Why can’t Islamic State be stopped? Analysts say it’s better armed, better organized

McClatchy DC ^ | 08/08/2014 | BY NANCY A. YOUSSEF

[SeekAndFind]

The Islamic State’s push toward the Kurdish city of Irbil on Thursday came as unwelcome news to those who’d believed that the Kurdish peshmerga militia would be the force most capable of halting the militant Islamists’ momentum.

The United States had such confidence in the Kurds that, in June, it moved its Joint Operation Center and some embassy staff to Irbil, where roughly 40 U.S. military advisers are now stationed.

Until this week, life in Irbil has been relatively normal despite the Islamic State offensive, which began with the fall of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in early June. Everyone assumed that the Islamic State was shying away from confronting the peshmerga, with its substantial reputation as a fighting force.

But then the Islamic State moved against cities last week that were defended by the peshmerga, and the peshmerga retreated. On Thursday, the Islamic State captured at least four towns on the highway to Irbil and defeated peshmerga forces attempting to break its siege of the Mosul Dam. A near panic took hold in the Kurdish capital as militia forces rushed to set up defensive line at Kalak, 25 miles northwest of Irbil.

It was another victory for the Islamic State, which before the peshmerga had defeated Syrian forces throughout much of eastern Syria, including recent seizures of major Syrian bases in Raqqa and Deir el Zour, and had sent Iraqi army forces fleeing almost to the gates of Baghdad.

What has made the Islamic State forces seemingly unstoppable?

Observers on the ground and analysts in Washington believe that the latest push was possible because the peshmerga forces are stretched trying to defend a frontier with the Islamic State that is nearly 900 miles long. The Islamic State is also better equipped, with U.S.-supplied weapons that its forces have looted

[Travis McGee]

The DIRG: Dangerous Islamic Rage Zombies. That’s what 1,400 years of first-cousin inbreeding can do to a group of folks whose ideology is based on rewarding the worst men with rape, murder and plunder.

[Travis McGee]

Another factor: When Islam is in a rampant period and is rolling forward in conquest, they freely grant admission to those who immediately swear loyalty to the caliph.

This means that when “moderate sunni muslims” in the Iraqi army, for example, hear that ISIS is coming, they know two things: If they resist and ISIS wins, they will be slaughtered without mercy. But if they switch sides, they may be able to join the winning team.

So anytime a “moderate muslim” military is attacked by an army of the caliphate, half of the “moderate muslims” will shoot their fellow soldiers and switch sides, or will just hide until the fighting has passed.

Makes it very tough for the ones who really want to fight ISIS, when they must worry about being shot in the back by a turncoat from moment to moment.

[CodeToad]

“The DIRG: Dangerous Islamic Rage Zombies.”

That is exactly what they are: Savages that have no idea why they do what they do. They lead their lives with their peckers, raping and pillaging. These are nothing but savages to be put down.

[Lurker]

A rational nation would declare these savages an existential threat and nuke them.

[GOPJ]

If ONE muslim man can have four wives then three muslim men have NONE. The culture is based around killing off 75% of the young men. It’s why there will never be peace in Muslim hellholes.

[GOPJ]

ISIS was trained and funded by the Obama Administration supposedly with the naive hope that they would be allies of the US and overthrow the government of Syria.

Everything Obama has touched in the ME has become worse...

[Vermont Lt]

No nuke. MOAB has a nice ring to it though.

[Wuli]

it can, but not without some serious outside help for its opponents, because in both cases, Syria and Iraq, its main official opponents are so corrupt they garner too little public support for themselves, and even some of what domestic support they do garner is also corrupt and/or incompetent and/or ineffectual

we only need worry ourselves about the Kurds, not Baghdad

Baghdad will either be saved by a majority abandoning Maliki and rallying a multi-sectarian majority against ISIS, or ISIS will carve a Sunni state out of Iraq and the rump Shia provinces left will move even closer to Iran

which is why I say again, we should only concern ourselves with the Kurds

[sandboxshooter]

Agree