Zombie Saddam is back in his Sunni pan-Islamism mufti and
Open Carry Iraq seems to be supporting him with 30,000 regular Iraqi Army troops fleeing 800 ISIL fighters. This offensive continues unrest from 2013 except with greater involvement of Syrian elements of the ISIS and has displaced nearly 500,000 civilians heading away from the conflict area as the militants move toward Shite shrines and Baghdad.
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri has been pointed out as one of the main commanders responsible for successful take over of North Iraq and the city of Mosul in June 2014 by rebel groups
As the dimensions of the assault began to become clear, it was evident that a number of militant groups had joined forces, including Ba'athist military commanders from the Hussein era, whose goal is to rout the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. One of the Baathists, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, was a top military commander and a vice president in the Hussein government and one of the few prominent Ba'athists to evade capture by the Americans throughout the occupation.
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Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have overrun a succession of major towns and cities over the last week and are closing in on Baghdad. The IOM, which is based in Geneva, said its sources on the ground estimate 40,000 people have fled militant-held Tikrit and Samarra, which has come under a series of attacks and where militants were gathering Friday for a new attempt to take the city. The latest figure adds to the half a million people the IOM estimate to have fled Iraq's second city, Mosul, after it was overrun Tuesday. "Insecurity is spreading across the whole of Iraq and we forsee a protracted humanitarian crisis," IOM emergency coordinator in Baghdad, Mandie Alexander, said in a statement.Spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume also stressed the volatility of the situation. "People are on the move and most of them are fleeing the fighting," she told reporters in Geneva. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay expressed alarm Friday at reports the militants were carrying out summary executions and extrajudicial killings, and said hundreds had likely been killed and thousands injured in the violence.
The State Department said in January that it had about 5,500 contractors, including 2,000 U.S. citizens, working at the Embassy in Baghdad, according to a Foreign Policy report. Roughly 200 U.S. Marines and private security contractors guard the embassy, according to a Checkpoint article. Pentagon officials have said that about 250 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, with about half of them being Marine Corps security guards for the embassy. Many of the others are there to advise the Iraqi military.
The Economist reported that "... ISIS may have up to 6,000 fighters in Iraq and 3,000-5,000 in Syria, including perhaps 3,000 foreigners; nearly a thousand are reported to hail from Chechnya and perhaps 500 or so more from France, Britain and elsewhere in Europe."
The National Council for the Awakening of Iraq (Arabic: المجلس الوطني لإنقاذ العراق Al-Majlis al-Waṭaniy li-Inqādh al-`Irāq), also known as the Sunni Awakening movement (Arabic: حركة الإنقاذ السني Ḥarakat al-Inqādh al-Sunniy) Anbar Awakening (Arabic: إنقاذ الأنبار Inqādh al-Anbār) or the Sons of Iraq (Arabic: أبناء العراق Abnā' al-`Irāq) program, are coalitions between tribal Sheikhs in a particular province in Iraq that unite to maintain security in their communities. These were initially sponsored by the US military....
By June 6, 2012, about 70,000 members of the group had been integrated into the Iraqi Security Forces or given civilian jobs, with 30,000 continuing to maintain checkpoints and being paid a salary by the government of around $300 per month. On January 29, 2013, Iraqi Shia-appointed officials said they would raise the salaries of Awakening Council fighters, the latest bid to appease Sunni anti-government rallies that erupted in December, 2012. Some 41,000 Awakening Council fighters are to receive 500,000 Iraqi dinars ($415) a month, up from 300,000 dinars ($250)
Had they gotten paid like US Contractors in Iraq perhaps robbing the Mosul bank of over $400 million might not have been quite so tempting
The ISIS routinely practiced extortion, such as demanding money from truck drivers and threatening to blow up businesses. This was one revenue stream; robbing banks and gold shops was another. During the battle of Mosul in June 2014, ISIS allegedly became the richest terror group in the world after looting $429 million USD from Mosul's central bank, according to the regional governor. A large quantity of gold bullion was also believed to have been stolen.It will “buy a whole lot of Jihad”, regional analyst Brown Moses wrote on Twitter. “For example, with $429 million, ISIS could recruit and pay 60,000 fighters around $600 a month for a year." French television channel France 24 reported that "The group receives funding via private donations from the Gulf states." In an interview with France 24, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of openly funding the ISIS.
(2007) Nearly 80,000-strong, paid by the Pentagon, and independent of the Iraqi government, these Sunni "awakening councils" are largely made up of former insurgents who have turned their guns on al Qaeda....
"You see Sunnis, who once fought side by side with al Qaeda against coalition troops, now fighting side by side with coalition troops against al Qaeda," Bush added. The militiamen are being lionized on Iraqi television.
We certainly need GW Bush to paint us a picture of how they're now being lionized.