ISIS fighters are continuing to expand across the area north of Baghdad, and have moved into the Diyala Province, where they fought there way onto an army base near Muqdadiya.
The base is one of the last Iraqi military positions in the north, and while they confirmed part of it is now under ISIS control, they insist they will retake the area soon.
The loss of the base would give ISIS a foothold on yet another key northern highway, heading into Baghdad by way of Baqubah. ISIS has been steadily encircling Baghdad in recent weeks.
Another northern battle continues at the Baiji Refinery, where Iraq is conceding that the remaining troops are surrounded. Though reports had initially put the remaining Iraqi troops in Baiji at just 75, the Iraqi government is contesting that, claiming that the troops are surrounded, but that there are 1,500 “counterterrorism forces” in the single building they still hold.
We shall listen, not lecture; learn, not threaten. We will enhance our safety by earning the respect of others and showing respect for them. In short, our foreign policy will rest on the traditional American values of restraint and empathy, not on military might.
Theodore C. Sorensen
There you have your target Barack Hussein Obama, tell your pentagon to start the drones war, what are you waiting for? The main idea behind producing/training and creating ISIS and otter terrorists groups in Middle East was to create a proxy war in Syria toward Iran, the original plan where Libyan, Syrian, Iraqi and Iranian government needs to go and for Saudis, Qatar and other Sunni Muslims to establish a caliphate regime in the area, this is the Stone Age thinking coming from Harvard educated personality and they all have another degree from AIPAC stupidity faculty.
ISIL is reported to have captured 88 pounds of a Uranium compound at the university of Mosul. The defenders of Bush/Cheney/Rice have jumped on this as proof that Saddam Hussein had WMD's after all. Unfortunately we are not told what the concentration of U235 in this compound is nor what its usage at that university was. If it is the natural concentration of 0.720% then the total amount of U235 is 0.59 pounds (I assume that the compound is UO2) which is hugely insufficient for a "clean" nuclear bomb or a "dirty" nuclear device. No plutonium has been reported.
Moreover, it is not known (yet) when this material got to the University of Mosul. Was it during the regime of Saddam or after he had been ousted and killed?
The defenders of Bush/Cheney/Rice, once again, do not know what they are talking about.
My comment on the map… The articles mentions several key cities involved in recent attacks but they are NOT on the map
The fun will really begin when ISIS makes a move toward Iran and Iran unleashes hell on them all up and down the frontier. Iran will drive ISIS toward Saudi Arabia and then we'll separate the sheep from the goats in the Middle East. I think the US will find Iran is going to be far more valuable as an ally than as an opponent- Israel will just have to deal with it.