by Jack
In an attempt to force Sunni tribal leaders in Northern Iraq into joining them, ISIS issued an ultimatum. Either join us or be destroyed. They also promised to level the ancient burial place of Jonah, a Sunni Holy shrine, if they didn’t sign on. The defiling of such a place is a great sacrilege among the Sunni population, but they didn’t care. Despite their threats, the tribal leaders voted against joining ISIS and true to their promise the tomb of Jonah and the Sunni Mosque were destroyed. Sunnis are now being hunted down and slaughtered. However, given the numbers of Sunni in the region and others that have been persecuted by ISIS, I would not be surprised to see a violent backlash erupt. These are people accustomed to war and it’s hard to believe they would not mount a strong resistance.
ISIS was formed in 2004 and according to House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rogers, it has grown into a “terrorist organization with an army” equipped with top notch American military weapons abandoned by the fleeing Iraqi military.
Since US Troops left Iraq in 2011, ISIS has taken over control of all key cities, except for Baghdad and a modest buffer zone.
According our intelligence experts, their major tactic is terror. True terror. They panic whole towns and villages by slaughtering people indiscriminately, so everyone runs away before they can actually turn and fight. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has emerged as a brutal, and radical group – so extreme that even Al Qaeda has rejected it.
Despite some stern rhetoric and a few air strikes to slow the advance of Isis forces, President Obama has done very little militarily. Obama seems confused and befuddled by the complexity and rapid changes manifested in this crisis. Meanwhile ISIS taunts President Obama and sends deaths threats to Americans, “You will drown in your own blood,” ISIS leaders defiantly proclaim!
At some point soon it seems prudent to take these threats seriously and respond in kind. However, this common sense logic does not seem in keeping with the White House policy of wait and see what happens, and/or talk tough, but don’t really do anything unless it involves a golf game.
ISIS, the Islamist terror group that now controls much of Syria and Iraq, poses an “extremely high” terror threat to U.S. targets, and has the bomb-making skills and foreign fighters needed to strike U.S. and other Western interests, according to multiple U.S. intelligence officials.
“While trying to rank threats or compare them to previous threat periods is a hazardous endeavor,” said one former U.S. counterterrorism official, “the current threat coming out of ISIS — and Syria more broadly — is extremely high.” While the opposition in Syria and Iraq is diverse, said the official, there are “sub elements” within it that are “especially worrisome because of their commitment to attack the West.”
At this time there is only a token force of less than a thousand U.S. soldiers inside Baghdad to ostensibly protect the US Embassy and our personnel as well as to render moral support and leadership assistance to the beleaguered Iraqi military.