Aug 11 2014
Understanding the US Bombing Campaign in Northern Iraq
Three days after announcing a two pronged operation to attack the militant group ISIS in order to slow its advance across Northern Iraq, President Obama addressed the press on Saturday saying the operations has been successful so far.
As ISIS has marched across Northern Iraq, taking over one town after another, it has overrun the town of Sinjar, home of an ethnic minority called the Yazidi people, reportedly executing dozens of men, and kidnapping their wives. About 40,000 people from that town who took refuge on the Sinjar mountain, were apparently facing starvation and thirst, and it is their fate that the White House cited in justifying air strikes.
Kurdish forces have now reportedly used the cover of the US airstrikes to rescue 20,000 survivors. And, AP is reporting that the US is directly providing them with arms.
ISIS has also attacked Iraq’s largest Christian town Qaraqosh with 50,000 primarily Christian Iraqis, who were given the choice to convert to Islam or be killed. Many ancient Christian monuments and documents have also been destroyed. Overall, about 200,000 Iraqis have been displaced from their homes overall.
After rumors that ISIS had taken over Iraq’s largest dam, reports now confirm it is indeed true. The Mosul dam, which the US had helped to repair during its occupation, provides water and electricity to a large portion of Iraq.
GUEST: Dahr Jamail, award winning journalist, staff writer for Truthout, was among the few independent reporters who was in Iraq during the US’s initial assault in 2003. His new book about Iraq co-authored with William Rivers Pitt is just out today, called The Mass Destruction of Iraq: The Disintegration of a Nation: Why It Is Happening, and Who Is Responsible
Click here to find out more about Jamail’s new book.
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