A humanitarian nightmare is playing out in Iraq as the Sunni terror group, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) continues to grab more territory in Northern Iraq.
The Associated Press stated that in recent days, the Islamic Group militants swept through villages in the north that are home to religious minorities including Christians and the Yazidis, who follow an ancient religion with ties to Zoroastrianism. Furthering their gains, the extremists seized Iraq’s largest dam Thursday, placing them in control of enormous power and water resources and access to the river that runs through the heart of Baghdad.
The U.S. is contemplating airstrikes or air drops of humanitarian supplies as tens of thousands of Iraqis are trapped on a barren mountain top without food or water, if they descend they face the potential of being killed by Sunni militants.
The Washington Post reported that Kurdish officials pleaded for international assistance as they appeared to be losing control of the 650-mile border between their semiautonomous region and territory controlled by Sunni extremist militants belonging to the Islamic State, an al-Qaeda splinter group. The Kurdish forces were forced to pull out of the towns of Qaraqosh, Bartella and Bashika overnight, putting militants within 40 miles of the Kurdish regional capital of Irbil, the officials said.
The New York Times reported the president, in meetings with his national security team at the White House on Thursday morning, has been weighing a series of options ranging from dropping humanitarian supplies on Mount Sinjar to military strikes on the fighters from ISIS now at the base of the mountain, a senior administration official said.
“There could be a humanitarian catastrophe there,” a second administration official said, adding that a decision from Mr. Obama was expected “imminently — this could be a fast-moving train.”
Time magazine reported that in the country’s far northwest, tens of thousands of people fleeing the Sunni extremist group Islamic State have been trapped on a mountain for days without water or other supplies. The refugees, primarily from the country’s Yazidi religious sect, have begun to die from dehydration and exposure, with no relief in sight.
The UN issued a press release on Sunday stating, according to reports, as many as 200,000 civilians, most of them from the Yezidi community, have fled to Jabal Sinjar. The humanitarian situation of these civilians is reported as dire, and they are in urgent need of basic items including food, water and medicine. An unknown number of civilians are also reported to have moved towards Dahuk and Zako in the Kurdistan Region.
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, stated “A humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar. The Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government should urgently restore their security cooperation in dealing with the crisis. I call on all Iraqi authorities, civil society and international partners to work with the United Nations to ensure the delivery of life saving humanitarian assistance”. “I also call on the Kurdistan Regional Government to ensure that those civilians fleeing the violence are facilitated entry to the Kurdistan Region in order to receive protection and humanitarian assistance.”
“The situation is nearing a humanitarian catastrophe,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “We are gravely concerned for their health and safety.”
On Monday, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), criticized the presidents handling of the unfolding situation in Iraq, as one of wait and watching as events unfold.
“Indeed, ISIS is the vanguard of global Islamic extremism and the main driver of radicalization across the Middle East and the world. It not only controls a swath of territory in Iraq and Syria the size of Indiana; it also threatens to destabilize Jordan, Lebanon, and other key U.S. partners. With each day, ISIS grows stronger, larger, wealthier, more ambitious, and more dangerous. Time is not on our side. ISIS is not just a problem for Iraq or Syria. It is also a threat to us, and the absence of U.S. leadership to confront it is dangerous.”
Before the president or anyone else contemplates military action in Iraq one first must remember the advice by Prussian military strategist Carl Von Clausewitz in his famous military treatise, “On War”.
“War is not a mere act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political activity by other means.”
The question I ask what is our strategy in Iraq and the broader Middle East, as all conflicts have unintended consequences.
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