Trying to buck the stream of ISIS combatants is like trying to turn aside the Red Chinese pouring into North Korea. There are so many that should one fall, there is another immediately behind to pick up the weapons of the fallen ones and continue to advance.
Like a swarm of locusts.
It would seem that a better ISIS strategy would be to avoid the Kurds and concentrate on taking Baghdad. The Kurds will defend their future country and actually have an army that will stand and fight.
forget the Shia , the KURDS should be assigned the benefit of our air cover assets right away . Delta trained ? give them radios ....
From the start, the only truly dependable allies we had in Iraq were the Kurds... they’re the only fighting group worth its salt. Give them air cover and arm them to the teeth, and they’ll do the rest.
And piss on Turkey if they take offense to it.
“The Kurds also seized Kirkuk and its nearby oilfields on June 12 under the justification that the city of 900,000 needed protection from ISIS.”
And this time, they should keep it as the capital of the new Kurdistan.
It’s interesting that the American media always tries to portray the Country’s enemies as “invincible.”
Good thing Kurds are on our side.....
bkm
I though the Coalition and especially US troops and contractors trained 100,000+ security and military forces...where are those cowards at!
I would say the ones that were Sunni are in the ranks of ISI and the other ones that are Shia beat feet to Basrah!
I’m glad we wasted 10 yrs+ over to have the Great Uniter and Supreme Comrade spoil and destroy everything...I wonder what that alcoholic Clinton will when she gets in...
"In the face of the ISIS sweep, the [Syrian Kurdish] PYD and the KRG, which [like the PYD and Turkey have] antagonistic relations, [but] appear to be cooperating on defensive measures against ISIS." This new situation may even lessen the antagonism between the PYD and Turkey.
I believe that Washington supported these ISIS things against Assad. And so did Turkey. Turkey has financial interest in the KRG. Below is how Turkey like us must now oppose ISIS.
The KRG is NOT the Kurdish PKK terrorist that's been fighting Turkey since the 1980s and trying to stir revolution in eastern Turkey.
This has some interesting information about the current events in Iraq. IMO.
". . . Ankara has entered into energy deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), something which has infuriated the central Iraqi government in Baghdad but which has helped the Kurds further build a foundation for their independence [yes true that] Ankara has been so alarmed by the growing Kurdish autonomy [in Syria and tolerated by Syria, I believe] that it reportedly has provided support for [ISIS] in their fight against the Kurdish militia that controls the region [of Syria],which is affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)." [my emphasis]
more..
". . . the takeover by ISIS in recent days of Mosul and other cities . . . Ankara will likely not only have to deepen its relationship with the KRG . . . but also alter its approach to the Kurds in Syria [I ask: but demand that the Kurds in Syria reject the PKK?]"
more..
"Explains Lehigh University professor and Turkey expert Henri Barkey in an analysis piece on Al-Monitor website: The crisis may force the Turks to rethink some of their policies in Syria. To date, Ankara’s friendship with the Kurds stopped in Iraq; Erdogan and his government have taken an uncompromising position against Syrian Kurds led by the Democratic Union Party of Kurdistan (PYD), an offshoot of the Turkish Kurdish insurgent group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PYD has emerged as the strongest Kurdish group in Syria and has put together an impressive fighting force to defend its territory from both ISIS and the regime. The idea of another autonomous Kurdish region on its borders after the KRG has been anathema to Ankara. Paradoxically, the PYD’s armed elements are some of the only ones that have scored blows against the jihadists. In the face of the ISIS sweep, the PYD and the KRG, which have also had antagonistic relations, appear to be cooperating on defensive measures against ISIS. Turkey may have to reconsider its boycott of the Syrian Kurds to enlarge the anti-ISIS coalition." [my emphasis]
ISIS achieving the impossible: Turks and Kurds uniting?
ISIS is saying they will next shift north and kill the Kurds (and sizeable Christian minority) in al-Qamishli in extreme NE Syria, the largest city there It is right on the Syrian/Turk border (and very close to Iraq as well). Could be interesting.