ISIS makes more gains, captures Mosul dam

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

They now have the ability to flood Baghdad. This can't be good.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/04/1318946/-ISIS-captures-huge-dam-above-Baghdad

[JerryArkansas]

If they are half smart, they will blow it to kingdom come, which will cripple baghdad and allow them to capture it and the country.

[Tender Branson]

Aren't dams and reservoirs un-Islamic and symbolic of the evil West ?

Better blow them up, like the Taliban did with the Buddha statues in early 2001 ...

[Middle-aged Europe]

Aren't dams and reservoirs un-Islamic and symbolic of the evil West ?

Better blow them up, like the Taliban did with the Buddha statues in early 2001 ...

According to recent news, ISIS has already their hands full blowing up mosques who don't fit their view of Islam...

[jaichind]

They now have the ability to flood Baghdad. This can't be good.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/04/1318946/-ISIS-captures-huge-dam-above-Baghdad

Yes.  But if they flood Baghdad they will flood Mosul which they control and now "own" first so this it not a viable option.  I think ISIS wants it more for the electrical power it generates.

[Bacon King]

They won't blow up Mosul dam. It's the only major source of electricity for the Iraqi territory it controls and is also responsible for much of their territory's drinking water and food production (via the irrigation it offers).

The real problem is that they may not need to. Saddam Hussein build the dam on top of a water soluble deposit of minerals so the dam has a bunch of machinery dedicated to constantly pumping filler material into the foundation as it dissolves. If the conflict sufficiently interrupts the standard operation of the dam then it may very well flood Baghdad all on its own.

[Tender Branson]

Meanwhile the Kurds will launch a counter-attack against IS(IS) and Maliki has ordered airstrikes to help them out.

He also wants the US to send weapons to the Kurds.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/04/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0G40ZY20140804

[Bacon King]

Meanwhile the Kurds will launch a counter-attack against IS(IS) and Maliki has ordered airstrikes to help them out.

He also wants the US to send weapons to the Kurds.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/04/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0G40ZY20140804

Maliki favoring Guns4Kurds is a marked change of pace though I suppose the circumstances call for it. I wonder if Erdogan is also on board because that's probably a key factor here

Honestly the Kurds have really been proving their mettle lately

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

They now have the ability to flood Baghdad. This can't be good.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/04/1318946/-ISIS-captures-huge-dam-above-Baghdad

Yes.  But if they flood Baghdad they will flood Mosul which they control and now "own" first so this it not a viable option.  I think ISIS wants it more for the electrical power it generates.

This. If ISIS were nothing more than fanatic ideologues they wouldn't have had this much success. The leadership is obviously smart enough to not shoot themselves in the foot like this.

[Nhoj]

Meanwhile the Kurds will launch a counter-attack against IS(IS) and Maliki has ordered airstrikes to help them out.

He also wants the US to send weapons to the Kurds.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/04/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0G40ZY20140804

Maliki favoring Guns4Kurds is a marked change of pace though I suppose the circumstances call for it. I wonder if Erdogan is also on board because that's probably a key factor here

Honestly the Kurds have really been proving their mettle lately

By losing towns to ISIS? they proved their mettle better in the saddam years to be honest.

[swl]

Apparently the cities they lost are not part of their region but are cities they occupied recently, and now just after that they are suddenly asking for modern weapons from the US to fight "terrorism". They would become de facto allies of the US and would get a real army. I would not be surprised it it were a deliberate strategy to advance their own goals.

[Bacon King]

Apparently the cities they lost are not part of their region but are cities they occupied recently, and now just after that they are suddenly asking for modern weapons from the US to fight "terrorism". They would become de facto allies of the US and would get a real army. I would not be surprised it it were a deliberate strategy to advance their own goals.

^^^^ Exactly.

Kurdish forces are still holding the lines well ahead of the territory they actually claim. And while I agree that it does seem to be a somewhat deliberate strategy, I wouldn't phrase it so opportunistically. For the Kurds it's probably more like, "Hey Maliki we're cool with securing hundreds of square miles of your land for you (especially because it keeps our own turf more secure), but if you don't get us the munitions we need to hold this line then you really shouldn't expect us to keep holding it"

[Simfan34]

Aren't dams and reservoirs un-Islamic and symbolic of the evil West ?

Better blow them up, like the Taliban did with the Buddha statues in early 2001 ...

According to recent news, ISIS has already their hands full blowing up mosques who don't fit their view of Islam...

Mind you, these are more often Sunni rather than Shia mosques. The Tomb of the Prophet Yunus (Jonah, the we all know), is one such shrine that has been destroyed. Keep in mind these are the offshoots of Saudi Wahabists, and in line with their long tradition of destroying their own holy sites, who have contemplated destroying the tomb of Mohammad. According to some reports some members of ISIS have even called for destroyed the Kaaba, because it (like everything else) is idolatrous.

Meanwhile ISIS has established a shockingly slick media presence with well-put together videos and a "news agency" patterned after Al-Jazeera. Besides the immediately alarming scenes of singing Germans, Bosnian children, and Trinidadian-American jihadis, the thing about the videos is how they to try to show how normal things are in the "Islamic State"- thing, children play and have ice cream, people pray, laugh, and eat at restaurants that even have health inspectors!

Clearly these people know what they doing- they are trying to show that things are perfectly normal in their "caliphate", that it's safe to come over and fight. This isn't al-Qaeda with their grainy video tapes of guys in masks on a jungle gym. This is an entirely different beast- one with hundreds of millions-- if not billions-- dollars to their name, much of it in gold.

[Hamster]

Meanwhile the Kurds will launch a counter-attack against IS(IS) and Maliki has ordered airstrikes to help them out.

He also wants the US to send weapons to the Kurds.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/04/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0G40ZY20140804

Maliki favoring Guns4Kurds is a marked change of pace though I suppose the circumstances call for it. I wonder if Erdogan is also on board because that's probably a key factor here

Honestly the Kurds have really been proving their mettle lately

Maliki has realized that cutting off the Kurds made him look juvenile and only eroded his support among the international community, particularly Iran and the United States. This is a last minute gambit to try and drum up some support when the parties choose a prime minister, which should happen tomorrow. Of course he's already burned all his bridges; getting himself reelected would taken a massive amount of bribes and would almost inevitably end in either the Sunnis or Kurds being screwed. However, what little I know about the other potential candidates does not make me optimistic about Iraq's future.

[YL]

The Guardian reports 40,000 Yazidis are stranded on Mount Sinjar taking refuge from ISIS, who are threatening to execute them if they don't convert:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/40000-iraqis-stranded-mountain-isis-death-threat

[Simfan34]

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http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/friend-flees-horror-isis?_ga=1.82089042.511332710.1407411215

[H. Ross Peron]

USAF bombs ISIS targets (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/american-forces-said-to-bomb-isis-targets-in-iraq.html?_r=1):

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