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Al Qaeda Militants Capture US Black Hawk Helicopters In Iraq
Just when one thought US foreign policy couldn't sink any deeper into the hole of its embarrassment, it takes out a shovel and starts digging. Overnight, in what AP describes as a stunning assault that exposed Iraq's eroding central authority, Al Qaida-inspired militants from ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, overran much of Mosul on Tuesday, seizing government buildings, pushing out security forces and capturing military vehicles as thousands of residents fled the second-largest city.
For those who may have forgotten, Iraq was one of those countries "liberated" by the the United States, which unlike Afghanistan where the opium trade is still important, did pull out its troops two and a half years ago.
Ths shocking takeover of Mosul took place months after Al Qaeda-linked fighers took over another Iraqi town, Fallujah, earlier in the year and which they have successfully defended against government attempts to reclaim it.
That however, was just the appetizer: Mosul is a much bigger, more strategic prize. The city and surrounding Ninevah province, which is on the doorstep of Iraq's relatively prosperous Kurdish region, are a major export route for Iraqi oil and a gateway to Syria.
"This isn't Fallujah. This isn't a place you can just cordon off and forget about," said Michael Knights, a regional security analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, cited by AP. "It's essential to Iraq."
The WSJ adds that hours after government forces fled Mosul in disarray following four days of fighting, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a nationwide "state of maximum preparedness" but didn't indicate whether government forces were mobilizing to retake the Iraqi city, 220 miles north of the capital Baghdad.
The capture of Mosul by rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, is the latest evidence of the weakness and disorganization that have beset Iraq's security forces since the U.S. forces withdrew from the country in December 2011.
Residents of Mosul said they were shocked at the ease of the rebel takeover of government buildings, television stations and military installations where U.S.-supplied fighter airplanes, helicopters and other heavy weaponry are based.
"The whole of Mosul collapsed today. We've fled our homes and neighborhoods, and we're looking for God's mercy," said Mahmoud Al Taie, a dentist. "We are waiting to die."
Videos showed victorious insurgents waving black flags emblazoned with an Islamic script—the standard brandished by al Qaeda militants world-wide.
The biggest irony here is that while the US is arming "rebels" in neighboring Syria, among which numerous Al-Qaeda rebels, the weapons and the trained "fighters" then promptly make their way across the border and continue fighting the US-blessed government in Iraq!
Jessica Lewis, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, said ISIS fighters won a notable victory in Mosul.
"ISIS is designing its campaign around the state that it believes it has already created," said Ms. Lewis, currently research director for the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C.
"I think that means that Iraq is going to start to look more like Syria. It's a gauge of the severity of the conflict and the trajectory that it's on. That's a very bad sign."
The ISIS-controlled areas of Iraq.
And to think none of this could have been accomplished without the assistance of the US state department.
The Obama administration, responding to the fall of Mosul, said ISIS "is not only a threat to the stability of Iraq but a threat to the entire region."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the group has drawn strength from the Syrian civil war, where it can acquire recruits, weapons and other resources for its fight in Iraq.
Perhaps miss Psaki should have answered questions about where the ISIS force was getting its weapons. The U.S.-trained and equipped Iraqi security forces, which have floundered since the U.S. pullout, haven't succeeded in thwarting ISIS's emergence as a formidable paramilitary force.
Below is a detailed narrative of just how Al-Qaeda managed to take over yet another garrison in the middle east:
Despite the security precautions, ISIS fighters raided the western half of Mosul early Friday, forcing military personnel and federal police forces to retreat over bridges to the eastern bank of the Tigris River, which divides the city.
For three days, residents in the eastern half of the city huddled in their houses and parceled out their ever-dwindling supply of food and other staples, as authorities tried to secure the city.
Mosul governor Atheel Nujaifi, appearing Monday evening on national television, made a desperate call for city residents to form ad hoc committees to defend themselves. But he fled on Monday night.
In the early-morning darkness of Tuesday, local resistance dissolved, as insurgents poured across the bridges separating east from west. According to witnesses, government soldiers fled on foot, leaving the streets littered with abandoned army vehicles, weapons and uniforms.
The vanquished soldiers knocked on doors and begged for civilian clothes, so they could escape without being identified, said Ahmed Khaza'al, a cosmetic dealer.
The victory by ISIS and its allies means they control sizable regions in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces. Upon news of Mosul's fall, fears of more fighting rippled across the country.
The US has pledged to help Iraqi leaders "push back against this aggression" as the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency that would give him extraordinary powers to tackle the crisis. The rampage by the black banner-waving insurgents was a heavy defeat for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as he tries to hold onto power, and highlighted the growing strength of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group has been advancing in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, capturing territory in a campaign to set up a militant enclave straddling the border.
But the battle, for the time being, seemed to be over. Some police were discarding uniforms and weapons and fleeing a city where the black flag of ISIL now flew over government buildings.
"We have lost Mosul this morning," said a colonel at a local military command center. "Army and police forces left their positions and ISIL terrorists are in full control.
"It’s a total collapse of the security forces."
This is the aftermath in clips and images:
Assyrian church set ablaze...
Iraqi troop uniforms left behind...
Smoke everywhere...
As the roads are full amid the mass exodus...
* * *
But the worst news by far for the US is that as a result of the takeover of Mosul by ISIS forces, an unknown number, and at least one, US ultramodern Blackhawk and Kiowa helicopters parked at the Mosul airport, are now in, you guessed it, Al Qaeda hands.
#Mosul airport is normally crowded with #Blackhawk and #Kiowa helis.
Let's see how many ended up in #ISIS hands... pic.twitter.com/KY51KidfQP
— ConflictReporter (@MiddleEast_BRK) June 10, 2014
Black Hawk, one of ghaneemas taken by #ISIS. #Mosul #Iraq pic.twitter.com/zLoSrbve7R
— ?? ????? #????? (@Ghareeba_7) June 10, 2014
Guys, a base of these was captured by Dawla in Mosul... Imagine what could be done with them. Black Hawk choppers. pic.twitter.com/HXzL0Z8637
— Ghazi (@ghazishami) June 10, 2014
So Mosul has fallen and the ISIS jihadists now have blackhawks and humvees and guns,courtesy of Uncle Sam
— Hemil (@cravingHedonist) June 10, 2014
PT: Worth noting that ISIS has captured parts of #Mosul airport, where #Iraq forces maintain a fleet of UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) June 10, 2014
Mosul airport viewed through Google maps: grounded helicopters can be easily seen just east of the main airstrip:
Thank you US State Department: once again, this smashing Al-Qaeda success could not have been achieved without your help.
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Is this what is meant when they speak of the "New American Century"? Sure looks like a "Clusterfuck" to me.
So the USA MIC sells you weapons...and then the CIA steals them back?
You can take the camel out of the desert, but you can't take the desert out of the camel.
alternate axiom:
"You can take the fat chick away from the dessert..."
And the USA thinks it can fight Russia . . . please.
This government is like a chicken without a head running around, it has no idea what its doing.
Remove all assets from the ground and level the place with B52's and call it a day, come back, build walls around the oil wells and patrol the ports , thats all that has to be done, there is no way to come out of there with diplomacy , the US has killed and pissed off too many people to ever de-radicalize the region, it would take 10 generations of foreign aid to make friends there again, completely not worth it, if you are going to steal the ground from under the feet of its citizens, DOIT and stop pussy footing around, or don't do it at all.
They know exactly what they're doing; you're the fool for assuming that they don't.
The war with Russia is for presentation. The real war is on the homefront.
War has always been about class. Always has and always will be. It takes a threshold level of intelligence to discern the presentation from the facts, though.
Right, the Iraq banker-stooge govt is going to retake a major city, more likely they'll join them, and the Iraqi people have zero stake in their current govt, they wouldn't piss on their central govt if it were on fire.
Bush fail.
If only they would now use those Helos to take out some real U.S. Criminals in the Jewish Wall Street Mafia living like Pashas, unindicted, unaccused, unprosecuted, living on freely printed money they never earned.
Congratulations Al, now do the right thing and rid us all of the Mafia on Wall Street. And the FED ChairJ.yell, Gensler at the CFTC, LaGarde, Strauss-Kahn, and those hiding in the past like Cox at the SEC, Cassano in the U.K, Fink, Lewis, and so many more that the Earth would be better off without.
All A AWk Bar.
(and thank u, ZH for that photo of Kardashians bodacious Ta-Tas. It does me heart good).
Now that Al Qaeda have acquired themselves a Blackhawk I wonder if they will be paying in dollars or gold for spare parts.
flying a chopper is a lot different than sodomizing a camel...
will watch with great amusement as jihadi screams allahakbar as chopper autorotates into a building and bursts in to flames...
cyclic collective pedals and throttle.... rashid hand off of your dick... pay attention...but boss they didnt cover this in hijack school...
They'll be loading that up on a cargo plane to Iran. And then on to China. We really need to smack it with a drone before that happens. They'd love to get their hands on the electonics. The copters themselves, no biggee.
Thanks alot asshole. I just spit my coffee all over my computer screen LMAO
McCain said let them have some too. They are freedom fighters.
The surge is working.
McCain is an old fool who still thinks he is relavent to people, and not just his immediate family. He will die in office, because of the ego stroke he needs daily.
Fantastic job arming and training those Iraqi 'security forces' guys!! Endless war is here to stay.
Fly it. Then fix it. Whatever.
Maybe Al-Q came now come pick up their own at Gitmo instead of the US footing the transportation bill.
...and Gold barely positive , however I'm thinkiing what Jim Rickards keeps saying that all we need is a "catalyst", could this be it?
Most excellent, and mission accomplished.
bush broke his" NO nation building " we learned from viet nam"..statement and did try to inject a government in this sand pit..
if usa left iraq after saddam and family were removed - it would now be 3 countries sunni, kurd, shia..but that was not the plan of the neocons, so here we are. and it cost so many lives and so much wealth - if he had just stuck to the the" what we learned from viet nam "..
What I learned is "war is a racket" and there is a lot of money to be made in nation building, not for you and me but for the .1%
Reverse Engineering is wonderful. Soon every Islamic country that wants one of these will have some, as well as Russia, China and every America hating group. Billions were spent training the Iraqi military only to see them collapse under traditional Suni -Shia religious lines.
The only credible force left in Iraq are the Kurds and they will not die defending the current Iraqi state. The irony of ironies is that the US Air force will be forced to try to destroy them while they are still on the ground. It should make the defense industry very happy to make bombs that will destroy the most expensive military toys on the planet.
Tyler the title of this article is GROSSLY misleading. It should read:
"US SPONSORED Al Qaeda Militants Capture US Black Hawk Helicopters In Iraq"
-"Cause if you can't take Aleppo, Mosul's the next best thing y'all."
-President (fo' life) Barack Hussein Obama
0bamao would consider this "leveling the playing field" for his mooslim brothers. Do these barbaric throwbacks have anyone with the skills to FLY one of these?
Interesting how gutless the people are when it comes to defending their land THEMSELVES.
Give Dick "General Patton" Cheney a couple of pearl-handled .45's and send him over to fix it...What a genius and piece of work he is!....
Apparently our "leaders" get their whole script for foreign relations direct from "The Onion". What a pitiful excuse for a national leadership.
So the helicopter is in the hands of the CIA? Wow.
All of these wars/foreign policies point in one direction. Down. Our leaders are a multi-headed junkie that is all destroying, while self destroying. Those who play along, and most of US who don't are going to pay the price that the junkie demands.
I don't believe these illiterates can fly such a helicopter bwahahahaa. They may need proper training from undercover US operatives. Obama will be happy to provide if they double-promise, no fingers crossed, to not attack american troops.
I've heard that Obama plan to bring peace upon the world is close to completion and a smashing success.
Those illiterates might not be able to fly it, but they sure as hell were able to beat "the most powerfull military in the world".
Well, at least that is one helicopter that won't go to my local police department!
Well, at least that is one helicopter that won't go to my local police department!
"ultramodern Blackhawk and Kiowa helicopters parked at the Mosul airport, are now in, you guessed it, Al Qaeda hands."
Got Spare Parts?
{ CRASH! }