Posted on 06/21/2014 5:45:35 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Hundreds of Iraqi troops battling for control of the vital Baiji oil refinery are outnumbered, surrounded and remain trapped inside the facility, a U.S. official told ABC News.
The battle for the refinery was in its fifth day today, although fighters for the radical Islamic militia ISIS have apparently taken control of much of the facility and are willing to keep the government forces isolated until they run out of food and ammunition, sources said.
"There is very little the Iraqi government can do to save or liberate those guys," a U.S. official told ABC News.
There are approximately 200 Iraqi Security Forces inside, including about 70 members of Iraq's counterterrorism forces, trying to hold off 300 to 500 ISIS fighters, sources said. The defenders have been helped by Iraqi attack helicopters, but have been unable to dislodge the ISIS fighters who have completely surrounded the sprawling Baiji grounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
If they are in a defensive position, 200 soldiers should be able to hold off 500 enemy without much difficulty until reinforcements arrive.
Does anyone remember the Alamo? The odds were about 10-1, and the Texans held off the Mexicans for almost two weeks. The Iraqi army can bring in reinforcements in a matter of days.
“The Iraqi army can bring in reinforcements in a matter of days.”......
And the American air military could wipe the entire group of ISIS attackers off the face of the earth in a matter of minutes. Where would they be able to hide in that desert country, NO PLACE. (Get in done).
Does any one remember the fist Nam battle? To few Troops going up against an enemy well entrenched with tunnels, on their turf, 20 yrs of Endo China fighting the French behind them. Lt Col Moore, Battle of Ia Drang. Well done version by Mel Gibson “We were Soldiers”. There is a special section on the Nam Wall for them. They are not among the official 58,000 KIA, as we were not officially at war yet.
What was sickening was the media rushed in after the battle and took pics not of our shot up Troops, but of the piles of dead enemy bodies. They helped turn the American public against our Men. AS the still do today.
Russia to the rescue!
“And the American air military could wipe the entire group of ISIS attackers off the face of the earth in a matter of minutes.”
...IF that was an objective of the American Commander-In-Chief.
The video accompanying the story is worth taking the time to watch. A BBC reporter embedded with Kurdish forces in a Jalula is caught in a skirmish. They all take refuge in an abandoned building. At some point the BBC reporter is heard beseeching someone via phone to contact a senior commander and ask him to send reinforcements.
Excerpt from the link below:
“Putin clearly benefits from rising crude prices, it is his Lukoil that is developing (and investing vast amounts of money in) the vast Iraqi West Qurna-2 oil field. It is not clear how he would feel about it falling into ISIS hands.”
““And the American air military could wipe the entire group of ISIS attackers off the face of the earth in a matter of minutes.”
I’d say one night mission with this would do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsA9VtQ_uLg
This is a very interesting geo-political play. Russia supports Syria and one of the enemies of Syria is ISIS. ISIS, if it hasn’t already been able to obtain U.S. weapons, just grabbed TRUCKLOADS of U.S. weapons (#BringBackOurHumvee). Russia would therefore be a natural ally of mutual interest to Maliki because ISIS is an enemy of Iraq too. Additionally, Russia can act and it wouldn’t anger the Iranians. And let me add that Russia can act because Obama has wet his pants again. Oh, did I mention that there is a lot of OIL in Iraq? Putin knows it, so why not make a play for it? Besides, it would be another chance to rub Obama’s nose in his own ___________ .
They should call it the "Benghazi manoevre".
Good analysis.
Re Putin vs. Obama, Vlad is like a base runner stealing second without the pitcher even knowing it. lol
Thank you. I hate the way they keep saying there is no way they can be saved.
200 soldiers should be able to hold off 500 enemy without much difficulty
- - - -
The refinery is approximately 3 miles long and one mile wide. Evenly spaced, those 200 would need to be spaced over 200 feet apart to cover the whole perimeter.
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.008346,43.502083,2654m/data=!3m1!1e3
i recall some years back when Peter Jennings (he was the ABC newsreader for anyone that may have forgotten him) was on some reporter forum and talked about how as an embedded reporter in a war zone, he wasn’t sure that if he had some advance knowledge about an impending attack on them, if he would tell the soldiers he was with, (yeah the same ones safeguarding his reporting from the frontline)
i remember being disgusted by him,
If ISIS cuts off the electricity & water supply of the defenders, it might end fairly quickly-—IRAQ in the summer is not a pleasant place.
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