Posted on 06/12/2014 7:18:34 PM PDT by kristinn
The Washington Post inexplicably buried the lede in Thursday nights story on U.S. contractors starting evacuations from Iraq.
One has to read to the ninth paragraph (out of eleven) to read of the report that U.S. security contractors traversing embattled areas are engaging in gun battles as they try to evacuate other civilian contractors:
Contractor evacuations began Wednesday, if not earlier, said Ginger Cruz, CEO of Mantid International LLC, a consulting firm that works with numerous companies in Iraq
On Thursday, the electronics giant Siemens was working to get about 50 employees out of Baiji, Cruz said. It was not clear exactly what their operation there entails, but the company announced in February that it had signed a deal to provide service and maintenance to a large gas power plant there. The oil refinery city is some 130 miles north of Baghdad.
Cruz said that her firm has recommended using teams of U.S. and Kurdish private security firms to evacuate the contractors because the semi-autonomous Kurdish government in Iraqs north had sent its security forces known as pesh merga to take control of the city of Kirkuk after Iraqi security forces abandoned their bases and equipment and fled. The Kurdish forces now control roads in the region.
Negotiations were ongoing to secure the safety of foreign personnel in Baiji and to get them out of harms way. U.S. security contractors involved reported that they engaged in gunfire to get through the region, Cruz said.
The article closed noting the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Iraq are currently maintaining a full staff.
What does it take for Boehner to begin Articles of Impeachment for the Democrats Obama?
This will literally be a fight for their lives.
Getting captured by ISIS forces is a very poor option.
Remember when we met in 2007 @BarackObama? You said you were proud of our sacrifices. So why did you throw them away? pic.twitter.com/NYrX8Xllbx
Yep.soetoro gave the islamists Libya, Iraq, soon Afcrapistan and tried to give them Egypt and Syria.
My son was in Mosul. .he and his fellow soldiers are in shock - but not even a little bit surprised . From their view this was entirely predictable given the policies of this administration. Lives ended ..others forever scarred. All given for....what. ..that’s what they’re asking tonight.
I’ve not read much in depth yet about how this mess in Iraq has happened - but it strikes me as the result of planning and preparation. And serious financial resources. Did you notice the large number of NEW trucks Isis is driving?
For the flu$$.
What a nightmare. What a huge nightmare. Racing ISIS to the Baghdad airport?
Prayers up.
Just don’t get captured alive.
The country hasn’t been listening to what Obama has always said from the beginning — that when the chips were down he would side with the muzzies. SIDE with them.
When he lies, they don’t believe him and when he speaks the truth, they ignore it or don’t pay any attention.
Hope they left bombs in the facility when they left.
One result of this may be Kurdish independence.
Another result may be a defacto partition of Iraq into Kurdish, Sunni, and Shia countries. Which was one of the alternatives suggested early on but it wasn’t politically possible at the time. The Kurds have had their defacto autonomy but maybe now is the time to declare it openly.
Or, maybe Iran rolls in and its katy-bar-the-door.
Most of those guys are plumbers, electricians, and other tradesmen. Not gunfighters.
Kurdish independence? I fear Kurdish liquidation. And the Kurds, in general, are some of the nicest people on the planet.
The lottery of birth. I feel sick.
Maybe. I hope you're wrong though you are very right to worry. They don't have many friends. I do notice that the Kurds have been keeping the jihadis out of Kurdish areas even in Syria. As Syria and Iraq are shaken this makes an independent Kurdistan even more logical and necessary.
Incorporating parts of Syria has become possible and necessary in a way that it wasn't until now.
Since the Turks, the Saudis, and State seem to be cooperating in this little adventure, and certainly the Turks have no interest in any such thing. So they may get squeezed. But I don't think there is any going back for them anymore. They only went through the motions with "united" Iraq up until now. I don't think they will even bother to pretend much longer.
Mind you, I'm just thinking out loud. I obviously don't know that I'm right.
That's next month.
(There's no connection, like a common ideology. And they don't have phones and computers and stuff so they can't coordinate n' stuff...I think...right?)
ISIS are useful fodder for the Baathist hard core organizing this. Look up Izzat Ibrahim. No way some hot headed terrorists in pick ups organized this. This will be played out soon enough. Baghdad could fall; there is a reason the Shia were dominated so long, they lack unity.
Turkey, a NATO member (why ?), won’t allow a Kurdish state.
Wonder how many American’s in Iraq will be taken captive for ransom or more prisoner exchanges thanks to Obama’s release of the Gitmo five?
Duhh...yeah!
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