Ramadi could fall as ISIS militants lay siege, Iraqi official warns

)—Falih Essawi shouted on the phone as he described his situation. From his point of view, ISIS militants might be just hours away from taking the key Iraqi city of Ramadi.

Fierce fighting has engulfed Ramadi, which lies only about 70 miles (113 kilometers) west of Baghdad and is the capital of Anbar province, Iraq's Sunni heartland.

Essawi, the deputy head of the Anbar Provincial Council, told CNN from inside the city Wednesday that it's unclear how much longer government troops can hold their front lines against the ISIS offensive.

The politician said he was on a front line himself, armed with a machine gun. Security was "collapsing rapidly in the city," and he begged the Iraqi government for reinforcements and the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS for air support. He stressed that urgent support from the military and security forces is needed to save the city.

"This is what we warned Baghdad of what's going to happen," Essawi told CNN by phone, referring to the Iraqi government at the capital. "Where is Baghdad? Where is al-Abadi?"

ISIS in Iraq is essentially the Sunni side of a vicious Sunni/Shi’ite civil war. The ISIS leadership, officers and soldiers are mostly former Sunni officials, officers and soldiers in Saddam Hussein’s government and army. The terror tactics they use are not much different than those that Saddam used and were inspired by his model Stalin. The Iranians will do whatever is necessary to stop ISIS. Otherwise they will again have a hostile, jihadist, Sunni state on their border and millions of destitute Arabic speaking Shi’ite refugees in their midst. The US should sit this out and let the locals achieve their own consensus.

I think the problem is that when (at this point it seems a 'when' not an 'if') the worse group wins, then the worse group will have greater resources to target the West with. That is the main issue, and one that is largely (at least openly) ignored. A number of the main Islamist groups around the globe are starting to interact with one another, with several pledging allegiance to one or two of the major groups, and while currently the various Jihadi groups, in aggregate, are not that much of a threat to the West, and to be honest are more of a local concern to the specific areas that they are operating in, eventually they will be a far greater threat to the West.

For example, look at Libya (and North Africa in general). The Jihadi groups there used to be small and weak, and in the case of Libya the likes of Ansar al-Sharia were under the heel of Qaddafi and couldn't do much. With Qaddafi's downfall they became stronger, but were still a local problem. Now, ISIS has expanded to the region, and the Libyan Ansar al-Sharia, the Tunisian Ansar al-Sharia, and the Egyptian Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis are getting affiliated.

Move a little south of those groups and you come across Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has always been an issue for Mali, Algeria and Libya. AQIM probably covers the most ground of any of the Jihadi groups, but because it has largely been a local problem it has been ignored. However, AQIM has been getting closer to Boko Haram, the Nigerian bogey man that has killed over 5,000 in less than two years. Again, Boko Haram has largely been ignored because it is primarily a local issue, but the head of BH just pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Head over to the East and you find Al Shabaab, which has killed around 400 of my people in two years. They had already pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda some years back, but it appears that with the rise of ISIS they may be changing allegiance soon. Additionally, the crisis in Yemen has led to a lot of refugees moving from Yemen to Somalia (just across the sea), and there might be cross-pollination with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Going even further east, you find Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines meshing with Jemaah Islamiya in Indonesia, and both groups having affiliation with Al Qaeda (and maybe soon ISIS, considering Al Qaeda hasn't 'done much' lately).

My point? As these groups, particularly ISIS, take more ground, they will eventually do away with any opposition - be it from government or competing Jihadi outfits - and end up controlling more land, and as a result, more cashflow and more followers. Once that is done, the main target will be the US.

I understand that some may say that will be the best time to hit them, but I'd rather destroy a crocodile in its shell than when it is some 16 foot leviathan trying to introduce me to its gullet.

These groups are not a problem to the West now, but they will eventually be a huge problem. Especially considering that some of those fighting for the likes of ISIS have Western passports.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.