ISIS to US: We’ll drown you in Blood; beheads US Journalist, Holds Tikrit

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2014/08/islamic-tikrit-against.html

ISIS to US: We’ll drown you in Blood; beheads US Journalist, Holds Tikrit
By Juan Cole | Aug. 20, 2014

The Iraqi military made a push on Tikrit north of Baghdad on Tuesday, but had to call off their campaign when they ran into minefields, booby-trapped buildings, sniping and artillery and mortar fire on the part of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which now styles itself the “Islamic State” (IS). It took the Sunni Muslim stronghold, birth place of Saddam Hussein, last July. The IS appears to have used its two months of dominance in the city to do extensive defensive works, with the mining proving an effective deterrent along with professional use of medium weaponry.

~snip~

The Iraqi military advanced toward Tikrit from the west this time, rather than, as with last month, the south. The claimed to have killed 23 IS fighters and to have taken some small suburbs of the city, but that they had to call off their campaign Tuesday afternoon is eloquent as to their failure. They included forces from the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Interior, and Shiite volunteer militias, all supported by the Iraqi Air Force. Unlike with the Kurds fighting to take back the Mosul Dam from IS in the north, there is no report of close air support from the US.

One of the Iraqi military’s goals was to relieve the village of Amirli, which is inhabited by Turkmen Shiites and had been under siege from IS in Tikrit. IS as a hyper-Sunni terrorist organization despises Shiite Muslims and has carried out mass executions against them.

Meanwhile, back in Baghdad, controversy swirled over rumors that a political figure was willing pay $5 mn. for a cabinet seat. As long as there is that level of corruption, it is hard for the government to ask its grunts for loyalty and willingness to sacrifice their lives for this state.

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I get the distinct impression that Iraq 3.0 is upon us.

[newfie11]

1. Where is Isis getting the weapons? Nt

[unhappycamper]

2. ISIS Weapons Growing In Number, Sophistication: A Soviet, Balkan And American Mix, But The Group Can

http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-weapons-growing-number-sophistication-soviet-balkan-american-mix-group-cant-use-all-1659176



Militant Islamist fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014.

ISIS Weapons Growing In Number, Sophistication: A Soviet, Balkan And American Mix, But The Group Can't Use All Of Them
By Christopher Harress
on August 15 2014 8:32 AM

~snip~

It is far more significant, Carafano said, that ISIS has managed to infiltrate Iraqi bases in Mosul, gaining access to sophisticated U.S. weapons.

“They’ve apparently taken enough U.S. weapons from the Iraqi military in Mosul to put them in good shape for a long time,” Carafano said. “But the question is, how do they use those weapons, how do they maintain them, where do they get spare parts from?”

According to various media reports, ISIS can’t really use many of the modern U.S. weapons that fell into its possessions, and knows it.

“ISIS destroyed much of the heavy equipment it captured in Iraq: M1 tanks, M113 armored personnel carriers, MRAP heavy armored trucks, and other multi-million dollar pieces of equipment,” said a Public Radio International report in June, as ISIS advanced to the point of capturing Mosul, the second-biggest city in Iraq. ISIS commanders knew they couldn’t use the more advanced pieces of U.S. equipment and destroyed them so the Iraqi army couldn’t use them in the future, according to that report.

[woodsprite]

3. Dick Cheney has probably ordered his CIA buds

To fix their training problem on how to use the captured
US weapons. You know, as a reward since ISIS is giving
him what he wants.