The strategically important Anbar Province town of al-Baghdadi is entirely under ISIS control as of Thursday evening, according to provincial officials who say the last Iraqi troops withdrew from a residential compound in the town.
ISIS has controlled much of Baghdadi for awhile, with Iraqi forces occasionally contesting it. The town’s value is primarily in its proximity to the Ayn al-Assad air base, where hundreds of US ground troops are deployed.
The US troops are at the base in an “advisory” role, but as ISIS forces have gone closer and closer, it seems they could quickly become involved in direct combat, something the administration had long ruled out.
Various estimates in the Anbar Province has said ISIS controls roughly 80% of the territory. The Sunni-dominated province first began losing territory to ISIS over a year ago, and Iraqi forces have been unable to reverse the momentum so far.
ISIS taking over a town in Anbar province Iraq once again demonstrates convincingly (to me) that ISIS is primarily a political and not a religious phenomenon. Al Qaeda never "took over towns" because it is primarily a religious phenomenon. Forget the ridiculous territorial claims of ISIS. Its primary objective is the creation of an all-Arabic state with incredibly brutal if not inhumane means. Its message is: "in the past you, the Western world, have successfully frightened us Arabs (not Muslims!) with your superior weapons. Now we will frighten you". That part seems to succeed. Because ISIS is primarily a political movement it's objectives will never die. In fact, they have a predecessor in G. A. Nasser who failed.
”No one shall enrich themselves upon the misery of another”
As socialism is perfection in all that is just, fair and moral in society, surely such a movement has a burden to be peace makers of the world. For it neither oppose nor support the moral convictions of any religion or culture, but instead show that the above moral imperative, to always enrich ourselves upon the enrichment of others, surely this is what socialism and true religion are all about.
For Empire USA with it’s brutal imperialism has started a War on Terrorism that has a battle royal going between Western capitalism with it’s fake morality and those of the Muslim religion that have been so filled with vengeance, that terrorism has been chosen as their best defense against the nuclear armed NATO forces that invade their lands.