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Islamic State grabs Iraqi dam, oilfield in victory over Kurds
Yahoo! News ^ | Aug 3, 2014 | Ahmed Rasheed and Raheem Salman

Posted on 08/03/2014 9:14:50 AM PDT by Leaning Right

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It's one thing when ISIS inflicts a defeat on the demoralized Iraqi army. But now ISIS has evidently defeated the respected Kurdish peshmerga.
1 posted on 08/03/2014 9:14:50 AM PDT by Leaning Right
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To: Leaning Right

Dang


2 posted on 08/03/2014 9:18:01 AM PDT by Pikachu_Dad (Impeach Sen Quinn)
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To: Leaning Right

The peshmerga retreated without losses or a fight. Sounds more like a tactical move to me.


3 posted on 08/03/2014 9:19:33 AM PDT by piytar (The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
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To: Leaning Right
Capture of the Mosul Dam after an offensive of barely 24 hours could give the Sunni militants the ability to flood major Iraqi cities or withhold water from farms,

Lovely. They've appealed to Bambi for help, but believe me, he has no intention of helping anybody against radical Islam.

4 posted on 08/03/2014 9:20:32 AM PDT by livius
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To: Leaning Right

Kurdish independence was a bright spot of this whole fiasco, and now Obama’s militant Islamists are taking that away. This is sad.


5 posted on 08/03/2014 9:23:16 AM PDT by pallis
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

> could give the Sunni militants the ability to flood major Iraqi cities or withhold water from farms, sharply raising the stakes in their bid to topple Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government.

s/b Maliki’s Shiite Iranian proxy regime.


6 posted on 08/03/2014 9:29:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Leaning Right

Thanks feckless one on the hill.


7 posted on 08/03/2014 9:30:25 AM PDT by Fungi
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To: Leaning Right

Who has time for this when there’s golf to play. Happy birthday Mr. and Mrs. Love. I mean President Obama.


8 posted on 08/03/2014 9:34:09 AM PDT by Organic Panic
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To: Leaning Right

Or, the kurds ceded the river to Isil.


9 posted on 08/03/2014 9:35:11 AM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12 ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: piytar

The peshmerga retreated without losses or a fight. Sounds more like a tactical move to me.


Tactical retreat? Looks more like they just ran away and wanted nothing to do with fighting IS. Getting that dam and oilfield is a huge victory for IS, and the Kurds didn’t even try to stop them. Even they are terrified of IS.


10 posted on 08/03/2014 10:37:03 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: Leaning Right

If the peshmerga can’t defeat ISIS, the whole of northern Iraq is screwed.


11 posted on 08/03/2014 10:41:29 AM PDT by ScottinVA (If it doesn't include border security, it isn't "reform." It's called "amnesty.")
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To: ScottinVA

IS is steamrolling over everyone.


12 posted on 08/03/2014 10:59:40 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: Leaning Right

Nobody can even slow IS down, much less defeat them.


13 posted on 08/03/2014 11:08:24 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer

So, what makes them so terrifying to everyone they face? They’re small in numbers, are they not?

One would think they’d find themselves overstretched after awhile.


14 posted on 08/03/2014 11:27:41 AM PDT by ScottinVA (If it doesn't include border security, it isn't "reform." It's called "amnesty.")
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To: Leaning Right

Makes no sense. I’ve read that the Islamic State has only around 15,000 fighters, yet they’ve driven ten of thousands of Iraqi troops and now Kurds from their positions and just overrun the territory.


15 posted on 08/03/2014 11:39:44 AM PDT by Will88
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16 posted on 08/03/2014 11:40:18 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: ScottinVA
"They're small in numbers, are they not"

Well, they are small in number, but they have the support of the Iraqi Sunni's, and the article points that moderate sunni support them.

Go back to the surge and Patreaus defeated many of the sunni combatants. General Allan passed out huge sums of money to get sunni tribal leaders to switch sides and support central govt. At that time many sunni got key jobs in the govt and the military but Maliki gradually purged them.

Now these sunni, being shut out, are willing to fight with ISIS or support ISIS.

17 posted on 08/03/2014 11:52:47 AM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: Will88

Better fighters. They’re (easily) kicking everyone elses asses, including the Kurds.


18 posted on 08/03/2014 12:27:29 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer
It likely is a tactical retreat; the peshmerga haven't been running away.

I agree, though, that even if it is a tactical retreat, it is still a bad sign. Giving the other side a bloody nose, then retreating to avoid being trapped or massacred is smart. That doesn't change the fact that they had to retreat, and surrender key locations.

US guys in Erbil need to finish their analysis and decide what can be done. Baghdad won't help. The central government would like the last Peshmerga fighter to die killing the last ISIS fighter.

19 posted on 08/03/2014 12:44:32 PM PDT by CPKiely
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To: Will88

Next stop Baghdad-—The seige of Baghdad is coming. My money is on the Islamic State. Their use of Terror has proven as effective as it was when Genjis Khan used it long ago. Each day their numbers grow—each day they smell victory. wait til they face Iran and the Republican Guard. With Allah’s help they will destroy the corrupt Saudi Kingdom and seize Mecca and tear down the pagan temples as they purify Islam. Islam needs no Kaaba!


20 posted on 08/03/2014 2:16:04 PM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll Onward! Ride to the sound of the guns!)
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