I will admit to initially brushing off reports of ISIS directly attacking Baghdad.  It just doesn’t make strategic sense -even for a terrorist group- for them to bog down in such a metropolitan geography with the citizen majority against them.
However, considering the aspect of unconventional warfare, there is some serious PR value in cutting off Baghdad from the outside world and slowly eating away at their capability to maintain stability.
ISIS now controls the rivers and dams upstream which feed into, and maintain, the Baghdad water supply.   And this recent video shows ISIS moving -what appear to be- Iraqi “Type 59” field artillery guns toward the outer perimeter of Baghdad central.

Does anyone know what the effective range on these are ?   I count about 8 of them in the segment of the convoy recorded.  Generally, they would be used in a battery of four, with intermittent fire toward a singular objective.   But who knows….

VP/Kerry/Hagel/Holder/McDonough/Rice/Podesta/Power/Eggleston/Clapper/Brennan/Dempsey/Winnefeld/Blinken/Monaco/Rhodes/McGurk/Beecroft

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 17, 2014

• Vice President Joe Biden
• Sec. of State John Kerry
• Sec. of Defense Chuck Hagel
• Attorney General Eric Holder
• Chief of Staff Denis “fixer” McDonough
• Senior White House Foreign Policy Advisor Susan Rice
• Senior Advisor to the President John “skippy” Podesta  (representing Hillary Clinton’s interests)
• UN Ambassador Samantha Power
• White House Chief Legal Counsel Neil Eggleston
• Direction of National Security James Clapper
• Director of CIA John Brennan
• Chairman of Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey
• Vice-Chair Joint Chiefs Admiral James Winnefeld
• National Security Advisor Tony Blinkin
• Asst. To the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco
• White House Communications Director Ben Rhodes
• Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iraq and Afghanistan, National  Security Council Brett McGurk
• U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Robert Stephen Beecroft

That's the list of who was in POTUS's Iraq options meeting tonight.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 17, 2014

WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama told Congress on Monday the United States was deploying up to 275 military personnel to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the country’s embassy in Baghdad after militants seized control of the north of the country.

“This force is deploying for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property, if necessary, and is equipped for combat,” Obama said in a letter to lawmakers. “This force will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed.”   The president said he was notifying Congress under the War Powers Resolution (read more)

I guess Donilon, McDonough, Blinkin and Rhodes don’t have as much political confidence as they did with the Libyan R2P fiasco.  Then again, I’ve never been able to figure out the filter they use for application of the “Responsibility To Protect” doctrine…. 

Remember what we shared before? CLICK HERE

Sometimes you just have to shake your head:

U.S. and Iran hold “very brief discussions” about Iraq and ISIS threat, State Department spokeswoman tells CNN. http://t.co/vE9Sr9IDMn

— CNN International (@cnni) June 16, 2014

State Official emphatic that US won't engage in military coordination or strategic determinations with Iran about Iraq’s future.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 16, 2014

To round up the basic positioning taking place within the U.S. administration vis-a-vi Iraq, it’s useful to look at similarly minded influential ideologues in and out of the current administration.   Once you understand the mindset of the fellow travelers you can predict what the White House will do.

We start with Mike Morell, and his current position.

All Politics All The Time – Mike Morell was the CIA interim replacement for General Petraeus after Benghazi (and the affair that took Petraeus out of the picture with the help of FBI [Eric Holder]).   Morell is a like-minded fellow traveler to Clinton/Obama and currently under Clinton employ while working for CBS.  Morell was the sympathetic receipient of WH Communication Director Ben Rhodes evolutionary talking points around Benghazi and defender of all things Hillary during Senate Hearings.

Remember too – as you watch this – Morell’s Benghazi cohort, Ben Rhodes, is the brother to current CBS News President, David Rhodes.   In addition to his Clinton employment, David Rhodes (CBS) employs Morell as a Senior Security Analyst:

So there, we essentially have the framework outlined this morning for the current White House position.

So, is that indeed the message the day delivers? (more…)

There is a MASSIVE amount of speculation about the actual capability of ISIS to engage effectively in combat operations.

It is prudent to pause for a moment.

While we certainly don’t know the composition of the forces that might now be aligned with ISIS, it’s a bit of a stretch to say they would be capable of effectively using advanced technological military weaponry; the key word is “effectively”.

(more…)

Unconfirmed reports are surfacing that Baghdad International Airport is under attack from ISIS elements close to the city.

https://twitter.com/UmarAbuAbd/statuses/478342440076967936

If ISIS is indeed striking the Baghdad Airport, it would be yet another jaw dropping revelation.

It would be prudent to be skeptical and cautious without actual western media present to confirm such reports.

Between 50 and 100 U.S. Marines and U.S. Army personnel have arrived at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, official says. http://t.co/rZhsP1J2p3

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) June 15, 2014

Nero fiddles…

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — President Barack Obama is spending a long Father’s Day weekend in the California desert oasis of Rancho Mirage.

The president and first lady arrived at the Palm Springs airport Friday night after visiting an Indian reservation earlier in the day.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, are greeted on the tarmac by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., second from left, and her husband Stewart Boxer, left, as they arrive on Friday, June 13, 2014, in Palm Springs, Calif.

They are staying with White House decorator Michael Smith and his partner, U.S. Ambassador to Spain James Costos, at their vacation home. (more…)

Alarming to YOU, but not necessarily to the White House fundraising team headed to Palm Springs.

Against the videos of thousands of Iraqi troops being road-marched by ISIS islamists fighters, new reports outline 1,700 of them may have ended with a mass execution:

Screenshot official ISIS account that claims they executed 1700 Shiite soldiers. They surrendered in #Tikrit ystrdy pic.twitter.com/7QyMnEuAAo

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 13, 2014

Additionally WND is reporting the U.S. security contractors in Baland Air Force Base are surrounded by thousands of the islamists and are fighting them amid the chaos. (more…)