ISIS PREPARED WELL FOR U.S. AIRSTRIKES; SLOW-MOTION TRAIN WRECK UNFOLDING AS WEST LOOKS IMPOTENT

October 13, 2014 

Situation In Iraq Deteriorating: ISIS Militants Seize Key Iraq Army Camp/Depot — Along Key Highway To Baghdad 30K Dead In Baghdad As Car Bombs, Explosion Grips City

Numerous press reports this evening indicate that Islamic State militants have seized control of a key Iraqi military camp in Anbar Province, near the city of Hit — which Iraqi officials have called a “tactical retreat;” as a series of bombings occurred in mostly Shi’ite neighborhood’s throughout the day — killing at least 30. Meanwhile, Rami Abdul Rahman. of the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Fox News this afternoon, that ISIS fighters hold as much as 50 percent of the Syrian/Turkish border town of Kobani.

The Islamic State offensive in the north at Kobani, and their offensive west of Bagdad, appears to be part of a pretty well thought out strategic campaign designed to divide the Western coalition’s focus, as well as exploit Turkey’s resolve because of Ankara’s concern over unintentionally aiding Kurdish rebels in northern Syria.

Though I have no evidence nor proof, from reports I am reading across social media and news outlets, my guess is that the Islamic State has already embedded key strike teams in Baghdad and near the airport — in the Sunni militant enclaves throughout the city.

And unless proven otherwise, we should also assume that these ISIS “assault” teams have shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles; and, are likely to wait for a strategic target to down — in the hopes of capturing a U.S. fighter pilot (Apache helicopter) alive — to be paraded and ultimately beheaded — if they can pull it off. That is not doubt, a high priority for the ISIS campaign and would be seen as a tremendous propaganda coup by the darker angles of their ilk.

Meanwhile, CENTCOM is reporting that they conducted a grand total of 8 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in the past two days. No wonder the militants are winning. This is not a serious air campaign; and, to add insult to injury — the POTUS refuses to even give the “campaign” a name.

The German news magazine, Der Spiegel — sadly — summed it up pretty well today. “Turkey stands by, doing nothing, while U.S. airstrikes have been unable to slow down Islamic State fighters: The battle for Kobani has revealed the West’s helplessness in the face of radical jihad. Worries of a massacre are growing.”

“Kobani “is of crucial symbolic importance in the battle against the Islamic State,” Der Spiegel wrote, “and could become emblematic of the West’s failure — a new Srebrencia, a place where the world looks on as a massacre takes shape — that is not only foreseeable; but, also preventable.”

ISIS Prepared Well For Airstrikes

There is an old, time-honored, military adage: “You cannot vanquish your enemies — by telegraphing your punches.” Der Spiegel notes that Islamic State fighters followed the U.S debate over whether the U.S. would/could engage in airstrikes against them; and, they prepared accordingly. The paper notes that “the terrorist army, already highly flexible when it comes to shifting units, and setting up temporary bases,”…was careful to move its leaders out of their headquarters and removed key military equipment (at night) — before the first Western airstrikes ever took place. “In the end,” der Spiegel wrote, “bombs struck only empty buildings, or other non-essential targets.

Der Spiegel adds that “ISIS fighters have reportedly “purchased homes from civilians — at a good price — so that they can hide in plain sight within the confines of Baghdad and other key cities and in densely populated areas. There has also been credible reporting that ISIS has been digging tunnels within the confines of the city of Kobani — something they do doubt took notice of with Hamas’s strikes out of Gaza against the Israeli military.

A Slow-Motion “Train-Wreck Is Unfolding In Front Of Us — And, We Are Standing By — Prepared To “Fight” To The Last Iraqi

We are outsourcing our own national security to outside third parties — no wonder the Turks, nor anyone else for that matter seems anxious to demonstrate their support for POTUS Obama’s “strategy.” It isn’t viewed as serious — in fact, it is disdained and ridiculed by ISIS, among others. The U.S. is viewed as weak and disengaged. Our allies don’t trust us; and, our adversaries don’t fear us. It is the worst of both worlds; and, it will come back to haunt us in ways we cannot comprehend — or, don’t want to. The great fiction writer Stephen King once wrote, “God Punishes Us For What We Cannot Imagine.”

The number of British citizens who have flocked to join the Islamic State’s quest to establish an Islamic caliphate on the doorstep of NATO and in the heart of the Fertile Crescent — has now risen to in excess of 3,000,” the British Counterterrorism Chief told the BBC last month. And, if we continue to demonstrate weakness in the face of this most vile/evil threat…..we will reap the costs of that inaction and weakness. V/R, RCP.