The U.S. Has Been Secretly Flying Drones Over Iraq To Monitor The Growing ISIS Threat Since last Year

An MQ-1 Predator drone soars over a desert landscape in this undated photograph released by the U.S. Air Force. REUTERS/U.S. Air Force/Lt Col Leslie Pratt/Handout

U.S. Secretly Flying Drones Over Iraq -- Wall Street Journal

White House Could Expand Drone Flights Following Takeover of Two Iraqi Cities

The U.S. since last year has been secretly flying unmanned surveillance aircraft in small numbers over Iraq to collect intelligence on insurgents, according to U.S. officials.

The program was limited in size and proved little use to U.S. and Iraqi officials when Islamist fighters moved swiftly this week to seize two major Iraqi cities, the officials said.

Before the Islamist offensive, the program was expanded based on growing U.S. and Iraqi concerns about the expanded military activities of al Qaeda-linked fighters.

Officials wouldn't say what types of drones were being used but said the flights were conducted only for surveillance purposes. The program was launched with the consent of the Iraqi government.

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My Comment: U.S. intelligence either missed this growing ISIS threat .... or they did not take the intelligence that they were receiving from these drone flights seriously. Either-way .... it appears that someone in the U.S. last year was sufficiently concerned enough to order these surveillance flights, and to monitor Jihadist movements. The question that needs to be answered is .... how did they miss this ISIS buildup in Iraq and the offensive that they have now launched.