ISIS militants attack and take over Iraqi northern city of Mosul

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Shnabdabber

They have acquired T-55 and T-72 tanks, with estimates of having 30 and 5-10 respectively, numerous humvees, M198 and Type 59-1 artillery, heavy machine guns and more RPK's, RPG's and M79 rocket launchers than you can shake a stick at. They are more than well armed and are gobbling up infrastructure and heavy weapons as they run over Iraq.

Having said that I think Iran would be more than capable of defending their borders against ISIS.

You can officially start the declining quantitites countdown on each of these.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/...html?hpt=hp_t1

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Arya Stark

All I can find is that Obama authorized airstrikes but nothing has been fired yet.

http://news.msn.com/world/pentagon-u...sonnel-in-iraq

[Ducay]

After reading into it a bit more, it sounds like this is playing out close to how Assad's regime in Syria was hoping.

Apparently they allowed ISIS to get funding through state allowed oil sales in order to strengthen their abilities, allowing them to become the dominant rebel group in Syria. End result is that they become the enemy, and instead of Syria quashing a popular democratic revolution, they are fighting an Islamic jihadi force hellbent on destruction, and the international community won't be against them anymore.

Worked like a charm too. No one seems to be condemning Syria much since ISIS started gaining notoriety as the cheif rebel group and its barbaric practices became more publicly known.

I mean, just go look back to the articles about the Syrian civil war back when we were fresh off the Arab Spring, everyone wanted to support the rebels and take out Assad, but a few smart people were warning that if you do that, you're handing the country over to extremists, and not "the people". Thank god the intervention in Syria was minimal.

Dictator Assad > ISIS rule.

[Arya Stark]

Originally Posted by redforever

http://news.msn.com/world/pentagon-u...sonnel-in-iraq

Yeah, that was today but nothing had been fired at the time of my post.

[Hack&Lube]

They have some interesting stuff on their social media efforts. Jannah is paradise.

[Muta]

Don't worry, the US will send them all to paradise.

[FlameOn]

New York times has posted a super informative and fully interactive map of all the regions ISIS has currently taken. Sad and horrifying.
Link

[Azure]

Second round of airstrikes have been launched by the US.

[RougeUnderoos]

They are showing (or at least showed once) some very grim footage of these maggots executing people and tossing them into a river. They pixelate some of it out, but it's clear what is going on. And there's blood all over the ground. It's ugly.

What the hell is wrong with these people? I mean how can you be so goddamn twisted in the head that you think doing this is going to give you a spot in some mythical paradise?

I hope they light these ####ers up and good. Kill them all. The world will be a better place.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

They are showing (or at least showed once) some very grim footage of these maggots executing people and tossing them into a river. They pixelate some of it out, but it's clear what is going on. And there's blood all over the ground. It's ugly.

What the hell is wrong with these people? I mean how can you be so goddamn twisted in the head that you think doing this is going to give you a spot in some mythical paradise?

I hope they light these ####ers up and good. Kill them all. The world will be a better place.

Someone posted the unpixelated version here a while ago. These guy are truly the scum of the Earth.

There is a story out right now too that they have kidnapped hundreds of young Yazidi girls to use as slaves.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/08...minister-says/

[Muta]

How do you grow up to be this twisted? How is this kind of behaviour influencing young Westerners who have joined the fight? These guys are barbaric, killing and raping people everywhere. How do you cross that threshold into doing this and think that it's okay?

These pieces of crap need to be eliminated from the planet as quick as possible, for the good of humanity.

[Azure]

Sad that politics these days involves using human life as a way to get what you want. The US could have gotten involved a long time ago but choose to stay out of it in hope of getting what they wanted from the Iraqi government.

Either way, about time something is done about the problem. Not sure how ISIS thinks they can actually get anywhere. Most governments in the Middle East are united against them. They don't stand a chance.

[FlameOn]

I sadly watched a video of them lining up what looked like a truck load of about 50-60 people (including kids) and knelled them all up against a shallow ditch. One of the ISIS gunmen then proceeds to walk behind the group and unloads a whole AK clip into them. As the bodies fell into the ditch, he goes over each one and puts an extra bullet into each for good measure. Quite scarred watching that thing.

What the hell is wrong with these nut jobs. So are we stuck with them now unless we get boots on the ground or something? Boko Haram in Nigeria as well... wars of this nature need to get funded. Can we start blowing up whoever is paying these guys too? Things would be better if we didn't have those the financiers stirring the pot as well.

So what's the end result here? Kurdistan in the North, parts of Iraq and Syria controlled by ISIS?

[Azure]

Not sure how ISIS could actually survive very long. Iran is helping Iraq, and the US will intervene as well to make sure Iraq doesn't fully topple.

They might be better armed as they progress further through Iraq, but they are not trained very well.

Put boots on the ground and get rid of them.

[FlameOn]

Not good... current maps show half of Iraq and a third of Syria has now been overrun. My coworkers mother is in one of those towns currently surrounded by ISIS

Spoiler!

[FlamesAddiction]

It's interesting in a way, because it seems to the modern day incarnation of an early medieval horde. They'd start off small and loot disorganized states and regions, then gain manpower and money, in order to take on larger states. Of course using fear and brutality the whole way. Their empires would fade out pretty quick, but they would leave a huge path of destruction.

It's extremely unlikely that in this day, with how fast news spreads, that they could ever make it as far... but it's almost like looking into the past.

[smoothpops]

Forgive me if this sounds ignorant, but isn't ISIS' goal of an Islamic state over two countries their weakness? If the rest of the world is somehow able to cut off ISIS' banking, weaponry and general supplies, wouldn't that be akin to Germany's failed invasion of Russia? I realize that winter played a major role in that instance, but isn't isolating them and then bombing them they way to go? The reason they've recruited and swept through Iraq so easily, was because Maliki tried to crush/silence the Sunni rebellions by either stopping their protests or jailing sunnis without trial. bombing them is just going to strengthen their resolve and increase their recruitment numbers, just ask the taliban in afghanistan or Hamas in Palestine.

[nik-]

The Germany comparison doesn't really fit in this scenario at all. ISIS has basically run over a section of a failed state and a large portion of a borderline failed state. They've captured a lot of equipment and money but don't have a lot of manpower. Bombing them may increase their future recruitment (maybe?) but there are things that can be prevented from happening right now with airstrikes.

Additionally, I'm not sure how the Taliban was strengthened at all from being bombed. They used to have a country ... now they hide in sections of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

[Wastedyouth]

I'm out. Most of my guys are out.

It's getting pretty ridiculous now. I never thought it would get this far. It's pretty scary. Waiting on exit visas for two of my guys. Can't believe they are standing on beauracracy keeps my two guys stuck in Erbil right now.

[Zulu29]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Not good... current maps show half of Iraq and a third of Syria has now been overrun. My coworkers mother is in one of those towns currently surrounded by ISIS

Spoiler!

At least they respect the Jordanian border.....