Terror Havens In Syria And Iraq: Five Reasons The West Should Worry -- Paul Cruickshank, CNN
(CNN) -- The Sunni Muslim extremist group ISIS has torn through eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq in recent months, seizing territory for what it says is its new Islamic caliphate and butchering those who stand in their way.
The situation has become especially dire for minority groups. Iraqi Christians are on the run, with ISIS taking over their largest city, Qaraqosh, and giving them an ultimatum: Convert to Islam or die. In addition, thousands of families from the Yazidi minority fled from ISIS and became trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq without food, water or medical care.
U.S. military jets on Friday conducted a strike on ISIS artillery that had been used against Kurdish forces defending Irbil, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said on Twitter. The artillery had been used near U.S. personnel, Kirby said.
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My Comment: While these reasons are all valid .... the problem is that the resources on the ground are insufficient to stop the growth and spread of ISIS. When the "strongest military" that is left in Iraq is not able to stop them .... that is when you know that your strategy is failing. To say that this is also a failure of U.S. policy and strategy is an understatement. Everyone knew what was happening before it happened .... but the White House choose a different strategy .... i.e. to stay out of the conflict and to pressure the Baghdad government to reform it's political system. That strategy is now in shambles, and instead we now have ISIS a few steps away from having a permanent presence in the Middle East. And for the minorities who are trapped .... a holocaust that has not been seen in the Middle East since the Armenian genocide a century ago.
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