WH Says Yazidi Crisis Over, No Need for Military Intervention

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Wed Aug 13, 2014 at 09:56:34 PM EST
Tags: ISIS, Iraq, Yazidis (all tags)

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Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, says the new military advisers who went to Sinjar have found the crisis is over. Military assistance (as opposed to humanitarian assistance) is not needed.

The Obama administration has ruled out for now a risky US military mission to rescue thousands of Iraqis stranded on a northern Iraqi mountain, declaring a siege by Islamist extremists to be over. ...Kirby said in a statement that the team on Mount Sinjar found a situation less dire than the administration and international organizations initially thought when the US sent its warplanes back to Iraq for the first time since 2011.

“There are far fewer Yazidis on Mount Sinjar than previously feared,” Kirby said, crediting “the success of the humanitarian air drops, air strikes on [Isis] targets, the efforts of the Peshmerga [Kurdish guerillas] and the ability of thousands of Yazidis to evacuate from the mountain each night over the last several days”.

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WH Says Yazidi Crisis Over, No Need for Military Intervention | 2 comments (2 topical)

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Why is it always (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Aug 13, 2014 at 10:10:14 PM EST

Foreign press that reports on this? Good news. Let's hope the news stays good. The story said evacuation might still be necessary at some point.

It is good news. (5.00 / 3) (#2)
by KeysDan on Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 11:38:56 AM EST

For the Yazidi Kurds targeted by ISIS, of course. But, also, in the sense of possibly avoiding broader US military involvement and another quagmire with no exit. In addition, we should be reminded not only of media hysteria, but also, other humanitarian pretexting agendas.

Neoocon/right wing communications, just a day or two ago, were claiming tragedies that had already come to pass: It was already too late and the president was golfing. The blog, 'The Thinker', for example, headlined that an unnamed Iraqi General said that 70 perent of Yazidis on Mount Sinjar were dead, although the article reported that 70 percent will die. A difference that was underestimated.

The Guardian link provided, while joining in the joy of the good news, allows that the issue of "mission creep" needs to be defended by the Administration.

One question arises in my mind as to the intelligence being deployed in the decision-making process. The terrain of Mount Sinjar is a big rocky hill that should allow for drone-based intelligence gathering to determine the difference between thousands and tens of thousands of people. And, human intelligence on the ground, should be able to augment or vet aerial sources.

The possibility of a re-entry and re-start of an Iraq War III needs truthful and cowboy-free discussion. Indeed, there has been more discussion of this matter on Talk Left than by the vacationing or non-vactioning (it is hard to tell the difference) Congress. This is a time in which the doctrine "don't do stupid s$$t," should be our organizing principle.