Posted on 05/22/2015 1:29:00 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
WASHINGTON THE fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday, and of the Syrian city of Palmyra on Wednesday, is a big gain for the Islamic State, but not an utter disaster, as many observers fear.
Rather than inducing panic in Western capitals, it should lead to a realistic assessment of the Islamic States strengths and weaknesses. One setback in a long war must not trigger hasty strategic shifts that lead to foreign countries becoming mired in Iraq once more.
Palmyra has economic and cultural significance, as it sits among gas fields and is home to renowned ruins. But Ramadi, in western Iraq, is of far greater military and strategic consequence.
The attack on Ramadi was a sign of desperation, not strength. It took 16 months of continual clashes with tenacious Iraqi security forces and loyal Sunni tribes before the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, could take Ramadi. Before it fell, the Islamic State already controlled half of the city. Its battlefield rivals were exhausted, and it wanted to give its adherents a psychological boost. Ramadi was a ripe target.
But the Islamic State is not on an unstoppable march. In Iraq, and to some extent Syria, it remains on the defensive. In April, the Islamic States defenses in large swaths of Salahuddin Province and the provincial capital, Tikrit, collapsed. In the north, Iraqi Kurds have contained the Islamic State. In Syria, Kurds supported by Iraqi pesh merga forces and by American airstrikes decisively defeated the group in the town of Kobani. Unlike the disastrous fall of Mosul in June 2014, the conquest of Ramadi hasnt led to a collapse of Iraqi military units.
There is even a silver lining in the fall of Ramadi.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
In addition to those murdered by ISIS, this will also be a relief to all the women and men who have been enslaved and sold and who are abused and raped on a daily basis. I’m sure they will be glad to know that ISIS isn’t winning.
“Tis but a scratch. I’ve ‘ad worse.
Yes. Most certainly.
What really ticks me off is there is another Holocaust happening and the dear leader knows and refuses to do anything about it.
The prettiest of the Yazidis are being sold as sex slaves, young girls as old as 6. Those who don’t want to perform the perverted acts are beheaded. All of the atrocities of the Nazis are happening and we sit back an pretend it’s not happening.
I remember the asshat liberals screaming about the civilian casualties that occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan and I cry thinking about the thousands of civilians and these poor girls who no one cares about.
ISIS won Ramadi by living up to its name as a terrorist organization.
It used a series of brutal car-bomb attacks to terrorize the Iraqi army into panicking, dropping its weapons, and running away.
Now ISIS finds itself with a whole new arsenal of weapons, a proven formula for using car-bombs to take over cities, and a president of the U.S. whose only concern is to belittle ISIS’s power so that he doesn’t have to send in ground troops.
The road from Ramadi to Baghdad might as well be covered by a welcome mat from Obama saying, ‘’It’s all yours, ISIS!’’
This is the long version of ‘they’re JV”...
Tell that to the people of Iraq and Syria who have been slaughtered Islamo-Nazi style.
The “Gray Lady” is f*cking blind. No threats from the Left; no threats from Islamic extremists.
One huge reason for the advancement of these subhuman vermin is the FACT that bama/sotoreo has rules in place that our planes can only bomb with an AMERICAN spotter on the ground ...BUT ! Americans are supposedly not supposed to be in a battlefield in that area?...Gods honest truth!!! Only 25% of the sorties run by the Air force ever drop any ordinance....and this muzzie stands there as if everything is fine...my hate for the treasonist is beyond measure...keep your powder dry.
The attack on Ramadi was a sign of desperation, not strength. It took 16 months of continual clashes with tenacious Iraqi security forces and loyal Sunni tribes before the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, could take Ramadi. Before it fell, the Islamic State already controlled half of the city. Its battlefield rivals were exhausted, and it wanted to give its adherents a psychological boost. Ramadi was a ripe target.It's the Age of Aquarius. where the water carriers are Partisan Media Shills, out in strength on behalf of their Demagogic Party masters.
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