That is the worst-case scenario being bandied about. Which is also to say, that is what ISIS is claiming. At the other end of the spectrum, we have the Obamagon, claiming not only that al-Asad airbase is secure and not even under any military threat, but that ISIS is struggling to take even the town of al-Baghdadi, ten or so miles away, a depiction even more ludicrously rosy than Reuters is willing to publish:
Islamic State insurgents took control on Thursday of most of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, threatening an air base where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, officials said.
Al-Baghdadi, about eighty-five kilometers (fifty miles) northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, had been besieged for months by the radical Sunni Islamist militants who captured vast swathes of Iraq’s north and west last year.
“Ninety percent of al-Baghdadi district has fallen under the control of the insurgents,” district manager Naji Arak told Reuters by phone.
Militants attacked al-Baghdadi from two directions earlier in the day and then advanced on the town, intelligence sources and officials in the Jazeera and Badiya operations commands said.
The officials said another group of insurgents then attacked the heavily-guarded Ain al-Asad air base five kilometers southwest of the town, but were unable to break into it.
....yet.
Strangely enough, the most credible version of this sounds like the Reuters account. Which only means that ISIS hasn't taken al-Asad and captured - or massacred - the three hundred U.S. Marines there...well, yet, but probably will within the next few days, since the only way in or out of al-Asad at this point is via the air.
This particular pickle sure illustrates the deliberately embedded shortcomings in Barack Obama's AUMF request. God willing, we'll pulverize al-Baghdadi and every last ISIS devilspawn in the vicinity and relieve al-Asad, and whatever the airstrikes don't eliminate, our Marines will "clean up". But if even one jarhead gets captured and winds up in a patented ISIS decapitation video, it'll be macabrely fascinating to see what President Degrade will do next.
Although I think we have a pretty good idea, judging by the past six months. Which is to say, nothing at all, other than to blame the GOP, and head for the White House driving range.
2 comments:
Are you confusing the Yemen base with Iraq? Daesh is in the town of al baghdadi, close to al Asad, and do try to shoot rockets, but this is an air base with choppers, surrounded by desert and 15 miles from the town. Stop assisting the enemy's fear mongering. Our Marines will die first before being taken prisoner.
The above comment obviously posted before actually reading the post that inspired it.
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