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Iraq
Militants Sweeping Toward Baghdad
2014-06-11
By late Wednesday, witnesses in Samarra, 70 miles north of Baghdad, were reporting that the militants, many of them aligned with the radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS, were on the outskirts of the city. They said the militants demanded that forces loyal to the government leave the city or a sacred Shiite shrine there would be destroyed. Samarra is known for the shrine, the al-Askari Mosque, which was severely damaged in a 2006 bombing during the height of the American-led occupation. That event touched off sectarian mayhem between the country's Sunni Arab minority and its Shiite majority.

Members of Shiite militias were on high alert in Baghdad, and many were reported headed north to Samarra, even though the central government declared a 10 p.m. curfew in the capital and surrounding towns. An influential Iraqi Shiite cleric, Moktada al-fucking-Sadr, called for the formation of a special force to defend religious sites in Iraq. The authorities in neighboring Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, canceled all visas and flights for pilgrims to Baghdad and intensified security on the Iran-Iraq border, Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Expect Baghdad to fall swiftly. Bring Baghdad Bob out of retirement: "Taken Tikrit? Certainly not. Don't be stupid."
Posted by:KBK

#4  I surely hope you are wrong, but it does not look good. Not good at all. I believe they [like Saddam], will head straight to Kuwait City and the Gulf. The U.S. has a huge base at Camp Arifjan, KU. Will we surrender that as well ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-06-11 22:05  

#3  No. We'll lose them.
Posted by: Pappy   2014-06-11 21:56  

#2  Tin foil hat time:

Has the Champ traded 5 high-level terrorists for the safe exfiltration of US Embassy personnel in Baghdad ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-06-11 21:18  

#1  The rising insurgency presented a new quandary for the Obama administration, which has faced sharp criticism for its recent swap of five Taliban officers for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and must now answer questions about the death of five Americans by friendly fire in Afghanistan on Monday night.

Critics have long contended that AmericaÂ’s withdrawal of troops from Iraq, without leaving even a token force, invited an insurgent revival.

NYT, no less.
Posted by: KBK   2014-06-11 21:02  

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