Posted on 08/17/2014 10:16:43 AM PDT by GonzoII
AL-QOSH, Iraq: Iraqi Kurdish forces backed by US air strikes on Sunday retook the country's largest dam from jihadist militants who seized it the previous week, officials said.
A peshmerga officer and two political party officials told AFP that Kurdish forces had retaken Mosul Dam...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailystar.com.lb ...
Makes me wonder why they didn’t blow it
Too bad the Iraqis can’t just tell the Kurds, “whatever you take, you can keep.” I am sure the Kurds can’t wait for the Elite Quds force from Iran to arrive. s/ (like they ever would)
The real move is toward Karbala and Najaf, holy Shiite cities. Too many Siites further south toward Basra.
That makes sense.
I really think Obama is hoping the Iranians will take care of these guys.
I agree, people are always saying Obama is a Muslim, but they never clarify which brand. It is as complicated as saying someone is a Christian, but with far more deadly overtones.
Sunni, based on African origin OR his education in Indonesia. Shia are actually a pretty small population around Persia.
No thanks to the MMMs.
Built on a karst foundation, concerns over the dam's instability have led to major remediation and rehabilitation efforts since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
["Karst topography is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterised by underground drainage systems with sinkholes, dolines, and caves."]
We don't know who designed and built the bleeping thing, but there was a definite lack of competense. As it exists, the dam foundation requires constant maintenance to preserve its water tight integrity.
That should have been addressed before construction of the dam foundations, but this is a muslim country, with "other" demands of the construction budget than safety and competent engineering and construction.
In addition to that, I hope someone in the business of preventing the retaking of the dam by ISIS on any other force has the good sense to build observation posts on the surrounding high ground to intercept any future incursion by ISIS or anyone else day or night.
To that end, they better also install some alarms, reliable communications and truly heavy duty defense weapons. Not subject to capture by ISIS again!
I saw a news report tonight that said the Kurds had PARTIALLY retaken the dam.
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