Thousands of Yazidis rescued, Iraqi Human Rights Ministry spokesman says
Source: CNN
(CNN) -- The U.S. military carried out a new series of airstrikes Sunday against ISIS targets in Iraq, while some 20,000 Yazidi Iraqis who had been trapped on Mount Sinjar were rescued and taken to the Syrian-Iraqi border.
Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights spokesman Kamil Amin told CNN that Kurdish forces were able to break the siege by ISIS and help thousands of stranded Yazidis board trucks, which drove them to the Syrian border town of Hasaka near Iraq. They were then driven north along the Syrian-Iraqi border to Dohuk, a region in northern Iraqi Kurdistan.
In Dohuk, the Kurdish government helped the refugees find shelter, Amin said.
The Yazidis are a target of ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State and was known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Yazidis are part of one the world's oldest monotheistic religious minorities. Their religion is considered a pre-Islamic sect that draws from Christianity, Judaism and the ancient monotheistic religion of Zoroastrianism.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/10/world/meast/iraq-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Only slightly connected, but this rescue would not have been possible without US air strikes on ISIS. Anyone still questioning Obama's decision?
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IronGate
(2,186 posts)and the decision to arm the Kurdish Army with the needed anti-armor weapons systems to defeat the ISIS armor.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)But we look back a bit and we remember all the bushies telling us that the billions spent in Iraq after the major battles was because we needed to train the Iraqis to defend themselves. Guess that was just more money wasted, and down the drain? Because it sure seems like we failed to do that job, too.
All in all what the US is doing is mopping up from the waste that the US left in Iraq after 24 years of sticking our nose where it never belonged.
I feel so sorry for the troops we sent over there to make it safe for big oil and whose efforts, lives and suffering were otherwise wasted. It was a crime what we did to our young soldiers.
IronGate
(2,186 posts)and arming the Kurd's with the necessary anti-armor weapons systems to defeat ISIS armor.
Once the Kurdish Army gets itself regrouped, and there's evidence that's happening, and gets those weapons systems, them our airstrikes should stop and the only military involvement should be providing intel, sat photos, and resupply of war stocks.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)And who is supplying them with the ammo?
Heard it is all left over US supplies.
If true that's pretty damned embarrassing, eh?
IronGate
(2,186 posts)they stole it from Iraqi Army warehouse stocks when the Iraqi Army pretty much deserted in the face of the ISIS advance, most of the heavy armor is American supplied/American made, M-1A1 main battle tanks, APC's, up armored Humvees, Artillery, etc., so in essence, we're fighting our own equipment.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Our military weapons have made it so these fanatics can wage war.
The stupidity of the pentagon just keeps flowing and flowing.
Will we as a people ever put a halt to that stupidity?
How many more people must die because of that stupidity?
No wonder the republicans are shitting themselves, eh?
IronGate
(2,186 posts)we know it's vulnerabilities and can pass that on the Kurds.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)So then I am thinking that the recent slaughters of people in Syria by the IS were also done using American supplied weapons. Sound plausible?
IronGate
(2,186 posts)the looting of Iraqi war stocks.
Regardless, this whole fucking debacle can be firmly laid at the feet of BushCo and his merry band of war criminals.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Seems that if the Syrian war was furthered by the use of American hardware, it should be on the nightly news.
Seems that we are being treated like mushrooms again?
How long can this go on? I wonder if our military will be patriotic and tell the people just what is happening with our American weapons?
IronGate
(2,186 posts)No need for the military to tell us what's going on with the weapons we supplied the Iraqi Army, it's already been told numerous time by numerous sources.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)I think the military is obligated to tell us what the left behind weapons are being used for, and who the weapons are being used on.
It would be the patriotic thing to do.
If you have a link detailing your serious accusations it would be good, as i have not seen any about how our weapons are being used to slaughter the people of Iraq or Syria.
IronGate
(2,186 posts)http://www.vice.com/read/isis-stole-some-shiny-new-weapons-from-the-iraqi-army-989
There has also been videos of ISIS terrorists using American made weapons systems.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Gawd damn how fucking embarrassing can it get?
The world must be laughing their ass off at the pentagon.
Everyone but Americans. I for one am fucking pissed off.
IronGate
(2,186 posts)We spent billions to train and outfit the Iraqi Army and at the first serious engagement, they fall apart like a cheap suit and the opposition loots their American supplied equipment and uses it against them.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)They probably sold our hardware to the enemy!!! Good Gawd!
IronGate
(2,186 posts)
misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)The cost of hauling it there in the first place, & now the cost of going back in to blow it all up.
F**king idiocy.
The black tax dollar hole of America is the Pentagon & its Corporate Contractors.
Bleeding this Nation dry to the bone.
BobbyBoring
(1,965 posts)I can't think of ONE thing the bushies got right in Iraq. "Train the Iraqi troops"? The Iraqis are not a brave people. If they were, they wouldn't have cowered under Saddam as they did. Many of them ran in our first war as they did on the beginning of the second.
Why anyone expected different results this time is beyond me.
SnakeEyes
(1,407 posts)complete lack of understanding of living under a brutal totalitarian regime
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Pretty damn sick situation.
And we are digging in making the hole deeper.
George II
(67,782 posts)...quite honestly this is a new crisis. This isn't an effort to depose a guy who insulted Obama's father years ago. This is an effort to rescue and protect tens of thousands of innocent people who we can see sitting on a mountain somewhere, just waiting to be slaughtered or starved to death.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Yep.
Slaughtered with American weapons. Like the post above says, the Iraqi army is no good. Never has been, never will be. They turned over the American weaponry to the enemy and now the enemy is using it to slaughter people.
Can anyone see why conspiracy theories get started? Here we have tons and tons of American armor and ammo being used against people, as you say, slaughtering them, and now we are forced to do just what cheney wants, get back fighting in Iraq. You think cheney knew where the warehouses of American weapons were? And wasn't he on tv last month calling Obama names because Obama wouldn't bomb Iraq? And now Obama is bombing Iraq. Cheney must be one happy camper.
Congrats American intel and all that jizz. We should all be totally ashamed this country has let this happen. Not fucking applauding what makes cheney happy. WTF has happened to DU?
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)a long time ago. They have an army that will fight.
bhikkhu
(10,722 posts)They fought Saddam to a stalemate and were more or less autonomous by the time we invaded. Our invasion stopped short of their territory, and they took over the old Iraqi military bases and ammunition dumps along their border. More modern stuff is always nice, I'm sure, but they'd probably ask if they needed equipment.
7962
(11,841 posts)bhikkhu
(10,722 posts)For the record, I wouldn't oppose it. They've had an excellent record of maintaining their own stable political structure and a civil society, without many of the issues that other countries we provide arms to have had.
IronGate
(2,186 posts)
rollin74
(1,990 posts)I definitely support President Obama's actions with regard to this matter
The US should continue to support the Kurds as they battle IS
candelista
(1,986 posts)Maybe. Maybe not.
babylonsister
(171,081 posts)conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)
GeorgeGist
(25,322 posts)
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Which is likely the operating point for this military action.
mcar
(42,372 posts)And yes, President Obama gets credit for this. He has saved lives. 
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)IronGate
(2,186 posts)united the two against a common enemy.
Uncle Joe
(58,409 posts)
Thanks for the thread, George II.
AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)Force fed info, sorry, this news does not bring ease....
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)where little is what it is made to seem. The power brokers create a narrative. It may or may not be true. They don't much care if we believe it or not.
