President Obama authorized limited airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq after months of Christians and other minorities crying out for help from the International community. The threat of ISIS is not only a threat in Iraq– it is a direct threat to the United States.
In the first of a five-part series released by Vice yesterday, titled “The Spread of the Caliphate,” ISIS threatens to “raise the flag of Allah in the White House.”
Abu Mosa, a spokesman for the Islamic State, says of Americans: “We will humiliate them everywhere, God willing, and we will raise the flag of Allah in the White House”:
While the Islamic State begins to threaten the United States, they continue on the attack in Iraq, threatening the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil. Azad Warda, an Erbil resident, spoke to Breitbart News of the situation on the ground there: “there is a lot of fighting going on around the area of Erbil between the Peshmerga and ISIS. There is a battle going on right now at Khazir checkpoint, towards Mosul.”
“Americans have started airstrikes in the area and also the Baghdad military. Things are changing to be with us in Kurdistan. We will find out what happens tonight,” he said.
He stated the morale is higher since America intervened. “The minorities,” he explained, “joined the fight with the Peshmerga in Qaraqosh. The Yazidis are protecting the families against ISIS. The civilians have joined the fight against ISIS.” Qaraqosh, previously the largest Christian town in Iraq, is now under ISIS control.
Warda supports further military intervention against ISIS:
The United States should interfere more into this war. There should be more airstrikes. ISIS is a big problem for the world, not only for Iraq. This group is completely out of their mind. They have people joining them coming from Germany and Norway; not only from Afghanistan, Tunisia, Syria but Europe. They are coming to join ISIS against us. It is jihad, it is what they believe.
When asked what will happen if ISIS does take Erbil, he said the “people will fight, I will fight.” He said that the problem is the families and providing protection for them: “If we can take the families to a safe place, then the civilians will fight. If they want to take over Erbil, all the young men will fight. We will have to fight. Where can we go? Can we go to the mountains and die from hunger?”
He stated that he believes that there are members Saddam Hussein’s regime fighting with ISIS because they know the territory. “The ISIS groups have high military members of the previous regime of Saddam Hussein with them, because it is not possible to know the area as they do, foreigners wouldn’t know what they know.”
The Christians and minorities in Iraq are on the brink of genocide and have been crying out to the international community for help. ISIS is not only a threat for Iraq, but poses a direct national security threat to the United States. President Obama has taken a good first step in authorizing airstrikes, but needs to do more to defeat ISIS. The Peshmerga military is a strong fighting force, but they have limited weapons and equipment. The United States can support the Peshmerga with military equipment and weapons without putting boots on the ground.
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