Posted on 08/07/2014 9:51:42 AM PDT by Hojczyk
An update to Ed’s post this morning about the tens of thousands of Yazidi Kurds forced up onto Mount Sinjar to escape jihadi barbarians. The good news is, help might be on the way:
The president, in meetings with his national security team at the White House on Thursday morning, has been weighing a series of options ranging from dropping humanitarian supplies on Mount Sinjar to military strikes on the fighters from ISIS now at the base of the mountain, a senior administration official said…
The administration had been delaying taking any military action against ISIS until there is a new Iraqi government. Both White House and Pentagon officials have said privately that the United States would not intervene militarily until Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki stepped down.
But administration officials said on Thursday that the crisis on Mount Sinjar may be forcing their hand. About 40 children have already died from the heat and dehydration, according to Unicef, while as many as 40,000 people have been sheltering in the bare mountains without food, water or access to supplies.
The bad news is, Obama and his team have been kicking this idea around for at least two days with no movement yet. George Packer reported yesterday that he’d heard the day before from an administration official that they were weighing an airlift of humanitarian supplies to the Yazidis. Two days later, they’re still weighing it. Presumably, if they’re leaking to the Times now about deliberations, they’re finally planning on acting soon. A UN official told one paper that ISIS’s persecution of the Yazidis may already amount to genocide or crimes against humanity as they’re being exterminated on sight as infidels, without even the option to convert or pay jizya to reside in ISIS-occupied land.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
And what happens when the first plane is shot down and the crew either captured or killed? What will Obama do then?
Airdrops without a sufficient protective cover or pre-emptive bombing of anti-aircraft sites is suicide.
Does Obama even think things through or does he just go off half-cocked? You’d think there would be a general or two advising him about these things. Or did he get rid of the good ones and has only “yes men” left?
Yazidi
Yazidis are monotheists, believing in one God, who created the world and entrusted it into the care of a Heptad of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr (the Seven Mysteries).....Yazidism is not an off-shoot of another religion (such as Christianity or Islam), but shows influence from the many religions of the middle-east. Core Yazidi cosmology has a pre-Zoroastrian Iranian origin, but Yazidism also includes elements of ancient nature-worship, as well as influences from Christianity, Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism, Islam and Judaism.
In 2014 with the territorial gains of the Sunni extremist militants known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) there was much upheaval in the Iraqi Yazidi population.
In early August the town of Sinjar was nearly deserted as Kurdish Peshmerga forces were no longer able to keep ISIL from advancing. ISIL had previously declared the Yazidi to be devil worshippers and had taken the two nearby small oil fields and the town of Zumar as part of a plan to try and seize Mosul’s hydroelectric dam.
In Sinjar, ISIL destroyed a Shiite shrine and demanded that the remaining population convert to their version of Islam, pay jizya (a religious tax) or be executed..... Up to 200,000 people (including an estimated 40,000 Yazidi fled the city before it was captured by ISIL giving rise to fears of a humanitarian tragedy.
Alongside the local Yazidis fleeing Sinjar were Yazidis (and Shiites) who fled to the city a month earlier when ISIL captured the town of Tal Afar....Most of the population fleeing Sinjar retreated by trekking up nearby mountains with the ultimate goal of reaching Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan ...(normally a five hour drive by car).
Concerns for elderly and those of fragile health were expressed by the refugees who told reporters of their lack of water...... Reports coming from Sinjar stated that sick or elderly Yazidi who could not make the trek were being executed by ISIL.
Yazidi parliamentarian Haji Ghandour told reporters that “In our history, we have suffered 72 massacres. We are worried Sinjar could be a 73rd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi
.....”And what happens when the first plane is shot down and the crew either captured or killed....Airdrops without a sufficient protective cover or pre-emptive bombing of anti-aircraft sites is suicide”.....
Iraq has attempted to airdrop but miss the targets as it’s a difficult region for airdrops....the idea is US pilots are better at reaching targeting. Though the threat will be severe.....
IMO this is a problem for Iraq to solve....and not the first time these incidents have happened there.
Yup, and things have changed drastically since then.
Since you left, a Catholic bishop and priest have been murdered and militant Islam is slowly taking over like everywhere else in the ME.
So people are crucified and killed while Obama waits for Maliki to step down. As usual Obama shows himself to be self-absorbed and petty.
Knowing mac daddies track record - NOTHING WILL BE DONE, NOTHING.
So you're still living in Turkey? If I were there I would no longer be able to buy beer in the local Mom & Pop store? For example. Really?
CAN’T THAT FREAKING KENYAN MAKE A DECISION???................................. Well he does decide on where he wants to spend his vacations and trips, and his tee times.
If I was President, I’d be on the tarmac congratulating the heavy bomber group on its return from the mission.
.....The terrain is very rugged so targeting drops is significant since ISIS will also be looking for the drops, putting the refugees in additional danger..... Also the altitudes differ is very short distances... making it a struggle for refugees to even find the supplies unless the drops are exact...... Iraq pilots are lacking in skills to hit the targeting area....thus calling on the US to intervene....
YPG units save 1000 refugees...YPG units managed to get to the refugees on the Shingal mountains and evacuate a thousand of them. The rescue operations are still ongoing
20:05 pm..Press correspondent in Shingal:..... Large units of YPG, PKK, Peshmerga, YBS and QS are close to Sinune and the mountains. Smaller units already reach the refugees..... Viyan Dekhil, Yezidi MP, reports that large quantities of relief supplies have reached the refugees......YPG commander and spokesperson Can Polat confirms:..... Two units of PKK have arrived directly at the refugees in the mountains
More....20:25 pm ezidi Press correspondent confirms:.... Relief supplies are reaching more and more refugees in the mountains. Helicopters have transported large amounts of food and water to the mountains
21:20 pm German companies deliver relief supplies to Shingal
On behalf of aid agencies German companies have transported relief supplies to Shingal. According to the Federal Foreign Office more relief supplies will arrive in the coming days. Especially Dennis Rohde, MP and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, campaigns for the refugees in Shingal
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