Obama Surrenders Iraq

[American Patriot]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-artic...ion=middleeast


Saudi Arabia warns of civil war in Iraq

(AFP) / 18 June 2014

Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal says Iraq government policies have paved the way for countries with bad intentions.

Saudi Arabia warned on Wednesday of the risks of a civil war in Iraq with unpredictable consequences for the region, after militants seized large areas from government forces.

The unrest in Iraq “carries warning signs of a civil war with unpredictable consequences for the region,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal said at the opening of an Islamic bloc meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Prince Saud renewed Saudi accusations that “sectarian policies of exclusion” of Iraq’s minority implemented by Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s government were responsible for the violence.

This paved the way for countries with “bad intentions” towards Iraq “to go ahead with plots threatening its security, stability, national unity and sense of Arab identity,” Prince Saud said.

The Iraqi government has issued a statement accusing Saudi Arabia of financing the militants.

“We hold (Saudi Arabia) responsible for what these groups are receiving in terms of financial and moral support,” the Iraqi government said in a statement.

[American Patriot]

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/0...ht-107981.html

I told you, Beck has lost it.

Glenn Beck admits: Liberals got Iraq right

'You were right. Liberals, you were right, we shouldn’t have,' said Beck. | Getty
By KENDALL BREITMAN | 6/18/14 6:57 AM EDT

Glenn Beck is admitting he was wrong and liberals were right for opposing the invasion of Iraq.

“[Liberals] said we couldn’t force freedom on people,” Beck said at the start of his Tuesday radio show. “Let me lead with my mistakes. You were right. Liberals, you were right, we shouldn’t have.”

Beck’s comments came as he discussed the increasingly partisan divide in politics, saying, “We were a mess in 2008. … It hasn’t gotten any better.” The radio personality explained his feelings that in the past five years the country has been “ripped apart.” To fix this divide, Beck called on the American people have to come together on some issues, such as the VA scandal and Iraq.

“From the beginning, most people on the left were against going to Iraq,” Beck said. “I wasn’t.”

The talk show host explained that when a possible invasion of Iraq was being discussed, he believed Saddam Hussein was backing terror against the United States and that something had to be done.

“In spite of the things I felt at the time when we went into war, liberals said, ‘We shouldn’t get involved, we shouldn’t nation-build and there was no indication the people of Iraq had the will to be free,’” Beck said. “I thought that was insulting at the time. Everybody wants to be free.”

On Tuesday, Beck admitted, “You cannot force democracy on the Iraqis or anybody else, it doesn’t work. They don’t understand it or even really want it.”

[American Patriot]

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/ex...efinery-543870

Extremists Said to Take Control of Iraq's Biggest Oil Refinery

World | Rod Nordland, The New York Times | Updated: June 18, 2014 21:05 IST
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Extremists Said to Take Control of Iraq's Biggest Oil Refinery

Photo credit: Reuters

A view of Baiji oil refinery, 180km (112 miles) north of Baghdad.
Baghdad: Iraq's biggest oil refinery fell to Islamic extremists Wednesday, after army helicopter gunships failed to beat back an attack on the facility 130 miles north of Baghdad, according to refinery workers, eyewitnesses and an Iraqi army officer who fled the scene.

The facility at Baiji is the first operating refinery to fall to the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who have swept through much of northern Iraq and had surrounded the refinery in Baiji for the past week, battling with a battalion of the Iraqi army that had been backed up by air support. The capture of the refinery would provide a potentially rich source of income for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which already profits from its control of oil resources in eastern Syria.

An Iraqi military spokesman, Gen. Qassim Atta, flatly denied that the Baiji refinery had fallen in a televised statement that he made hours after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters had apparently taken over the refinery.

"Baiji is now under control of our security forces, completely," Atta said, appearing on Iraqiya, the state television channel.

Reports from Baiji sharply contradicted that assessment. A refinery worker who gave only his first name, Mohammad, reached by telephone, said that the refinery had been attacked at 4 a.m. and that workers had taken refuge in underground bunkers. In the course of the fighting, 17 gas storage tanks were set ablaze, although it was not clear by which side. After taking heavy losses, the troops guarding the facility surrendered and at least 70 were taken prisoner, he said.

Refinery workers were sent home unharmed by the extremists, Mohammad said.

A lieutenant from the battalion guarding Baiji, also reached by telephone and speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had fled his unit when it became clear that it would not be able to hold out against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces.

Eyewitnesses in the area also reported seeing militant checkpoints controlling access to the sprawling refinery area, and smoke rising over the complex from numerous fires.

The attackers had besieged the refinery for the past week, after most of the surrounding Salahuddin province fell under their control.

Foreign workers, including 50 from the German company Siemens and others employed by the security company Olive Group, had already been evacuated from the refinery, officials from both companies were quoted by news reports as saying. The complex, located about halfway between Baghdad and Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, includes the refinery - the largest in the country - as well as a 600-megawatt power plant, which supplies electricity to much of northern Iraq. The power plant had fallen to militant fighters earlier.

The refinery has the capacity to process 310,000 barrels of oil produced in northern Iraq, and provides refined products to 11 Iraqi provinces, including Baghdad.

Atta, in his televised statement, said that Iraqi forces were continuing to fight in Baiji, and he praised the efforts of one air force pilot in particular in staving off the insurgents.

"The air force is in the battle against them, with the support from the Golden Division of the Special Forces," he said, referring to an elite unit that is reportedly under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's direct control.

"We will continue our operations and we will not let anyone from ISIS take one foot of our lands," he said, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Atta also said that Iraqi forces were making gains in several areas in the northern provinces of Salahuddin and Nineveh, and had retaken the city of Tal Afar, which was reported to have fallen to the militants Monday.

He depicted a military situation that contradicted most reports from the field so far, saying that Iraqi forces had regained the initiative. "Now our forces are becoming stronger," he said. "Now we are the ones who are taking the initiative and making the attacks, instead of defending."

In a separate development, Indian officials have expressed concern about the fate of 40 Indian workers, who disappeared after militant forces overran Mosul, and about 46 Indian nurses working at a hospital in Tikrit that is under militant control. Indian newspapers Wednesday quoted officials who said they were worried about the fate of citizens caught in the fighting in Iraq.

"Indian workers in Mosul disappeared, probably kidnapped by ISIS," said Yassin al-Ma'amouri, the head of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. "Nobody knows anything about them."

Ma'amouri said Red Crescent workers had visited the Indian nurses at the hospital in Tikrit and had found them in good condition.

"Nine of them are afraid to stay here, the rest are fine," he said. "We visited them, gave them phone cards to call their families, gave them food, pocket money."

"They are working in the hospital now and feel fine, but on the other hand we don't know the reaction of those gunmen of ISIS," he added.

(Suadad al-Salhy contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an employee of The New York Times from Tikrit.)
© 2014, The New York Times News Service
For NDTV Updates,

[American Patriot]

Fighting nears Baghdad, UN warns of danger

Volunteers train at military base in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 160 kilometres south of Baghdad, Iraq, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents. (AP Photo/ Jaber al-Helo)



Fighting has erupted at the northern approaches to Baghdad as the United Nations warns Iraq is in danger of disintegrating in the face of the assault by Sunni Arab militants.


Washington deployed some 275 military personnel to protect its embassy in Baghdad, the first time it has sent troops to Iraq since it withdrew its forces at the end of 2011 after a bloody and costly intervention launched in 2003.


It was also mulling air strikes against the militants, who are led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but include loyalists of now-executed Sunni Arab dictator Saddam Hussein.


A relative calm in Baghdad – ostensibly as militants have focused on their northern assault – was shattered by a string of bombings that left 17 people dead, while the bodies of 18 soldiers and police were found near the city of Samarra, all shot in the head and chest.


Since the insurgents launched their lightning assault on June 9, they have captured Mosul, a city of two million people, and a big chunk of mainly Sunni Arab territory stretching towards the capital.


The offensive has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and sent jitters through world oil markets as the militants have advanced ever nearer Baghdad leaving the Shi’ite-led government in disarray.


Officials said on Tuesday that militants briefly held parts of the city of Baquba, just 60 kilometres from the capital.


They also took control of most of Tal Afar, a strategic Shi’ite-majority town between Mosul and the border with Syria, where ISIL also has fighters engaged in that country’s three-year-old civil war.


The overnight attack on Baquba, which was pushed back by security forces but left 44 prisoners dead at a police station, marked the closest that fighting has come to the capital.


In Tal Afar, militants controlled most of the town but pockets of resistance remained.


Further south, security personnel abandoned the Iraqi side of a key crossing on the border with Syria, officers said.


Syrian rebel groups opposed to ISIL, who already controlled the other side of the Al-Qaim crossing, advanced across the border to take over.


A cameraman was also killed and a correspondent wounded while covering the unrest, their television channel said.


The swift advance of the militants has sparked international alarm, with UN envoy to Baghdad Nickolay Mladenov warning that Iraq’s territorial integrity was at stake.

[vector7]

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/0...ht-107981.html

I told you, Beck has lost it.

Glenn Beck admits: Liberals got Iraq right

'You were right. Liberals, you were right, we shouldn’t have,' said Beck. | Getty
By KENDALL BREITMAN | 6/18/14 6:57 AM EDT

Glenn Beck is admitting he was wrong and liberals were right for opposing the invasion of Iraq.

“[Liberals] said we couldn’t force freedom on people,” Beck said at the start of his Tuesday radio show. “Let me lead with my mistakes. You were right. Liberals, you were right, we shouldn’t have.”

Beck’s comments came as he discussed the increasingly partisan divide in politics, saying, “We were a mess in 2008. … It hasn’t gotten any better.” The radio personality explained his feelings that in the past five years the country has been “ripped apart.” To fix this divide, Beck called on the American people have to come together on some issues, such as the VA scandal and Iraq.

“From the beginning, most people on the left were against going to Iraq,” Beck said. “I wasn’t.”

The talk show host explained that when a possible invasion of Iraq was being discussed, he believed Saddam Hussein was backing terror against the United States and that something had to be done.

“In spite of the things I felt at the time when we went into war, liberals said, ‘We shouldn’t get involved, we shouldn’t nation-build and there was no indication the people of Iraq had the will to be free,’” Beck said. “I thought that was insulting at the time. Everybody wants to be free.”

On Tuesday, Beck admitted, “You cannot force democracy on the Iraqis or anybody else, it doesn’t work. They don’t understand it or even really want it.”

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The Obama Administration that hates war and ME intervention in places like Iraq and Afghanistan are now on a roll in places like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and working hard on Syria to topple dictators and install the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda.

Trading the dictator you know under the guise of democracy and bring in unknown Islamic Radicals creating more instability throughout the region.

The upcoming radicals are putting down the moderates Muslims while eradicating Jews and Christan from the regions they occupy.

This Administration is backing these leftist Islamic radicals throughout the ME.

When Iran had real marches by non-socialists in the streets wanting freedom from the Ayatollahs, this Administration did nothing to support them.

The Bush Administration handed Iraq over to the Obama Administration on a silver platter in 2009.

The Democrats foreign policy destroyed it by fostering destabilization there and the rest of the ME with their Arab Spring they supported to topple moderates leaders for more Islamic radical groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda.



No Glenn, you might be right if 911 never happened, but after it did, this forced the US on offensive footing with Islamic Terror something that the Clinton Administration was derelict on including letting Bin Laden go and gutting our military. The Obama Administration (Democrats) were wrong for not supporting moderate leaders like Mubarak and fortifying Iraq by buttoning it down with US military bases as the nation was stabilized to support our interests in the region and keep Iran in check.


Led in prayer by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, right, President George W. Bush joins his Cabinet as they bow their heads, September 14, 2001, before beginning their meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House.

[American Patriot]

Agreed. We should have done what we did in Germany. Created military bases, broke the damned country up into sectors and let the various sects move into them without troubles.

Then this shit wouldn't have restarted.

[Avvakum]

Agreed. We should have done what we did in Germany. Created military bases, broke the damned country up into sectors and let the various sects move into them without troubles.

Then this shit wouldn't have restarted.

That would've just provided more bullseyes on our guys back's as a target for the Jihadis. It would mean permanent occupation. In replacing Saddam Hussien, we would find ourselves having to become Saddam Hussein. This is the sadness of dealing with these people; the utter inability to do anything constructive with people bound by Islam.

But my point is not Glen Beck's either; it's over and done, and we have to focus on what and who made this possible, and remove them from office constitutionally to prevent this from getting worse, and plan on rolling back this tide now that it's started.

I know you wanted to deal with Islam close to the source, but we in the West never had the spiritual, political, and moral courage to do that in the ways necessary, and so we pulled back from the commitment we made, little as that was.

You want to roll back the Islamic tide now? We'll have to deal with the bastards in the Kremlin and in Peking to do that.

[vector7]

Blowback: U.S. Trained ISIS At Secret Jordan Base



Army trainers

JERUSALEM – Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, were trained in 2012 by U.S. instructors working at a secret base in Jordan, according to informed Jordanian officials.

The officials said dozens of ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The officials said the training was not meant to be used for any future campaign in Iraq.

The Jordanian officials said all ISIS members who received U.S. training to fight in Syria were first vetted for any links to extremist groups like al-Qaida.

In February 2012, WND was first to report the U.S., Turkey and Jordan were running a training base for the Syrian rebels in the Jordanian town of Safawi in the country’s northern desert region.

That report has since been corroborated by numerous other media accounts.

Last March, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported Americans were training Syrian rebels in Jordan.

Quoting what it said were training participants and organizers, Der Spiegel reported it was not clear whether the Americans worked for private firms or were with the U.S. Army, but the magazine said some organizers wore uniforms. The training in Jordan reportedly focused on use of anti-tank weaponry.

The German magazine reported some 200 men received the training over the previous three months amid U.S. plans to train a total of 1,200 members of the Free Syrian Army in two camps in the south and the east of Jordan.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper also reported last March that U.S. trainers were aiding Syrian rebels in Jordan along with British and French instructors.

Reuters reported a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department declined immediate comment on the German magazine’s report. The French foreign ministry and Britain’s foreign and defense ministries also would not comment to Reuters.

The Jordanian officials spoke to WND amid concern the sectarian violence in Iraq will spill over into their own country as well as into Syria.
ISIS previously posted a video on YouTube threatening to move on Jordan and “slaughter” King Abdullah, whom they view as an enemy of Islam.

WND reported last week that, according to Jordanian and Syrian regime sources, Saudi Arabia has been arming the ISIS and that the Saudis are a driving force in supporting the al-Qaida-linked group.

WND further reported that, according to a Shiite source in contact with a high official in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Obama administration has been aware for two months that the al-Qaida-inspired group that has taken over two Iraqi cities and now is threatening Baghdad also was training fighters in Turkey.

The source told WND that at least one of the training camps of the group Iraq of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Syria, the ISIS, is in the vicinity of Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey, where American personnel and equipment are located.

He called Obama “an accomplice” in the attacks that are threatening the Maliki government the U.S. helped establish through the Iraq war.
The source said that after training in Turkey, thousands of ISIS fighters went to Iraq by way of Syria to join the effort to establish an Islamic caliphate subject to strict Islamic law, or Shariah.

[American Patriot]

Iran says Obama lacks will to combat terrorism in Iraq

AFP | Jun 20, 2014, 05.00 PM IST
TEHRAN: US President Barack Obama lacks "serious will" to combat terrorism, a top Iranian official said Friday after an Iraqi appeal for American airstrikes went unanswered.

Deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian's comments followed a statement from Obama on the Iraq crisis in which he pledged to send military advisors to Baghdad but stopped short of further action at this stage.

Fighters from the Sunni extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and their allies, have made swift territorial gains in Shiite-majority Iraq in a push that began last week.

ISIS considers Shiites, also a majority in neighbouring Iran, to be apostates.

"Delaying the fight against terrorism and ISIS and putting conditions on it have fuelled suspicions and doubts about the United States' objectives in Iraq," Abdollahian said, according to the state broadcaster's website.

"Obama's comments show the White House lacks serious will in fighting terrorism in Iraq and the region," he added.

On Thursday, Obama had warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Iran against promoting sectarianism after Tehran vowed to help Iraq against the fighters and defend Shiite holy sites located in its western neighbour.

"Our view is that Iran can play a constructive role if it is helping to send the same message to the Iraqi government that we're sending," Obama said.

But Abdollahian accused Obama of fuelling sectarianism. "Instead of focusing on fighting terrorism and national unity and strengthening of government institutions, the US is spreading sectarianism," he said.

[American Patriot]

Yesterday I reported that Patreaus was in London saying pretty much the same thing Captain Nash was saying... we shouldn't be interfering in Iraq.

In other words, they were all agreeing with Obama.

Today, I find out that the news media was MISREPORTING THAT INFORMATION.

Here's what he actually said!

US should launch targeted military strikes on 'terrorist army' Isis, says General David Petraeus

US President Barack Obama signalled military action could be taken if necessary

General David Petraeus Photo: GETTY IMAGES








By Con Coughlin, Defence Editor, and Tom Whitehead

10:00PM BST 19 Jun 2014




America should launch "targeted" military attacks against an emerging "terrorist army" in Iraq if it jeopardises the security of the West, the former head of Coalition forces in the country said.



In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, David Petraeus, one of the most senior figures in the American military over the past decade, said that he would now support limited strikes against the leadership of Isis.



Gen Petraeus's intervention came as Barack Obama, the US President, announced that America was sending 300 special forces advisers to Iraq to help support the fight against Isis. Mr Obama also said that the US was prepared to launch military strikes if future intelligence recommended such action.






However, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, ruled out any British involvement in military intervention in Iraq – which has seen large swathes of the country overrun by the al-Qaeda inspired Isis group in recent days. David Cameron said earlier this week that Isis now represented a direct threat to Britain's national security, with hundreds of British-born jihadis thought to have joined the banned organisation.



On Thursday, the group overran Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons complex at al-Muthanna in central Iraq sparking heightened international concern.


In today's interview with the Daily Telegraph Gen Petraeus said: "If President Obama and other leaders conclude that the threat posed by Isis is significant then I would support actions to target high value Isis elements.


"If Isis is seen as a terrorist organisation with the potential to engage in terrorist acts beyond the Middle East, then that could warrant the targeting of high value targets.”


America has been known to use drones, special forces and precision bombs to take out known terrorists. It is understood that Gen Petraeus’ proposal would involve specifically targeting Isis leader Abu Bakr el Baghdadi, a former detainee of the US in Iraq with a US$10 million bounty on his head.


Gen Petraeus said: "We must be careful not to take sides if we offer military support. But the growing threat posed by Isis means that military action will be necessary.
"We must realise that Isis poses a threat not only to Iraq but to the UK and other countries as well.


"Isis poses two challenges, to the stability of Iraq, and also the emerging threat it poses beyond Iraq and Syria.”


He added that an “Isis sanctuary” in Iraq and Syria would be a potentially serious development for the West.


Speaking during a visit to London, the retired general said: “It seems to be much more than a terrorist group: it seems to be turning into a terrorist army, one that has acquired vast financial resources from looting banks and other criminal enterprises.”


He joined calls for the Iraqi Government to "reach out to the Sunnis and the Kurds” to help resolve the divisions which are tearing the country apart.


In the interview, Gen Petraus also expressed his "disappointment" that, eight years after he masterminded the military surge in Iraq that destroyed al-Qaeda, the country is once more under threat by Islamist militants.


"It is very disappointing. It is a tragic development for a country that was given an enormous opportunity in the wake of the surge."


But he did not think American sacrifices had been in vain.


"I certainly do not think it was in vain," he said. "The surge provided Iraq with an excellent opportunity. However it is undeniably very sad to see the tragic turn of events in Iraq knowing personally how great the sacrifice and the cost was for the US, Britain, Iraq and all the other coalition partners."


He also questioned whether Iraqis would welcome the return of American combat forces to their country.


"I suspect most Iraqis, despite the desperate situation, would not welcome outside assistance."


Speaking in the White House last night, President Obama said he was sending up to 300 military advisers to help train and advise Iraqi forces while intelligence services will be "significantly" increased to build up a better picture of what is happening on the ground.


A joint operation centres with Iraqi forces will also be set up.


But he warned: “We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires.


"If we do I will consult closely with Congress and leaders in Iraq and the region."


The American action came as Saudi Arabia warned the US and UK not to “meddle” in the “alarming situation”in Iraq and risk escalating it.


Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the UK, said it would be“madness” and “beyond our comprehension” for the US to launch air strikes.


He said he“despaired” for the innocent families trapped in the conflict but that it was“Iraq’s problem” to sort out.


He wrote:“We also absolutely oppose all foreign intervention and interference.


“So the call by the Iraqi foreign minister for President Obama and the US government to launch air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (Isis) rebels is beyond our comprehension.


“An air strike will not just eliminate extremists – whom we do not support – but will effectively sign the death warrant of many Iraqi citizens, innocent families trapped and terrified by this crisis. “


Prince Mohammed also blamed the Iraqi leadership for creating the divisions between Sunni and Shia that has fuelled the crisis with an “unashamedly sectarian agenda”.


Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Twitter that Isis was serving the interests of US in the Middle East and signalled his intense distrust of any proposed cooperation with US to resolve the Iraq situation by accusing Washington of sowing the seeds of division between the country's sects.


In the US, senior figures including Senator John McCain and Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinstein added to the calls for Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down.


But Zuhair al-Nahar, a spokesman for Mr al-Maliki's Dawa party, said the country's leaders felt "abandoned" and likened the crisis to the Nazi occupation of Europe.


Isis has overrun large swathes of Iraq since taking the second city, Mosul, last week, and US State Department officials warned that Isis fighters had seized a chemical weapons facility built by Saddam Hussein which contains a stockpile of old weapons.


The stockpiles were in the Al Muthanna complex but it was unlikely the militants would be able to turn them in to a functional chemical weapons, it was believed.
There was also intense fighting around the country's biggest oil refinery in Baiji, north of Baghdad.


There were mixed reports over the sprawling refinery, which supplies much of the country’s domestic fuel, with Government forces insisting they had regained control after an assault by the militants.


Lahoor Talabani, director of counter terrorism for the Kurdistan Regional Government warned that up to 450 Britons were fighting with Isis either in Syria or Iraq.
David Cameron said that Britain’s spy agencies were now “focused on to this area” and everything that could be done to stop Britons travelling or return radicalised was being done.


Isis was formally banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK yesterday, meaning membership of it can carry a maximum jail term of 10 years.


It was proscribed along with four other groups connected to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

[American Patriot]

Troops Surrounded, Trapped in Iraq's Key Refinery, Sources Tell ABC News

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Jun 20, 2014, 11:59 AM
By MARTHA RADDATZ Martha Raddatz More from Martha »
Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Follow @martharaddatz








This photo from the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA shows a satellite view of smoke billowing from the Baiji North refinery complex on June 18, 2014 in Baiji, about 130 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq.
USGS/NASA







Iraqi troops battling for control of the vital Baiji oil refinery are outnumbered, surrounded and trapped inside the facility, U.S. source told ABC News.
The battle for the refinery was in its fourth day today, although fighters for the radical Islamic militia ISIS have apparently taken control of much of the facility and are willing to keep the government forces isolated until they run out of food and ammunition, sources said.
"There is very little the Iraqi government can do to save or liberate those guys," a U.S. official told ABC News.
The loss of the Baiji refinery, located 130 miles north of the capital Baghdad, would be a serious blow to the government of President Nouri al-Maliki. After rapidly sweeping through the northern city Mosul and driving south past Tikrit last week, ISIS - which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - moved to expand their reach by attacking Baiji.
Obama To Send Up To 300 U.S. Military Advisers To Iraq
Boehner Says Obama Should 'Absolutely Not' Coordinate With Iran On Iraq Crisis

Both sides have claimed to be in control of the facility, but witnesses have reported that ISIS has hung its black banners from the refinery. And thick black smoke can be seen on satellite photos coming from the refinery as a result of the battle.
There are approximately 270 Iraqi Security Forces inside, including counterterrorism forces, trying to hold off 300 to 500 ISIS fighters, sources said. The defenders have been helped by Iraqi attack helicopters, but have been unable to dislodge the ISIS fighters who have completely surrounded the sprawling Baiji grounds.
Sources told ABC News that the government troops do not have enough supplies inside to survive for a long time, and they can't get out. In addition, Iraq has been unable to send reinforcements because the road to Baiji is controlled by the militants, the source said.
The Maliki government has yet to mount a counteroffensive to roll back the ISIS blitzkrieg, although thousands of Shiite Iraqis have rallied to the government's side to defend against ISIS, which is composed of Sunni Muslims.
Maliki's regime suffered another blow today when Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiites, called for a new, "effective" government.
"It is necessary for the winning political blocs to start a dialogue that yields an effective government that enjoys broad national support, avoids past mistakes and opens new horizons toward a better future for all Iraqis," al-Sisanti said.
President Obama has also criticized the Maliki government for alienating the country's Sunni population.
Obama has declined to launch U.S. bombers against ISIS, but said Thursday he will deploy as many as 300 U.S. special forces soldiers to help train and advise Iraqis in their battle with ISIS and the Sunni tribes that have joined them.

[Malsua]

Man, that's a bummer. Glad I'm not in a facility with a bunch of head hackers trying to get in.

[American Patriot]

me too.

[American Patriot]

Islamic Army of Iraq founder: Isis and Sunni Islamists will march on Baghdad

Exclusive: Founder of Islamic Army of Iraq who was once described by the US as a top terrorist target, explains how the fight against 'American or Iranian occupation’ has united Isis and other Sunni Islamists in the Battle for Baghdad

By Ruth Sherlock, and Carol Malouf in Erbil

1:51PM BST 20 Jun 2014
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238 Comments


A top commander of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq has told The Telegraph how his men are fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham to take back Baghdad, even if it means pushing the country to civil war.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Dabash, 47, a founder of the Islamic Army of Iraq, who fought the allied invasion in 2003, has told how thousands of his men are participating in the Isis-led insurgency that swept across northern Iraq, and which now threatens the gates of the capital.


^{Ahmad Dabash is a founding member of the Islamic Army (Sam Tarling/The Telegraph)}

The Islamic Army, however, does not share the same extremist ideology of Isis, Mr Dabash said in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, and raised the prospect of his faction one day turning its guns on their jihadist comrades.

“If Maliki [the Iraqi prime minister] does not step down, then there is no doubt that we are moving on Baghdad,” said Mr Dabash. “We will go all the way.”

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For over a decade, Mr Dabash has been a mastermind of the Sunni insurgency that fought the United States led occupation of Iraq in 2003.
Then an influential imam in Baghdad and a leading figure in the Batawi family, one of the country’s largest Sunni tribes, Mr Dabash mobilised tens of thousands of men, forming the Islamic Army of Iraq.
Initially in tandem with al-Qaeda, the Islamic Army battled allied troops across Iraq, making Mr Dabash one of America’s most wanted, with the US government describing him a key terrorist target in 2006.
Today, his men have regrouped to fight Iraq’s prime minister and his Shia-led, Iranian-backed, government.
“We are here to fight any occupation, whether American or Iranian. We have a common enemy with Isis now, and for this we are fighting together,” said Mr Dabash.

^{Mosul residents queue to enter the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq (Sam Tarling/The Telegraph)}
For the past six months Sunni insurgents have advanced, seizing territory in Anbar province and then, in the last two weeks, occupying Iraq’s second city of Mosul, and sweeping south, toppling towns and villages as the approach Baghdad.
Isis’ propaganda, promoted through Twitter, jihadist forums and even the groups’ own television station, announced its motivation for the onslaught as the desire to build an “Islamic State” comprising swathes of Iraq and northern Syria.
Little however has been known about the incentives of the factions who have joined the insurgency, providing the numbers and support that have made the group’s dramatic takeover possible.
In his first ever sit down interview, Mr Dabash, revealed the demands being made by fighters in the domestic insurgency.
“Maliki must first be deposed,” said Mr Dabash. “Then we demand the fragmentation of Iraq into three autonomous regions, with Sunnis, Shia and Kurds sharing resources equally.”
“And finally we need compensation for the one and half million Iraqis, most of them Sunnis, who have been killed at the hands of the Americans and the Maliki regime.”
Mr Maliki denied that Isis were the drivers of the attacks, instead describing the recent attacks as a sectarian “awakening” of Sunni Iraqis, who he said have suffered a decade of oppression.
“Is it possible that a few hundred Isis jihadists can take the whole of Mosul?,” said Mr Dabash. “No. All the Sunni tribes have come out against Maliki. And there are parts of the military, Baathists from the time of Saddam Hussein, clerics, everyone came out for the oppression that we have been suffering.”
“Those who are 18 today were children ten years ago. They grew up in a hateful environment,” said Mr Dabash. “They have seen too much oppression and violence; first by the Americans, and then by the Iraqi government who came to power on an American tank. Now, they are eager to bite off the head of the snake.”
Mr Dabash said he preferred a “political solution”, whereby the Iraqi government meets the Islamic Army’s demands.
But he accepted that this was unlikely, and that his men were ready to fight in a bloody sectarian civil war.
In the past week the Iraqi government and Shia spiritual leaders have called Shia men to arms to fight the Sunni advance.
With the national army weakened, and having entirely fled the north of the country, the fighting in Iraq is increasingly delineated along sectarian fault lines.
“The call by the Shia sheikhs to their people to fight is going to lead to a civil war,” said Mr Dabash. “We hope they will retreat from this but if they do not then we are ready. All the Sunnis now are in one direction.”
As jihadists used Iraq as a rear base for their insurgency in neighbouring Syria in the past two years, the fragile country was once again acquiring the trappings of a civil war.
The senseless killings, so common during the country’s civil war in the early 2000s, once again returned, with suicide bombings in markets, on roads and in schools in both Shia and Sunni neighbourhoods across the country.
Some 2,764 civilians have died from violence in Iraq so far in June, according to Iraq Body Count, the highest count since the 2007 civil war.
The decision by the Islamic Army to take up arms again came in December of last year in Anbar province, said Mr Dabash.
“Before that we had been demonstrating peacefully for one year. But in spite of this, the Shia factions attacked us. They called the demonstrators terrorists and assassinated the peaceful movement.”
For several months after, Sunni factions held control of Anbar province, only moving on Mosul two weeks ago.
“We decided to attack Mosul to distract the army from their siege of Anbar,” said Mr Dabash.
The plan worked. Partly terrified of the threat of torture, and summary executions, including beheadings, bandied by Isis propaganda, and realising that Isis had the support of local Sunni militants, the Iraqi army capitulated.
The, mostly Shia, commanders fled back to Baghdad, leaving their troops to shed their uniforms and return to civilian life, or to join the insurgents.
Despite their current alliance, Mr Dabash said his group and Isis fundamentally differed in their goals.
While Isis foresees the creation of a hardline Islamic State ruled by Sharia, Mr Dabash’s men are more nationalistic, pushing for Iraq to become a confederation.
“We are not extreme like Isis, and we disagree with their policies. We reject using Sharia. We want a constitution under civil law.”
Mr Dabash was circumspect on whether he would turn against Isis, not wanting to cause rifts in their current alliance.
But, should the extremist group not bow to his group’s laws, he implied to The Telegraph that there would be little choice but to fight them.
Mr Dabash is a master at changing alliances. In 2003 he said he was a “brother to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” al-Qaeda’s leader.

^{2004 attack on Karbala (Getty)}
In the next three years, his name was associated with some of the most brutal sectarian attacks. The US accused him of financing the bomb attacks in the Shia holy city of Karbala on March 2, 2004 that killed 140 worshippers.
Mr Dabash denied to The Telegraph having any involvement in the Karbala attack.
In 2006 the Islamic Army broke away from al-Qaeda, denouncing them as “too extreme”.
However, they continued to fight the Americans in a bitter war that saw 293 members of Mr Dabash’s tribe killed, including four women.
“I was wanted, and so many of my relatives died in US targeted air strikes. They were trying to kill me,” he said. “Many were also killed by Shia forces trained by the US.”
Eventually Mr Dabash was captured and spent two years under interrogation in an American jail in Iraq.
Now, however, Mr Dabash is willing to make peace with the West if it means ousting Mr Maliki. He said he would welcome limited American support against the Maliki government, but not a full reoccupation of Iraq.
“We used to fight the Americans, but now, if they want to come they will be our guests, they will be our friends. We have no problem to meet with the secretary of state,” he said.
“We are one of the biggest factions fighting, and we will accept western military support to stop Maliki.”

[vector7]

US concern as ISIL militants seize former chemical weapons plant

Date June 21, 2014 - 12:47AM

Nick O'Malley

US correspondent for Fairfax Media

Obama to send military advisors to Iraq

RAW VISION: an additional 300 military personnel will be sent to advise Iraq's security forces, says US President Barack Obama.

Washington: Sunni militants in Iraq have seized a chemical weapons facility that was once part of the military arsenal of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.

The facility contains a stockpile of weapons, according to an analysis by the US-backed Iraq Study Group after the 2003 invasion.

"We are aware the that the ISIL has occupied the Al Muthanna complex," a US State Department spokesperson told Fairfax Media. "We remain concerned about the seizure of any military site by the ISIL. We do not believe that the complex contains CW materials of military value and it would be very difficult, if not impossible to safely move the materials."


Chemical warfare agent filled aerial bombs await destruction at the Al Muthanna complex Iraq, in an undated file photo. Photo: Reuters

The news comes as US President Barack Obama has announced he was not planning to launch airstrikes in support of Iraqi troops fighting the ISIL militants, but would not rule out future "targeted and precise military action."

He said this would not include returning US combat troops to Iraq, but announced the deployment of 300 special forces troops to Iraq to act as advisers to Iraq forces and provide surveillance and intelligence. This deployment comes on top of the reinforcements already sent to strengthen defences at the US' sprawling Baghdad embassy.

"We have had advisers in Iraq through our embassy, and we're prepared to send a small number of additional American military advisers – up to 300 – to assess how we can best train, advise, and support Iraqi security forces going forward," Mr OBama said during a White House press conference.

"American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq, but we will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people, the region, and American interests as well.

"We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action, if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it. If we do, I will consult closely with Congress and leaders in Iraq and in the region."

Mr Obama said a stable and unified Iraq was in the best interest of the US and the region but that the US "will not pursue military options that support one sect inside of Iraq at the expense of another".

Asked if he believed Iraq's Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has been blamed for inflaming sectarian divisions in Iraq, could still lead a unified nation, Mr Obama declined to endorse him.

"It's not our job to choose Iraq's leaders," he said. "Part of what our patriots fought for during many years in Iraq was the right and the opportunity for Iraqis to determine their own destiny and choose their own leaders. But I don't think there's any secret that right now at least there is deep divisions between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish leaders. And as long as those deep divisions continue or worsen, it's going to be very hard for an Iraqi central government to direct an Iraqi military to deal with these threats."

Mr Obama said America still had deep differences with Iran, which has deployed troops to Iraq to battle ISIL forces, but that he feared a full Iranian intervention might exacerbate the violence.

"Our view is that Iran can play a constructive role if it is helping to send the same message to the Iraqi government that we're sending, which is that Iraq only holds together if it's inclusive and that if the interests of Sunni, Shia and Kurd are all respected," Mr Obama said.

"If Iran is coming in solely as an armed force on behalf of the Shia, and if it is framed in that fashion, then that probably worsens the situation and the prospect for government formation that would actually be constructive over the long term."

[Ryan Ruck]

Troops Surrounded, Trapped in Iraq's Key Refinery, Sources Tell ABC News

[Ryan Ruck]

Iraqi Kurds 'Fully Control Kirkuk' As Army Flees

June 12, 2014

Iraqi Kurdish forces say they have taken full control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk as the army flees before an Islamist offensive nearby.

"The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga," Kurdish spokesman Jabbar Yawar told Reuters. "No Iraq army remains in Kirkuk now."

Kurdish fighters are seen as a bulwark against Sunni Muslim insurgents.

Meanwhile, Iraq's parliament has postponed a vote on a call by PM Nouri Maliki for a state of emergency.

The fall of Mosul, the country's second city, to the Islamists sent shockwaves across the Middle East.

Kirkuk and the surrounding province of Tamim are at the heart of a political and economic dispute between Iraq's Arabs and Kurds.

• Under Saddam Hussein's programme of "Arabisation", Kurds were driven from Kirkuk and replaced with settlers from the south, and the Iraqi government continues to assert control over nearby oilfields, with the backing from the local Turkmen community

• The Kurdistan Regional Government, which administers three provinces to the north-east, is pushing for Arabisation to be reversed

• In May 2013, Kurdish fighters took up positions on the outskirts of Kirkuk after Iraqi security forces were redeployed to deal with Sunni militants elsewhere

• A census and referendum on the affiliation of the province has been repeatedly delayed by the broader political crisis in Iraq

Led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the insurgents are believed to be planning to push further south, to the capital Baghdad and regions dominated by Iraq's Shia Muslim majority, whom they regard as "infidels".

But it appears the insurgents want to avoid tangling with Iraqi Kurds - a more cohesive fighting force - in provinces bordering Nineveh province where Mosul is located, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Kurdish-run Irbil.

A new insurgent offensive could come from the west, where they control the city of Falluja, 69km (43 miles) from Baghdad, our correspondent adds.

Washington says it is considering further assistance to Iraq in fighting the militants, without giving details.

The UN Security Council has condemned the attacks on Mosul and Tikrit, another town seized by the insurgents. The humanitarian situation around Mosul, where up to 500,000 people have fled, was "dire and... worsening by the moment", it said.

'Awaiting orders'

Kurdish Brig Gen Shirko Rauf told AFP news agency: "We tightened our control of Kirkuk city and are awaiting orders to move toward the areas that are controlled by [ISIS]."

Iraq's Kurds have long sought to incorporate Kirkuk into their autonomous region in the north.

Parts of Kirkuk province were overrun by the Sunni Islamists this week, and some of the civilians fleeing Mosul and other towns have sought refuge in the Kurdish provinces. Others streamed south along with retreating security forces to Baghdad.

The Iraqi prime minister is believed to be asking for powers to impose curfews, restrict public movements and censor the media.

But a session of the parliament in Baghdad to vote on this was postponed after only 128 MPs out of 325 attended.

Government forces slowed the insurgents' advance on Wednesday outside Samarra, a city just 110km (68 miles) north of Baghdad.

However, according to AFP news agency's sources, the militants have since pushed even further south, bypassing Samarra and seizing the town of Dhuluiya, 90km north-west of Baghdad.

The insurgents also control a large swathe of territory in eastern Syria, amid a campaign to set up a Sunni militant enclave straddling the border.

In another development, funerals were being held on Thursday for victims of a suicide bomber who killed at least 15 people and injured 34 when he blew himself up at a funeral in Baghdad on Wednesday.

[American Patriot]

Kerry presses Maliki as Iraq loses control of Syrian, Jordanian borders

By By Lesley Wroughton and Ahmed Rasheed 2 hours ago














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By Lesley Wroughton and Ahmed Rasheed



BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Iraq's prime minister in Baghdad on Monday to push for a more inclusive government, even as Baghdad's forces abandoned the border with Jordan, leaving the entire Western frontier outside government control.
Sunni tribes took the Turaibil border crossing, the only legal crossing point between Iraq and Jordan, after Iraqi security forces fled, Iraqi and Jordanian security sources said.
The tribes were negotiating to hand the post over to insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant who took control of two main crossings with Syria over the weekend.
Kurdish forces control a third border post with Syria in the north, leaving central government troops with no presence along the entire Western frontier which includes some of the most important east-west trade routes in the Middle East.
For the insurgents, capturing the frontier is a dramatic step towards the goal of erasing the modern border altogether and building a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
Washington, which withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2011 after an occupation that followed the 2003 invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, has been struggling to help Iraq contain a Sunni insurgency led by ISIL, an al Qaeda offshoot which seized northern towns this month.
View gallery

Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), meets with U.S. Secretary of Sta …

U.S. President Barack Obama agreed last week to send up to 300 special forces troops as advisers, but has held off from providing air strikes and ruled out redeploying ground troops.
Washington is worried that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government has worsened the insurgency by alienating moderate Sunnis who once fought al Qaeda but have now joined the ISIL revolt. While Washington has been careful not to say publicly it wants Maliki to relinquish power, Iraqi officials say such a message has been delivered behind the scenes.
There was little small talk when Kerry met Maliki, the two men seated in chairs in a room with other officials. At one point Kerry looked at an Iraqi official and said, "How are you?"
The meeting lasted one hour and 40 minutes, after which Kerry was escorted to his car by Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari. As Kerry got in, he said: "That was good."
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday accused Washington of trying to regain control of the country it once occupied - a charge Kerry denied.
Iraqis are due to form a new government after an election in April. Maliki's list won the most seats in parliament but would still require allies to win a majority.
View gallery


In this picture taken Saturday, June 21, 2014, Shiite Iraqi Turkmen families gather at a relative's …

Kerry said on Sunday the United States would not choose who rules in Baghdad, but added that Washington had noted the dissatisfaction among Kurds, Sunnis and some Shi'ites with Maliki's leadership. He emphasised that the United States wanted Iraqis to "find a leadership that was prepared to be inclusive and share power".
Senior Iraqi politicians, including at least one member of Maliki's own ruling list, have told Reuters that the message that Washington would be open to Maliki leaving power has been delivered in diplomatic language to Iraqi leaders.
Recent meetings between Maliki and American officials have been described as tense. According to a Western diplomat briefed on the conversations by someone attending the meetings, U.S. diplomats have informed Maliki he should accept leaving if he cannot gather a majority in parliament for a third term. U.S. officials have contested that such a message was delivered.
A close ally of Maliki has described him as having grown bitter toward the Americans in recent days over their failure to provide strong military support.
IRAN ACCUSATION
Jordanian army sources said Jordan's troops had been put in a state of alert in recent days along the 181-km (112-mile) border with Iraq, redeploying in some areas as part of steps to ward off "any potential or perceived security threats".
The Jordan border post was in the hands of Sunni tribesmen. An Iraqi tribal figure said there was a chance it would soon be passed to control of the militants, who seized the nearby crossing to Syria on the Damascus-Baghdad highway on Sunday.
He said he was mediating with ISIL in a "bid to spare blood and make things safer for the employees of the crossing. We are receiving positive messages from the militants."
The need to battle the Sunni insurgency has put the United States on the same side as its enemy of 35 years, Iran, which has close ties to the Shi'ite parties that came to power in Baghdad after U.S. forces toppled Saddam.
However, Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei made clear on Sunday that a rapprochement would not be easy.
"We are strongly opposed to U.S. and other intervention in Iraq," IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei as saying. "We don’t approve of it as we believe the Iraqi government, nation and religious authorities are capable of ending the sedition."
Some Iraqi observers in Baghdad interpreted Khamenei's comments as a warning to the United States to stay out of the process of selecting any successor to Maliki.
Baghdad is Kerry's third stop in a tour of Middle East capitals to emphasise the threat the insurgency poses to the region and call on Iraq’s allies to use their influence to press Baghdad to govern more inclusively. He has also been warning Iraq’s neighbours they need to step up efforts to cut off cross-border funding to the militants.

[American Patriot]

John Kerry holds talks in Iraq as more cities fall to ISIS militants

By Chelsea J. Carter and Holly Yan, CNN
updated 8:57 AM EDT, Mon June 23, 2014

Your video will begin momentarily.


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The U.S. is committed to helping Iraq, the U.S. secretary of state tells leaders there
• More than 70 prisoners and five police officers have been killed by militants Monday
• ISIS militants continue advancing toward Baghdad from the west and north
• Iraqi military spokesman: Troops conducted "strategic withdrawals" in places

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- As radical Sunni militants snatch city after city in their march toward Baghdad, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Iraq on Monday during the country's tensest time since the U.S. withdrawal of troops in 2011.
Kerry is meeting with Iraqi leaders. He met Monday with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the man who some observers say needs to step down.
With al-Maliki's Shiite-led government losing more ground to militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, Kerry has implored the leader to rise above "sectarian motivations" to become more inclusive and make the government more representative of Iraq's population.
"I'm here to convey to you President Obama's and the American people's commitment to help Iraq," Kerry said when greeting Iraq's speaker of parliament, Osama al-Nujayfi. "The principal concern is the integrity of the country, its borders, its sovereignty," he said. ISIS "is a threat to all of us."
Kerry will also meet with Iraq's foreign minister as well as Shiite and Sunni leaders.
Iraqi Shiites show force in weapons parade
Iraq: Six things you need to know
Secret video of ISIS smuggled out of Iraq
Iraqi Christians living in fear of ISIS
His trip is emphasizing "our highest-level commitment to Iraq during this time of crisis," a State Department official said.
Kerry is also talking with key leaders about forming a new government "in line with the constitutional timeline that they're on."
Al-Malaki's office issued a statement after the meeting, saying the prime minister told Kerry the current situation "poses a threat" not only to Iraq but the region as well. Al-Malaki "called on the countries of the world, especially countries in the region to take it seriously," the statement said.
But outside the rooms of high-level talks, parts of Iraq are falling by the day. Here's the latest on the crisis that is spilling far beyond Iraq's borders:
Dozens of prisoners, five police killed
At least 71 prisoners and five police officers were killed Monday when militants attacked an Iraqi police convoy transferring inmates from one prison to another, police said.
Five militants were also killed. It was not immediately clear whether ISIS was behind the attack.
The convoy was traveling from Hilla, a predominately Shiite city south of Baghdad, to another prison north of the city. Police did not provide further details about the attack.
Iraq's military is accusing ISIS of carrying out massacres.
"Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers have been beheaded and hung and their bodies have been desecrated," said Iraq's military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta. "Why has the U.N. not decried these atrocious crimes, which are among the biggest crimes against humanity?"
ISIS captures more ground
ISIS militants continued their violent march toward Baghdad over the weekend from the north and the west. At least 70% of Anbar province is now under the control of ISIS, two security officials in the region told CNN.




ISIS is on a mission to create an Islamic state across Sunni areas of Iraq and in Syria.
Militants have taken over the Tal Afar airbase in northern Iraq as well as the city of Tal Afar, officials said.
The fighters also seized the western Anbar town of Rutba, 70 miles (113 kilometers) from the borders of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, security sources in Baghdad and Anbar told CNN on Sunday.
Then there's Qaim. ISIS captured the city along the Syrian border Saturday, and the militants now enjoy a stronghold and a number of other towns in Anbar province. The fighters have a direct line to the western outskirts of Baghdad.
Sharia law spreads
One of ISIS' biggest victories came when it took over Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, this month. On Sunday, witnesses said militants paraded around the city in vehicles, announcing on loudspeakers that they have decided to form Islamic Sharia courts in Mosul.
Sharia law covers religious and nonreligious aspects of life, and ISIS has begun imposing Sharia law in the towns it controls.
Boys and girls must be separated at school. Women must wear the niqab, or full veil, in public. Music is banned, and fasting is enforced during Ramadan.
The military denies huge losses
But Iraq's military said it's not losing as much ground to ISIS as some may think. The military made a "strategic withdrawal" in some areas, Atta, the military spokesman, told reporters.
He said the withdrawals were part of a campaign to "open all these fronts so we can strengthen our positions." But Atta did not detail the specific locations.
Two security officials told CNN that Iraqi forces have withdrawn from Haditha, 168 miles (about 270 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.
But even if some withdrawals were strategic, it's unclear when or how Iraqi forces could retake areas now in the hands of well-armed ISIS fighters.
The military said it has fought back against militants with airstrikes. Officials showed reporters footage of airstrikes they said took place in Tal Afar.
Atta said the video showed a "large number of ISIS forces fleeing these strikes" that left up to 50 people dead.
Recruiting station gets pummeled
Apparently, those trying to join Iraqi forces are at risk before they even enlist.
In the Shiite-dominated Hilla, at least four people were killed in a shelling attack on a recruiting station. Another 34 people were wounded.
Hundreds of predominantly Shiite men went to the recruiting station to answer a call to arms to protect Iraq.
U.S. sends more help
The U.S. will have a greater presence in Iraq aside from Kerry's visit this week. About 300 U.S. military advisers will arrive, a senior defense official said. They will not be deployed all at once.
In addition, some U.S. military personnel already at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will be reassigned and become advisers, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
But Obama said there's only so much the United States can do.
"Part of the task now is to see whether Iraqi leaders are prepared to rise above sectarian motivations, come together, compromise," Obama told CNN's Kate Bolduan.
"If they can't, there's not going to be a military solution to this problem. There's no amount of American firepower that's going to be able to hold the country together, and I've made that very clear to Mr. Maliki and all the other leadership inside of Iraq."

[American Patriot]

REPORT: Judge Who Sentenced Saddam Hussein to Death – Captured & Executed by ISIS

Posted by Jim Hoft on Sunday, June 22, 2014, 10:50 AM

Judge Rauf Rashid, the man who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death, has reportedly been captured and killed by ISIS terrorists.
Zero Hedge reported–

Judge Rauf Rashid and Saddam Hussein
Several Arab News websites are reporting the news.


Al-Mesyroon reported (translated)

There were reports of the execution of Iraqi judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, who sentenced Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to death, according to confirmed the pages on the social networking site, without official confirmation from the Iraqi government.


The pages on social networking sites, including Page MP Jordanian Khalil Attieh on the site “Facebook” to “revolutionaries Iraqis arrested him and sentenced him to death in retaliation for the death of the martyr Saddam Hussein,” he said, adding that Rauf tried to escape from Baghdad after wearing uniforms dancers. She page Izzat al-Douri, vice-president Saddam Hussein, the “Facebook” to the rebels Iraqis were able to arrest the Kurdish judge Rauf Rashid, who issued a death sentence against the former Iraqi leader, which is currently in the “grip of the soldiers of the Islamic State and the men of the Baath Party.”

Wikipedia says he is dead: “On 16 June 2014, Abd al-Rahman was arrested by ISIS rebels during 2014 Northern Iraq offensive. Two days later, it was reported that ISIS captured and executed him.”

Iraqi officials have not denied the news.