Islamic State ‘Now Controls Resources And Territory Unmatched In History Of Extremist Organizations’ -- Terrence McCoy, Washington Post
It’s a pattern of territorial expansion that has now become familiar. After the Islamic State captured Sinjar on Sunday, came the executions. Then arrived the orders to convert or die, the flash of the movement’s black flag, the fleeing of thousands — and, finally, the jubilant and chilling images on social media.
One showed a destroyed Shiite shrine, which had long sat in the ancient city of Sinjar in northwestern Iraq. Another depicted the executions of several blindfolded men. There was an image of two masked men who had climbed a tall building, enshrouded its edifice in a black Islamic State flag, and blasted a pistol into the air. Then there was a picture showing a masked jihadist hoisting a gun at the desk of the town’s mayor — a portrait of a famed Kurdish guerrilla leader looming behind.
The armed movement, which has surged in wealth, manpower and resources in recent weeks, also just took the town of Wana on Sunday, according to The Washingon Post‘s Loveday Morris. The Islamic State routed a once-proud Kurdish army and forced an exodus of residents the United Nations said numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Calling the situation a “humanitarian tragedy,” a top U.N. envoy to Iraq said in a statement that their expulsion was “dire.”
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My Comment: I commented a week or two ago that if Osama Bin laden was alive today .... he would be envious/proud of what ISIS/Islamic State has been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. On a side note .... this must be a growing concern for the Obama administration. If The Islamic State continues to expand .... this has the potential of becoming the long term legacy of President Obama .... that it was under his watch that an extremist organization dedicated to global jihad and the establishment of a Caliphate rose to power.
1 comment:
Though I've pontificated interminably on this subject, there is a facet left untouched, logistics. During war operations you burn up material fast regardless of who you are. The captured Iraqi supplies will not last forever, plus ISIS will need a secure land method of moving the crude they've captured for sale. Where does ISIS look for material resupply from outside the area they hold now. Not the east (Iran and now Kurdistan), southeast, no not from the Shia's. Not west Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Not south from Saudi Arabia. That leaves Turkey. This is the biggest cause of operations to the north up the Euphrates and Tigris river valley toward Turkey. These must stay secure for ISIS's long term plans.
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