Terrorist capture fallujah

[Aegis DDG]

In Fallujah, where Marines fought the bloodiest battle of the Iraq war in 2004, the militants appeared to have the upper hand, underscoring the extent to which the Iraqi security forces have struggled to sustain the gains made by U.S. troops before they withdrew in December 2011.


The upheaval also affirmed the soaring capabilities of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the rebranded version of the al-Qaeda in Iraq organization that was formed a decade ago to confront U.S. troops and expanded into Syria last year while escalating its activities in Iraq. Roughly a third of the 4,486 U.S. troops killed in Iraq died in Anbar trying to defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq, nearly 100 of them in the November 2004 battle for control of Fallujah, the site of America’s bloodiest confrontation since the Vietnam War.


Events Friday suggested the fight may have been in vain.


“At the moment, there is no presence of the Iraqi state in Fallujah,” said a local journalist who asked not to be named because he fears for his safety. “The police and the army have abandoned the city, al-Qaeda has taken down all the Iraqi flags and burned them, and it has raised its own flag on all the buildings.”


At Friday prayers , held outdoors and attended by thousands of people, a masked ISIS fighter took the podium and addressed the crowd, declaring the establishment of an “Islamic emirate” in Fallujah and promising to help residents fight the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Iranian allies.

 

[flamer84]

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WTF is the Army doing ? They take whole cities now ?

 

[Basel]

How they were able to take over whole city??

 

[Aegis DDG]

:|

WTF is the Army doing ? They take whole cities now ?

Yep. Not only that! They lost control of nearly most of anbar province and Ramadi. The same place hundreds of US marines lost their lives It's virtually lawless.

 

[Afghan-India]

How they were able to take over whole city??

The army was ordered to leave the area, so normal civil order could be done by the police, but in less than 2 days rebel had captured the whole area.

And now the Army are desperately trying to retake those areas, without luck.

Very bad situation

 

[Basel]

@Afghan-India: but most major cities have some military or para military units in or around them and Iraq is facing insurgency, did they don't have these in or around cities??

 

[Afghan-India]

@Afghan-India: but most major cities have some military or para military units in or around them and Iraq is facing insurgency, did they don't have these in or around cities??

Those cities are pretty close to Baghdad, where many permanent army bases are located.
so the army was ordered to leave their camps close to those cities, and move back to major bases.

They didn't expect that it would go wrong.

 

[flamer84]

Yep. Not only that! They lost control of nearly most of anbar province and Ramadi. The same place hundreds of US marines lost their lives It's virtually lawless.

Just a couple of days ago the iraki members were saying how the Army is cleaning the country and now this.

Bring on the Abrams,those russian choppers !

 

[Basel]

Those cities are pretty close to Baghdad, where many permanent army bases are located.
so the army was ordered to leave their camps close to those cities, and move back to major bases.
They didn't expect that it would go wrong.

Then this is major intelligence failure.

 

[Afghan-India]

Just a couple of days ago the iraki members were saying how the Army is cleaning the country and now this.

Bring on the Abrams,those russian choppers !

Some heavy bombardment with Hellfire is already going on, but it doesn't seems like that the army are progressing in their struggels

 

[Aegis DDG]

Just a couple of days ago the iraki members were saying how the Army is cleaning the country and now this.

Bring on the Abrams,those russian choppers !

Unlike the Americans who were largely seen as neutral in the sectarian divisions in Iraq, the IAF would be seen as Malki's own 'shia gangs' and gives the terrorist good legitimacy to the fullajah public to fight back. I doubt the Iraqi army would get it back, for Christ sake, the terrorist are parading in public

Some heavy bombardment with Hellfire is already going on, but it doesn't seems like that the army are progressing in their struggels

If it took the US marines hundreds of sorties from AH-1Z helios to even B1-A bomber with JDAMs to clear the city of insurgents, how will an bunch of Turboprops with Hellfires deal with this scenario? And we are talking dealing not only terrorist but an hostile population!

 

[flamer84]

Unlike the Americans who were largely seen as neutral in the sectarian divisions in Iraq, the IAF would be seen as Malki's own 'shia gangs' and gives the terrorist good legitimacy to the fullajah public to fight back. I doubt the Iraqi army would get it back, for Christ sake, the terrorist are parading in public


If it took the US marines hundreds of sorties from AH-1Z helios to even B1-A bomber with JDAMs to clear the city of insurgents, how will an bunch of Turboprops with Hellfires deal with this scenario? And we are talking dealing not only terrorist but an hostile population!

And about a month of heavy fighting in the 2nd Battle for Fallujah....it's going to be a nightmare

What it saddens me the most is the futility of it all,so many lives lost for that city only to see the vermin back in full strenght in it.

 

[Afghan-India]

If it took the US marines hundreds of sorties from AH-1Z helios to even B1-A bomber with JDAMs to clear the city of insurgents, how will an bunch of Turboprops with Hellfires deal with this scenario? And we are talking dealing not only terrorist but an hostile population!

I think we can agree on that the situation is critical

 

[Aegis DDG]

And about a month of heavy fighting in the 2nd Battle for Fallujah....it's going to be a nightmare

What it saddens me the most is the futility of it all,so many lives lost for that city only to see the vermin back in full strenght in it.

It's really sad to be honest. All those Marines died for an vein cause. They only possible way of saving Iraq is that the US Air force decides to an modern version of Operation Backliner II (This time with Percision weapons like SLAM-ER)

I think we can agree on that the situation is critical

It's all because of what's happening in Syria. The border region is lawless..

 

[500]

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WTF is the Army doing ? They take whole cities now ?

Iraqi army <<<<<<< US army. Very unprofessional.