Al-Qaeda Captures Fallujah
Iraq faces a giant cluster-fuck of Islamic Terrorism
thanks to American policies.
A rejuvenated al-Qaeda-affiliated force asserted control over the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on Friday, raising its flag over government buildings and declaring an Islamic state in one of the most crucial areas that U.S. troops fought to pacify before withdrawing from Iraq two years ago.
The capture of Fallujah came amid an explosion of violence across the western desert province of Anbar in which local tribes, Iraqi security forces and al-Qaeda-affiliated militants have been fighting one another for days in a confusingly chaotic three-way war.
Al-Qaeda controlled Iraq in orange. Plus much of southern Iraq is pro-Iran. |
The upheaval also affirmed the soaring capabilities of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the rebranded version of the al-Qaeda in Iraq organization that was formed a decade ago to confront U.S. troops and expanded into Syria last year while escalating its activities in Iraq reports the Washington Post.
Roughly a third of the 4,486 U.S. troops killed in Iraq died in Anbar trying to defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq, nearly 100 of them in the November 2004 battle for control of Fallujah, the site of America’s bloodiest confrontation since the Vietnam War.
Events Friday suggested the fight may have been in vain.
“At the moment, there is no presence of the Iraqi state in Fallujah,” said a local journalist who asked not to be named because he fears for his safety. “The police and the army have abandoned the city, al-Qaeda has taken down all the Iraqi flags and burned them, and it has raised its own flag on all the buildings.”
At Friday prayers , held outdoors and attended by thousands of people, a masked ISIS fighter took the podium and addressed the crowd, declaring the establishment of an “Islamic emirate” in Fallujah and promising to help residents fight the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Iranian allies.
“We don’t want to hurt you. We don’t want to take any of your possessions,” the man told the crowd, according to the journalist, who attended the prayers. “We want you to reopen the schools and institutions and return to your normal lives.”
The extent of the militants’ control over the city was unclear, however. Some local tribes were challenging their presence, and there were scattered firefights, according to another Fallujah resident who also did not want to be named because he is afraid. The Iraqi army fired shells into Fallujah from bases outside the city, killing at least 17 people, and most residents spent the day hiding indoors, he said.
Battle against al Qaeda continues in Iraq
Al-Qaeda-Linked Force Captures Fallujah
In the provincial capital, Ramadi, tribal fighters have succeeded in ejecting al-Qaeda loyalists, according to Ahmed Abu Risha, a tribal leader who fought alongside U.S. troops against al-Qaeda in Iraq following the “surge” of U.S. troops in 2007.
The tribesmen are cooperating with Iraqi police, Abu Risha said, and are receiving weapons and support from the Iraqi army. Among those killed in the fighting was Abu Abdul Rahman al-Baghdadi, the emir, or leader, of ISIS in Ramadi.
“All the tribes of Anbar are fighting against al-Qaeda,” he said. “We are happy this fight is taking place. We will confront them face to face, and we will win this battle.”
Iran offers to help Iraq against al-Qaeda
A senior Iranian military official says Iran is ready to help Iraq battle al-Qaeda “terrorists” in the neighboring country’s Sunni-dominated western Anbar province.
Iraqi troops have been trying to dislodge fighters from the al-Qaeda group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant from two key cities the militants overran last week says the Washington Post.
Gen. Mohammad Hejazi, deputy chief-of-staff of Iran’s army, is quoted by Iranian media on Monday as saying the Islamic Republic can offer “military equipment and advisers” should Baghdad ask for it.
.
Hejazi says: “Iraq is our friend.”
He ruled out sending troops to Iraq.
Al Qaeda-linked rebels have gained control of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. |
Bush - The worst thing to happen to the GOP Yep, Bush's war policies worked out really well didn't they? Bush destroyed the 1,000,000 man anti-Iranian, anti-Islamist, pro-Russian army of Iraq. The result is a nation in one giant cluster-fuck of Islamic terrorist chaos with genocide against Iraq's Christians who had been under the protection of Saddam Hussein. . The Bush-Cheney Team's insane Leftist domestic and utterly stupid foreign policies did the unthinkable. For two years they drove me completely out of the Republican Party and caused me to vote for the Libertarian Party in two of the last three Presidential elections. |
No comments:
Post a Comment