Free Republic

By Jeff Gardner -Last August, Joseph received the news he had feared for weeks: The armies of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, had invaded the region of Sinjar in western Iraq, the place where he and tens of thousands of Yezidis had lived for centuries. When Joseph got word that ISIS fighters were headed towards his home village of Tillqasab, he panicked — although he had left years ago, his elderly father still lived in the village. Arriving at the outskirts of town, Joseph realized that he was too late — Tillqasab had already fallen...

The U.S. is weighing a military mission in Iraq to rescue thousands of Yazidi refugees, a move that risks putting American forces in direct confrontation with Sunni fighters for the Islamic State. The proposal is still under development and hasn't been approved by President Barack Obama. U.S. officials said the rescue mission is one of many options the U.S. military is weighing after dropping food and water to dying refugees over the past six days. "People are looking at ways to do something more than just drop water and supplies," one senior U.S. official said. "You can only do that...