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Page added on August 18, 2014
Iraq Says It Is Retaking Mosul Dam
President Obama said Monday that Iraqi special forces, backed by American war planes, had retaken a strategically critical dam near Mosul, the latest in what he described as a string of positive steps in halting the march of Islamic extremists across the country.
“This operation demonstrates that Iraqi and Kurdish forces are capable of working together to take the fight to ISIL,” Mr. Obama said in remarks in the White House briefing room, using the acronym for the Sunni extremist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. “If that dam was breached, it could have proven catastrophic.”
Still, Mr. Obama said, “This is going to take time; there are going to be many challenges ahead.” He said that the American military campaign would continue for the foreseeable future.
The recapture of strategically important Mosul dam from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is the government’s most significant success against the Sunni militants since they began their sweep through northern Iraq more than two weeks ago.
In reclaiming the dam, the government is hoping to defuse what many here described as a ticking time bomb. The destruction of the facility — a critical source of electricity for Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city — could have discharged a 65-foot wave of water that would have wiped out several areas of northern Iraq, including Mosul, and flooded areas as far south as Baghdad.
While there were no indications that the militants planned to use the dam as a weapon, according to Iraqi officials, the threat was enough to convince Washington to launch a concerted campaign of airstrikes to assist the joint effort.
American war planes and drones unleashed 35 airstrikes near the Mosul dam in the last two days, more than half of all the attacks conducted countrywide since President Obama authorized the use of military force on August 8th, the same day the dam fell to ISIS.
Mosul Dam
TUR
The rout of the ISIS forces, if confirmed, comes after a string of successes since the American military unleashed jet and drone attacks on the militants, stopping an advance that threatened the major Kurdish city of Erbil and the lives of thousands of Yazidi refugees. Now, the American intervention seems to be backstopping a major Kurdish effort to reclaim lost territory.
The strikes aimed around the city of Mosul and the dam have severely hampered the Sunni militants, reducing their freedom of movement and forcing them to retreat from areas they once dominated.
The smoke from what appeared to be fresh airstrikes was visible from the town of Badriya, northwest of the dam, where the pesh merga forces were running a checkpoint. More than a dozen armored personnel carriers full of Kurdish fighters came through, heading to the dam. The forces manning the checkpoint were on edge, forcing cars to turn back and even challenging the ability of pesh merga forces to enter the area.
A large truck passed through the checkpoint at midday from the direction of the dam and carrying more than two dozen metal cylinders, strewn with wires. Idris Mohammed, a Kurdish military officer, said they were bombs that Kurdish sappers, or military engineers, had removed from a village near the dam.
The airstrikes appeared to have forced the insurgents to flee, or at least to seek cover, and only light clashes were reported as Kurdish forces approached the dam. As a result, hundreds of residents who had fled villages in the vicinity returned Monday, hoping to check on their homes. For the most part, though, they were turned back.
The dam is on the Tigris River, about 30 miles from Mosul. It is also a control point for the water supply for a larger area, and the seizure of the dam by the ISIS militants raised fears that a 65-foot wave of water could be released over northern Iraq.
10 Comments on "Iraq Says It Is Retaking Mosul Dam"
Plantagenet on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 4:38 pm
Obama boasted of achieving peace in our time in Iraq when he withdraw US forces from Iraq in 2011, and now Obama has decided to send hundreds of US troops back into Iraq and he is bombing Iraq again.
I wish he would make up his mind.
Northwest Resident on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 5:14 pm
TPTB in action. It looks like chaos, it smells like chaos. But behind the clouds of chaos, there are some very smart people pulling levers and pushing buttons.
Islamist State A Pretext For US-Sponsored Regime Change In Iraq
“The ousting of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is part of a broader US plan for Iraq and the Middle East as a whole. Against the backdrop of the war against the Islamic State, Washington has managed to kill two birds with one stone. Not only has the US removed a political leader who had proven to be problematic due to his opposition to US military presence in Iraq, as well as his staunch support for Syria and President Assad, they have also created the conditions for the dismemberment of the Iraqi state.
The US and its allies are supporting de facto ‘independence’ for the Kurdish region in the north of the country, using the IS as a convenient pretext for openly arming and supporting Kurdish forces. Naturally, one should not look for altruism in Washington’s motives. Rather, this strategy is to benefit western oil companies with dollar signs in their eyes, licking their lips in anticipation of being able to deal directly with Kurdish President Barzani. Additionally, Maliki’s ouster deprives Syrian President Assad of a key ally, thereby emboldening the IS and the other militants waging war against Syria. It provides further evidence, as if more were needed, that the political future is bleak for any Iraqi leader who dares to break from the script written for him by Washington.
Perhaps most importantly, it allows the US and its allies to be the leading force politically in the war against the IS, an organization created by US policy and covert operations in the region. In the sales and marketing industry, there is a term known as ‘solution selling’ whereby the salesperson either creates or exaggerates a problem, then presents his or her product as the invaluable solution.”
That is, IF you can believe RT.
h ttp://rt.com/op-edge/180544-iraq-us-syria-maliki/
Plantagenet on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 6:27 pm
@NWResident
Your suggestion that the Obama administration is simultaneously involved in covertly creating the Islamic State and in bombing the jihadi fighters of the Islamic State is pretty far out, even for you.
I grant you that the Obama administration is pretty stupid, but it isn’t stupid enough to bomb the same people they are covertly supporting.
JuanP on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 6:32 pm
An original perspective here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/18/did-iran-just-knife-putin-in-the-back/
JuanP on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 6:37 pm
The US wanted Maliki gone and now that he left they have no problem in assisting Baghdad on their fight with ISIS. I believe Iraq will remain broken indefinitely
redpill on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 7:52 pm
Juan, Maliki was in large part a cause of the problem. He basically told the more moderate Sunnis to go F themselves. And then, when push comes to shove, his “troops” totally fail.
To garden variety dimwits like plant, what the hell would you do if part of what got you elected to POTUS was your stated commitment to get us the F out of Iraq?
And when the Pres. finally tells us he’s going to do “a few” airstrikes he actually provides material support to what appear to be the only rational group of people in a country that has not had its shit together since the victors of WW1 created the “country”.
As an aside, the Brits don’t get near enough shit for the after effects of their tinkering with how borders were drawn.
Oh, and fuck the RT. A country that proposes people show ID before using WiFi at a café might be a touch biased in terms of media viewpoints.
MSN Fanboy on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 8:00 pm
Redpill, take your pills, calm down
Nony on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 8:09 pm
Not fair to blame Obama for Iraq. And I say that as a Repuke. Fair’s fair.
Northwest Resident on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 9:14 pm
Plant — Where in my post did I suggest that the Obama admin was doing anything? Answer: Nowhere. My post was more a question than a statement — is it possible, as the article I linked to asserts, that TPTB (for whom, Obama is a mere temp employee) is deliberately creating the chaos we see in Iraq to achieve the goals that the article talks about? I understand that you see Obama’s ghost under your bed, hiding in the closet, lurking around every corner — that’s your mindset. But I wasn’t talking about Obama’s admin at all, and either was the RT article I linked to. Obama is your obsession, not mine.
Makati1 on Mon, 18th Aug 2014 9:25 pm
With liar ‘O’ in charge, you can be sure that the MIC is licking it’s greedy lips, anticipating the coming world war and those billions in profits.
And, you can be sure that the Banksters will be profiting from BOTH sides.