Iraq’s Prime Minister Offers to Hand Out Guns to Citizens Willing to Fight Back Against Islamist Militants

Iraq’s Prime Minister Offers to Hand Out Guns to Citizens Willing to Fight Back Against Islamist Militants


Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is offering weapons to civilians willing to take on Islamist militants who captured Iraq’s second-largest city on Tuesday.

Jihadi rebels seized control of most of Mosul early Tuesday, reflecting the growing threat posed by the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a group once closely linked to Al Qaeda that’s been fighting to establish hardline Islamic law in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency and vowed not to let the area succumb “under the shadows of terror and terrorists.”


Iraqi families fleeing violence in the northern Nineveh province gather at a Kurdish checkpoint in Aski Kalak, 40 kilometers west of Arbil, in the autonomous Kurdistan region, June 10, 2014. Suspected jihadists seized Iraq’s entire northern province of Nineveh and its capital Mosul — the country’s second-largest city — in a major blow to authorities, who appear incapable of stopping militant advances. (Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images)


“Having these terrorist groups control a city in the heart of Iraq threatens not only Iraq but the entire region,” Nujaifi said, appealing for outside help to reign in the rebels. The takeover of Mosul, the capital of northern Iraq, follows the insurgent capture earlier this year of Fallujah.


In this Monday, June 9, 2014 image taken from video obtained from the Iraqi Military, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, armored and military vehicles take position on a street during clashes with militants in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. (AP Photo/Iraqi Military via AP video)


The Iraqi government also decided to “restructure and reorganize” its military in an effort to meet the growing insurgent challenge despite government forces being armed by the U.S. government.

An estimated 150,000 have fled the latest bout of fighting. The crush of civilians trying to get out was captured dramatically in this photograph:


Iraqis fleeing violence in the Nineveh province wait in their vehicles at a Kurdish checkpoint in Aski Kalak, 40 kilometers west of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, June 10, 2014. (Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images)


The Washington Post described the militant takeover of the major Iraqi city as “striking and suggests the U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces are even more vulnerable than had previously been thought.”

The jihadis’ seizure of the airport was particularly symbolic as it had been used by the U.S. military in Iraq. The parliament speaker confirmed to reporters Tuesday that the airport and all aircraft within it were captured.

Charles Lister, who follows Middle Eastern insurgent groups at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, told the Washington Post that many of the weapons ISIL captured were likely to be American.

“Washington will be questioning how to move forward in terms of supporting the Iraqi army in its fight against terrorism,” Lister said. “Every time [ISIL] captures territory, it’s a reminder that it does so using weapons that have fallen into the hands of the forces the U.S. is trying to counter in the first place.”

The BBC reported that the ISIL has for months been imposing its rule on large swaths of the Nineveh province, including levying of protection taxes and fees for transporting goods.


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/06/10/iraqs-prime-minister-offers-to-hand-out-guns-to-citizens-willing-to-fight-back-against-islamist-militants/

“Washington will be questioning how to move forward in terms of supporting the Iraqi army in its fight against terrorism,” Lister said. “Every time [ISIL] captures territory, it’s a reminder that it does so using weapons that have fallen into the hands of the forces the U.S. is trying to counter in the first place.”

And at least some probably provided to them in Syria by the US.

Arm them all... that will work....of course 

Bring our troops back in and lets set this thing straight.

With O in the White House? You have got to be kidding!
 

They are not worth one more drop of American or Western blood. Let them beat the blithers out of each other, and USA get serious about utilizing her own resources instead of bothering with those in countries that hate us.

What torques me is that Obama pulled our people out too soon and too fast because of political expediency and now that blood has been wasted.

...yes Kevin.... tragically,every drop 

Regardless if you feel we should have gone over there in the first place, we did.  Then, after trillions spent and 4,000+ lives lost, we pulled out.  Now we have this mess.  I can't imagine being a parent that lost a child.  And we can't forget the Iraqi people either.  So incredibly sad.

The people who are concerned with nothing more than when they are going to cash out and become rich are the lowest of the low.  If they're that damn stupid they get what they deserve.  It may be wrong, but I'm rapidly losing any compassion for all of them.  All I'm seeing is pure greed.

I hope we have learned a lesson.  The next time we have an election, please remember that it's not a personality contest.  We are electing people into positions of great power and they need to be up to the job.  Peoples lives are depend on it.

ssmith wrote:Regardless if you feel we should have gone over there in the first place, we did.  Then, after trillions spent and 4,000+ lives lost, we pulled out.  Now we have this mess.  I can't imagine being a parent that lost a child.  And we can't forget the Iraqi people either.  So incredibly sad.

The people who are concerned with nothing more than when they are going to cash out and become rich are the lowest of the low.  If they're that damn stupid they get what they deserve.  It may be wrong, but I'm rapidly losing any compassion for all of them.  All I'm seeing is pure greed.

I hope we have learned a lesson.  The next time we have an election, please remember that it's not a personality contest.  We are electing people into positions of great power and they need to be up to the job.  Peoples lives are depend on it.

I'm with you.