christians from Mosul city, the second largest city in Iraq, which is controlled by ISIS since 10th of last June. The statement added that "at the time we announce our refusal to all acts of ISIS , we show our pride in all the brothers who perform the same mission of rebel clans and national factions which are fighting with us today for the liberation of the entire territory of Iraq," according to the statement. The statement added that "ISIS crimes began to widen and worsen, the last was displacing the Christian Brothers from Mosul city in a matter of regret that we reject completely. Christians will remain an integral part of this beloved homeland".....snip~ http://english.shafaaq.com/index.php/politics/10630-baath-in-iraq-declares-war-on-isis
Btw.....this might make ISIL and the Invisible Sheik turn his attention back to Iraq after taking the Syrian Military base.....yesterday. http://www.politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=366922&p=1064113949#post1064113949
We really screwed ourselves when we went into Iraq by claiming ALL Baathists were criminals. They may have been corrupt but that is the way things work in Arabic societies. We could have put a lot of the military commanders in position of authority and they would've been able to defend themselves against ISIS.
None. But checking centuries of history should show one just how those societies operate. Have you got anything constructive to add?
Which Arab societies have you fought and trained with? Now, which have you taught and had to teach.....how to fight? How not to run in the face of adversity and or pressure. How to Man up? Any by perchance?
Nope.. I was not part of any invasion force in the Middle East. - - - Updated - - - Stereotypes are the fall back position of fools.
Islamic State Seizes Northern Oilfields in Iraq, Kurdish Towns Militants from Islamic State, a breakaway al-Qaeda group, have taken control of two oilfields and some predominantly Kurdish towns in northern Iraq following clashes, according to the Northern Oil Co.. The Ain Zala and Batma oilfields, which together have an output of 30,000 barrels per day, are under full control of the group, according to a statement by the state-run Northern Oil Co. late yesterday. The Sunni Islamist militants last month occupied the Qayyara oilfield north of Baghdad. Islamic State, which was previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, has seized large swaths of territory in northern and western Iraq, taking over oil wells and fighting for control of refineries. Militants yesterday captured the northern town of Zummar, Northern Oil said. Kurdish forces have withdrawn from the northern town of Sinjar after intermittent clashes with the insurgents, Elias Khodayda, a 49 year-old resident, said by phone today.....snip~ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...lfields-in-iraq-kurdish-towns.html?cmpid=yhoo Thoughts?
They've made big gains - especially for a group of its size. However - it's ultra-radical approach to Islam is already alienating many Sunni warlords and tribal leaders who are resisting them. I don't think they'll last much longer. But, what it will do is further fracture the countries of the region and increase the power of those groups. We will be seeing some major changes of borders in the not-too-distant future.
When they have 9 billion in the bank and are making 3 mil a day. Not counting any gold and precious metals they have taken. Then it is a big prize. ISIS Makes Up To $3 Million a Day Selling Oil, Say Analysts..... For two weeks, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad have been battling for control of the Shaar gas field, one of Syria's largest, near the landmark city of Palmyra. On July 19, it was reported that the Sunni militant group had killed 270 regime fighters, taking control of the field in what was reportedly one of the conflict's deadliest 48-hour periods to date. As ISIS steams further into Syria, analysts say a significant portion of its financial resources come from the crude oil it sells on the black market; accordingly, oil fields have become prime targets in the fight. So do gas fields like Shaar, where disruption of lines lead to electricity shortages and power cuts in regime-controlled areas as far as Damascus. We asked Robin Mills, a Dubai-based energy analyst and author of "The Myth of the Oil Crisis," and Theodore Karasik, research director at Dubai-based think tank INEGMA, to weigh in on why oil fields have become so important to ISIS and how turning them into battlefields could disrupt energy production – as well as the jihadi group's cash flow.....snip~ http://abcnews.go.com/International/isis-makes-million-day-selling-oil-analysts/story?id=24814359
Syria has always had a tiny oil production and since the war its fallen off dramatically. Who is buying ISIS oil?
Karasik: Officials from the Iraqi oil industry have said that ISIS reaps $1 million per day in Iraq in oil profits and that if they get the Syrian fields in [areas where they're advancing], the total would be $100 million per month for both Iraq and Syria combined. They sell it for $30 a barrel because it's a black market. It's not pegged to international standards for oil prices, which are over $100 a barrel. The oil is bought through Turkey from Syria, and it's sold to black market traders who function throughout the Levant. Mills: The $1 million a day figure is coming out of the Iraqi fields of which they have control. Iraq and Syria together could reach up to $3 million a day, so they're still getting more oil out of Syria [than Iraq]. Production is at 10 percent of pre-war levels – they're old, mature fields that need a lot of special technological work, and they're not getting it, so production is falling very sharply. We've seen from reports that ISIS controls most of the oil fields in eastern Syria and Deir Ezzor, right up to the northeast, where some are under Kurdish control. It's a very important priority because it generates income. ISIS's strategy seems to have evolved around generating income. ISIS raises money in several ways, but oil is certainly a part of that. For a long time, they avoided having much direct confrontation with the regime. They generally tended to turn their fire against other rebel groups. They had been selling to the regime, or basically anyone who'd pay for it. But recently it seems like they are taking a more aggressive approach, like with the attack on Shaar. Were they just attacking it to destroy it [to hit the regime], or to take it over and continue selling gas? It's not clear what their intention was. As the Islamic State is established, it's clear that ISIS wants to have all parts of their government and revenue sources well organized, and that energy exports are part of this scheme. The scheme includes the collection of taxes, but also other black market activities like trade in other illegal goods the group plunders from the land it captures. Given the call by [ISIS leader Abu Bakr] Baghdadi on the first day of Ramadan –asking for consolidation of the state and the recruitment of individuals to help run that state – you have to figure that the energy sector figures into his planning.....snip~ http://abcnews.go.com/International...selling-oil-analysts/story?id=24814359&page=2
