Reuters
2/12/2015
Islamic State insurgents took control on Thursday of most of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, threatening an air base where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, officials said.
Al-Baghdadi, about 85 km (50 miles) northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, had been besieged for months by the radical Sunni Islamist militants who captured vast swathes of northern and western Iraq last year.
“Ninety percent of al-Baghdadi district has fallen under the control of the insurgents,” district manager Naji Arak told Reuters by phone.
Militants attacked al-Baghdadi from two directions earlier in the day and then advanced on the town, intelligence sources and officials in the Jazeera and Badiya operations commands said.
The officials said another group of insurgents then attacked the heavily-guarded Ain al-Asad air base five km southwest of the town, but were unable to break into it.
About 320 U.S. Marines are training members of the Iraqi 7th Division at the base, which has been struck by mortar fire on at least one previous occasion since December…
The article continues at Reuters.
Related: Megyn to State Dept. Spox: Why Was Embassy Evacuation So Hasty? (video)
Megyn Kelly tonight pressed State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki over this week’s evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Yemen.
Yesterday, the Marine Corps confirmed that crew served weapons were destroyed at the embassy, and Marines’ personal weapons were “rendered inoperable” at the airport. Houthi rebels also seized embassy vehicles after diplomats left.
“Why was the evacuation from the embassy so hasty when we knew things were deteriorating for weeks now?” Kelly asked, remarking that clearly something didn’t go according to plan.
Psaki insisted that the evacuation wasn’t hasty.
“We’ve been planning for weeks a range of contingency options,” she said.
Kelly questioned why Marines weren’t allowed to bring their guns on planes and asked who ordered Marines to disarm.
Psaki explained that Marines followed the proper protocol to disassemble weapons. She said the order was not given by the State Department or ambassador, but did not say who told Marines to disarm…
Krauthammer on Yemen: ‘This Is a Policy in Complete Collapse’ (video)
Charles Krauthammer tonight sounded off on the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Yemen, calling it “humiliating” on a tactical level.
“This is a policy in complete collapse,” Krauthammer said.
For four decades, the U.S. was the dominant power in the Middle East, Krauthammer explained.
“In these six years of Obama, that has evaporated,” he said…
Meanwhile, the President of the United States: He Probably Would Have “Quacked” Too – Only THIS White House Image Team Would Think This A Good Idea….
