Posted on 12/31/2019 3:53:50 PM PST by robowombat
Baghdad: Iran-backed Kataib Hizballah militia besieges US embassy, Trump says Iran “orchestrating” attack DEC 31, 2019 9:00 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER 20 COMMENTS
The Islamic Republic of Iran has actively courted war with the U.S. for a long time, as is shown in The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran. The mullahs may be hoping to provoke that war now in order to distract their people from their own miserable condition and relieve the pressure that they’re under domestically.
“US Embassy compound in Baghdad under siege as crowds protesting airstrikes break through gate,” by Greg Norman and Edmund DeMarche, Fox News, December 31, 2019:
Crowds of angry Iraqis protesting America’s recent airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia have laid siege to the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad Tuesday, chanting “Down, Down USA!” and storming through a main gate, prompting troops to fire back tear gas in response.
At least six U.S. soldiers were seen standing on the roof of the main building pointing their firearms at the demonstrators Tuesday afternoon as the chaotic scene is still unfolding in the Iraqi capital, where the sounds of gunfire could be heard.
Two Iraqi foreign ministry officials initially told Reuters the U.S. ambassador and staff were evacuated, but U.S. officials pushed back, telling Fox News that the embassy has not been evacuated. Further, an official said Ambassador Matthew H. Tueller was not evacuated but has been out of the country on a previously planned vacation.
“Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible,” President Trump tweeted. “In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!”
Dozens of protesters, many of whom are reported to be wearing militia uniforms, are said to have come within 200 meters of the main building after busting through an entrance used by cars.
The embassy attack, one of the worst in recent memory, followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed group, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said the airstrikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.
Supporters of the militia held funerals Tuesday for the fighters killed, before setting their sights on the embassy.
The mob shouted “Down, Down USA!” as the crowd first tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water and stones over its walls, the Associated Press reports. They raised yellow militia flags and taunted the embassy’s security staff who remained behind the glass windows in the gates’ reception area and also sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows. The graffiti, in red in support of the Kataeb Hezbollah, read: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”
Following the breach of the gate, an Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound. Smoke from tear gas that was fired rose in the area, and at least three of the protesters appeared to have difficulties breathing. A man on a loudspeaker also was heard urging the mob not to enter the compound, saying: “The message was delivered.”…
“US Baghdad embassy attacked by protesters angry at air strikes,” BBC, December 31, 2019:
Protesters angered by recent deadly US air strikes targeting an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia have attacked the US embassy compound in Baghdad.
US troops fired tear gas to disperse a crowd that breached the outer wall of the compound, which is in the capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone.
A guard post on the street nearby was also set alight.
US President Donald Trump accused Iran of “orchestrating” the attack and said it would be “held fully responsible”.
At least 25 fighters died when the US bombed bases associated with the Kataib Hezbollah militia in western Iraq and eastern Syria on Sunday.
The US said it was retaliating for a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk on Friday that killed an American civilian contractor.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on Monday that the strikes had violated his country’s sovereignty and would force it to review its relations with the US.
Kataib Hezbollah’s commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, warned that the militia’s response “would be very tough on the American forces in Iraq”.
Iran described the attacks as a “clear example of terrorism”….
Waving Kataib Hezbollah and other militia flags, and chanting anti-American slogans, the protesters threw stones at the compound’s main gate, pulled down security cameras, attacked empty guard posts, and started several fires.
The situation later escalated when the compound’s wall was breached
Maybe so, But that is the cost of war. Tragic as it is. The armor on main battle tanks is uranium and only uranium warheads will penetrate it. But I believe you know this already.
Your posts are so full of crap.
*** Why don’t you take your blame america depleted uranium bull crap and shove it over at D U. ***
I’ve had patients with birth defects. They were the children of Vietnam Vets. The vets had been subjected to the defoliant, agent orange while serving in Vietnam.
Sorry that you find my refusing to be an apologist for the military’s harm to it’s own citizens, and innocent children born, and yet to be born offensive to your superior moral high ground.
That was the same kind of attitude the military showed to the vets and their families who suffered from agent orange.
Please remind me of what the US gained in the VN war, or Iraq for that matter.
Don’t try to equate agent orange effects to the use of depleted uranium bullets in modern warfare. Stick to what you know, not some propagandist bull crap. Do that and you won’t get called out for it.
*** Don’t try to equate agent orange effects to the use of depleted uranium bullets in modern warfare. ***
What I have noticed is that studies done on DU by entities w/ a financial relationship to the Military/DOD as opposed to those entities which do not have relationships to Countries that have utilized DU militarily come up with different opinions on their toxicity, chromosomal damage, and effects on humans.
A study done by the RAND Corporation is an example.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1018z7/mr1018.7.chap2.html
In 2013, it seems WHO covered up findings under pressure from the US/UK.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/oct/13/world-health-organisation-iraq-war-depleted-uranium
Earlier thread today reports an additional soldiers or marines responding to the embassy.
significant upgrade in number of marines. Must have been staged in country or close by.
The Iraqi’s failed to provide external security as is the responsibility of the host country. The marines have inside the compound.
Most embassies this size would have 11 marines not all on duty at the same time. When 9-11 hit, Pakistan went from 11-22 marines. So Iraq could have had more than 11.
There are evac plans at each embassy. Written by the marines and the CIA and approved by the commanding officers and the secretary off state. The highest ranking marine at an embassy is usually a gunny.
Opening up full bore on demonstrators climbing the fence is rare, if the marines can ensure safety of US personnel and get them out. Sending in 100 should get the place back under control.
an additional 100.
Didn’t we just spend a billion dollars building that Embassy?
The idiocy of our foreign policy boggles the mind.
Oh a billion here a billion there...pretty soon we are talking real money???
Yep - I ran is getting desperate with the sanctions already in place - like all leftists, they’re too stupid and rabid to understand the potential for consequences that make the rest seem like benign acts.
As I pointed out, a study of birth defects in Iraq is irrelevant without the context of birth defects world wide.
Depleted uranium is just heavy lead. If you eat lead you will also have health problems.
Stop blaming the US for the worlds problems. The turd world makes their own problems just fine without our help.
*** Stop blaming the US for the worlds problems ***
I hold my Gov’t responsible for the high incidence of birth defects in Fallujah and Basra.
*** Of course thousands of years of marrying their first cousin has nothing to do with it. ***
GG2, I am disappointed in the flippancy of your reply. What happened to you over the years here?
Then your a knee jerk idiot. The stats don’t show any linkage. I refer back to the pdf I referenced.
The better question is how uninformed are you that you don’t know the Capstone study and studies by the World Health organization and the UN environmental program all concluded that the depleted uranium in former combat areas does not present a health risk to the population.
All poor underdeveloped countries have higher rates of everything that is bad including birth defects. Its a statistical fact that a thousand years of marrying first cousins is why the average IQ in the mideast is 81. Its also one reason for birth defects.
So enough with the DU.
Interesting. Thanks, Georgia Girl 2.
In my post #26, in the second link, you can read how WHO was pressured to suppress the findings on Iraq.
This is also what happened with the OPCW reports on CW in Syria which have now been shown were doctored.
That’s complete bullschnitt.
If anything manmade is the culprit most likely it’s all the precursor chemicals leaching into the water and emitted into the air over the years from both manufacturing and refining and dumping directly into waterways as a means of hiding the evidence...Iraq had massive facilities for industrial chemical production. One of the projects Iraq admitted to was producing biological agents that cause liver cancer. Useless on the battlefield because it took to long, but useful for revenge purposes. And then there’s the use of chemical weapons in the Iran Iraq War. Not to mention probable deliberate poisoning. Since Saddam had no problem draining the swamps to wipe out the Marsh Arab culture he sure as heck wouldn’t have been above using toxins directly.
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