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Re: 2014 ISIS attack in Iraq: News, Views, Photos, Videos
Isis goes back to it's roots an beheads a American News reporter. Long War Journal did not show the video but a still that is clean.
Isis goes back to it's roots an beheads a American News reporter. Long War Journal did not show the video but a still that is clean.
1 The Long War Journal: Islamic State beheads American reporter
Written by Bill Roggio on August 19, 2014 6:44 PM to 1 The Long War Journal
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IS-beheads-American-Foley.jpg
The Islamic State beheaded an American reporter who was captured in Syria in 2012, and threatened to kill another if the US military does not halt its air campaign against the jihadist group in northern Iraq.
Today the Islamic State posted a video of the beheading of James Wright Foley, a journalist who was captured by the group in Binesh, Syria on Nov. 22, 2012. The English-language video, which is titled "A Message to America," was released by the Al Furqan Media Foundation, a media arm of the Islamic State, and obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group.
The video begins with a clip of President Barack Obama explaining the reasoning for the US military's re-engagement in Iraq. Then, the video cuts to Foley, whose hands are cuffed behind his back and is wearing an orange jumpsuit, and an Islamic State fighter dressed in black.
Foley blames the United State for his death because it launched airstrikes against the Islamic State, and urges his brother, who is in the US Air Force, to quit the military.
"I guess all in all, I wish I wasn't an American," Foley says just before the Islamic State fighter brandishes a knife and begins to saw off his head.
The video then shows Foley's body on the ground, with his head placed on top of it.
Before he beheads Foley, the Islamic State executioner says, in non-native English with a British accent, that the American journalist is to be killed because the US attacked Muslims in Iraq. The Islamic State fighter also says that the US is now fighting "an Islamic Army."
"You're no longer fighting an insurgency, we are an Islamic army and a State that has been accepted by a large number of Muslims worldwide, so effectively, any aggression towards the Islamic State is an aggression towards Muslims from all walks of life who have accepted the Islamic Caliphate as their leadership," he says.
"So any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic Caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people."
After beheading Foley and displaying his mutilated corpse, the Islamic State fighter then appears with Steven Joel Sotloff, another American journalist who was captured in Syria on Aug. 4, 2013.
"The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision," the Islamic State fighter says as he grasps the collar of the orange jumpsuit worn by a terrified Sotloff.
The Islamic State is clearly seeking to deter the United States from conducting further airstrikes in Iraq. The US began airstrikes against the Islamic State on Aug. 7 after President Obama directed the military to halt the Islamic State's advance on Irbil, the Kurdish capital, and support humanitarian operations to the Yazidi minority trapped on Mount Sinjar. US military operations were expanded on Aug. 15 by Obama to support a Kurdish offensive to retake the Mosul Dam and surrounding villages. The US military has destroyed numerous Islamic State armored personnel carriers, armored vehicles, artillery pieces, technicals and pickup trucks, and fixed fighting positions in the airstrikes.
1 The Long War Journal: Islamic State repels Iraqi military's 3rd attempt to retake Tikrit
Written by Bill Roggio on August 19, 2014 11:58 AM to 1 The Long War Journal
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One day after suffering a defeat at the Mosul dam by the Peshmerga and US and Iraqi forces, the Islamic State and its allies beat back an Iraqi Army assault that was designed to retake control of the central city of Tikrit. The Islamic State and its allies have now repelled three Iraqi military attempts to regain Tikrit, the capital of Salahaddin province, which has been out of government control for more than two months.
Earlier this morning, Iraqi forces launched "a wide military campaign to liberate the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State," All Iraq News Agency reported. "The security forces will liberate the city and eliminate the ISIL [Islamic State] terrorists," an Iraqi official told the news agency.
But the Iraqi forces, which attacked Tikrit from several directions, broke off their assault by the afternoon after taking "heavy machine gun and mortar fire" from the south, and encountering "landmines and snipers" west of the city, Reuters reported.
"Residents of central Tikrit said by telephone that Islamic State fighters were firmly in control of their positions and patrolling the main streets," Reuters noted.
The Islamic State and its Baathist allies in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit have defeated two other attempts by the Iraqi military and supporting militias to reestablish government control of the provincial capital, which fell to the Islamic State and its allies on June 11.
At the end of June, Iraqi forces air assaulted into Tikrit University to the north of the city while ground forces advanced from the south. That offensive stalled and Iraqi forces withdrew from the city after heavy fighting.
And on July 15, Iraqi soldiers and supporting militias advanced on the city from the south, but withdrew one day later after being drawn into a deadly complex ambush that included IED traps, suicide bombers, and snipers.
The latest failed Tikrit offensive highlights the poor state of the Iraqi armed forces. The military has often been forced to cobble together units since at least four of Iraq's 16 regular army divisions are no longer viable. The Long War Journal estimates that at least seven divisions have been rendered ineffective since the beginning of the year [see Threat Matrix report, US advisers give dark assessment of state of Iraqi military].
In many areas of Iraq, the military is fighting alongside poorly trained militias who are ill-suited to conducting offensive operations. Additionally, SWAT and special forces, while highly trained and likely more motivated than regular forces, are often being misused as infantry.
The Iraqi military and the government have been unable to regain control of large areas lost in Ninewa, Salahaddin, and Diyala provinces after the Islamic State and its allies began their offensive on June 10. Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, and other major towns and cities in northern and central Iraq are firmly under the control of the Islamic State or contested.
The Islamic State also holds most of Anbar as well as northern Babil province. Fallujah and other cities and towns fell after the Islamic State went on the offensive in Anbar at the beginning of January. The Iraqi military has been unable to retake areas in Anbar lost earlier this year. Half of Ramadi, the provincial capital, is said to be under the Islamic State's control. The military recently airlifted 4,000 militiamen to Ramadi, a further indication that the two Iraqi divisions stationed in Anbar, the 1st and the 7th, are no longer cohesive fighting forces.
The only places where the Islamic State and its allies have lost ground are in some areas of northern Iraq where they encroached into territory controlled by the Kurdish Peshmerga. Earlier this month, the Islamic State took over the Mosul Dam, the city of Sinjar, and a series of towns and villages north and east of Mosul after the Peshmerga retreated, often without a fight. The Peshmerga recently retook the Mosul Dam and those same villages, but only after the US military intervened and launched a series of airstrikes that targeted Islamic State armored personnel carriers, technicals, convoys, mortar pits, and other military targets.
1 The Long War Journal: US airpower supports Peshmerga, Iraqi forces to retake Mosul Dam
Written by Bill Roggio on August 18, 2014 12:30 PM to 1 The Long War Journal
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The US military is launching airstrikes in support of the recent push by Iraqi special forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga to retake the Mosul Dam and surrounding towns lost to the Islamic State earlier this month. Invoking the War Powers Act, President Barack Obama said the strikes, which "will be limited in their scope and duration," are designed to protect US personnel based hundreds of miles downriver from the Mosul Dam.
The US airstrikes near the dam started on Aug. 16, when the US military noted in a press release that it was conducting airstrikes "near Irbil and the Mosul Dam." US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said the nine airstrikes, which "destroyed or damaged four armored personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armored vehicle," were launched "under authority to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, as well as to protect US personnel and facilities."
CENTCOM issued two more press releases on Aug. 17, both noting that airstrikes took place "near the Mosul Dam." CENTCOM said the strikes destroyed "ten ISIL armed vehicles, seven ISIL Humvees, two ISIL armored personnel carriers, and one ISIL checkpoint."
In the Aug. 17 press release, the military added that the strikes were launched "to protect critical infrastructure" and "support Iraqi security forces and Kurdish defense forces, who are working together to combat ISIL [the Islamic State]."
And today, CENTCOM said the military launched 15 more strikes in the Mosul Dam area. "The strikes damaged or destroyed nine ISIL fighting positions; an ISIL checkpoint; six ISIL armed vehicles; an ISIL light armored vehicle; an ISIL vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft artillery gun, and an IED emplacement belt," CENTCOM said.
Since the US air campaign around Mosul Dam began three days ago, American forces have conducted a total of 40 reported strikes: nine on Aug. 16, 16 on Aug. 17, and 15 today, according to The Associated Press.
Evolving US mission in Iraq
The missions of protecting "critical infrastructure" and supporting Iraqi Army and Peshmerga offensive military operations were not part of President Obama's initial reasoning for launching airstrikes against the Islamic State in northern Iraq. Obama authorized the use of force to protect minority Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar and halt the Islamic State's advance on Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan, where US personnel are based.
Obama invoked the War Powers Act in a letter to Congress that was released yesterday to explain the reasons for expanding the strikes to support offensive military operations by Kurdish and Iraqi forces.
"On August 14, 2014, I authorized the US Armed Forces to conduct targeted air strikes to support operations by Iraqi forces to recapture the Mosul Dam," Obama stated in the letter. "These military operations will be limited in their scope and duration as necessary to support the Iraqi forces in their efforts to retake and establish control of this critical infrastructure site, as part of their ongoing campaign against the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)," which is now called the Islamic State.
Obama said further that "the failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians, endanger US personnel and facilities, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and prevent the Iraqi government from providing critical services to the Iraqi populace."
The US air campaign appears to be having some success. The Peshmerga, backed by Iraqi Special Forces, SWAT units, and aircraft, are said to have retaken several towns and villages north of Mosul, including Batmay and Telskef.
Iraqi and Kurdish officials are saying the Islamic State forces at the dam have been been defeated, but the complex cannot be occupied as there are still IEDs seeded throughout. Fighting is said to be taking place on the west bank of the dam, The Washington Post reported. The Islamic State has denied reports that its forces have withdrawn from the Mosul Dam.
Up until Aug. 7, the Obama administration resisted entering the fray in Iraq. The US sat on the sidelines and resisted Iraqi pleas for air and other support as the Islamic State and its allies seized control of much of Anbar in January and then stormed through Ninewa, Salahaddin, and Diyala provinces beginning in June. Additionally, the Islamic State has consolidated its control of several provinces in Syria and entered into areas it lost there earlier this year.
President Obama had campaigned on withdrawing all US forces from Iraq by the end of his first term, and kept his campaign promise when he failed to negotiate a deal to keep US forces in country after December 2011. Obama referred to the Islamic State as the "jayvee team" in an interview with The New Yorker that was published in January of this year. Since then, the "jayvee team" has stormed throughout Iraq and Syria and has taken control of significant territory in both countries. This has forced Obama to reengage militarily in Iraq, even if only in the north.
