ISIS claims to have taken Ramadi

[txradioguy]

The Islamic State terror group claimed that it had seized control of the city of Ramadi Sunday in what would be the biggest loss for Iraqi forces since the beginning of U.S. airstrikes targeting extremists this past September.

The Associated Press reported that Iraqi forces had dropped their weapons and fled their positions in an apparent reprise of the fall of Mosul, which catapulted the group commonly known as ISIS into the international spotlight last summer.

Bodies, some burned, littered the streets as local officials reported the militants carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians. Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment speeding out of Ramadi, with soldiers gripping onto their sides.

Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Anbar, said Monday that around 500 civilians and Iraqi soldiers are estimated to have been killed over the last few days, while approximately 8,000 had fled the city. He said the figure is in addition to the enormous exodus in April, when the U.N. said as many as 114,000 residents fled from Ramadi and surrounding villages at the height of the violence.

"Ramadi has fallen," Haimour had told AP Sunday. "The city was completely taken. ... The military is fleeing."

"Ramadi has been contested since last summer and ISIL now has the advantage," Navy Commander Elissa Smith, using another acronym for ISIS, said late Sunday. "We have always known the fight would be long and difficult, particularly in Anbar [province]."

Smith said that the U.S. would continue to support Iraqi forces with airstrikes and added, "The loss of Ramadi does not mean the tide of the campaign has turned, and we have long said that there would be ebbs and flows on the battlefield. If lost, that just means the coalition will have to support Iraqi forces to take it back later."

Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in South Korea, called Ramadi a "target of opportunity" for extremists, but said he was confident that ISIS' gains could be reversed in the coming days. Kerry also said that he's long said the fight against the militant group would be a long one, and that it would be tough in the Anbar province of western Iraq where Iraqi security forces are not built up.

The U.S.-led coalition said Sunday it had conducted seven airstrikes in Ramadi in the last 24 hours. "It is a fluid and contested battlefield," said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. "We are supporting (the Iraqis) with air power."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/05/18/iraqi-premier-dont-abandon-anbar-to-isis/

[RayRaytheSBS]

This pisses me off. We fought hard there in 2006. And when we left, it was in a better state than it was when we got there. The Iraqis and the especially the Sunnis felt empowered.

Now all those gains, all those sacrifices, all of it is gone. If Daesh did take this city, our senior chain of command needs to stop hemming and hawing and say we NEED boots on the ground if the administration is serious about fixing this.

The stupidity of the restrictions the administration and the Iraqis are placing on 'Operation Inherent Resolve' is why Daesh is making such gains.

[obumazombie]

Leave it to owebuma and Kerry to screw it up.
I'm surprised Mr. Swift Boat isn't testifying before congress about all the war crimes he has seen our fellow American heroes commit.
He is about as supportive of our military and our country as he was when he did appear and testify before congress.

[txradioguy]

Leave it to owebuma and Kerry to screw it up.
I'm surprised Mr. Swift Boat isn't testifying before congress about all the war crimes he has seen our fellow American heroes commit.
He is about as supportive of our military and our country as he was when he did appear and testify before congress.

He's to busy trotting around the world claiming man made global warming is a bigger threat to the world than radical Islam.

[Belle]

Ray:  "This pisses me off. We fought hard there in 2006....Now all those gains, all those sacrifices, all of it is gone."
I couldn't agree more.
It's beyond upsetting.
Honorable Americans died fighting that battle.  Many were wounded.
    http://mannaismayaadventure.com/2012/03/12/battle-of-ramadi-2006-part-of-the-iraq-war/

[RayRaytheSBS]

Ray:  "This pisses me off. We fought hard there in 2006....Now all those gains, all those sacrifices, all of it is gone."
I couldn't agree more.
It's beyond upsetting.
Honorable Americans died fighting that battle.  Many were wounded.
    http://mannaismayaadventure.com/2012/03/12/battle-of-ramadi-2006-part-of-the-iraq-war/

Yep, That's the one. I remember us going up from the railroad bridge in the south after crossing the Euphrates to head towards where we were establishing COP Falcon. It was a horrible area, as the insurgents had had free run of it for 6 months. Which meant that we encountered stiff resistance.

Once COP Falcon was established (at the intersection of RTE Sunset and another route which I can't recall now off the top of my head, we were about 3 km south of the Anbar provincial Capital), we started patrolling in the city. We were in the officer's district of Ramadi, where some of Saddam's loyal officers had retired. It was challenging gaining their trust, for obvious reasons.

But around the time of August, the Sunni awakening took place, and things started to get better. By the time we left 3rd ID had a much better sector than when we started.

I distinctly recall on my last night in sector, A guard tower in one of the COP's to the northeast of us (COP Cobra IIRC) got hit by a mortar. Of the two guards who were in the tower, one had only been in sector for a few hours, the other was leaving the next day. It was so saddening to hear that.

This article actually sums up my feelings pretty succintly: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/06/fallujah-ramadi/4344011/  I believe the LTC Tedescoe (at the time) was battalion commander of 1/37 AR at the time in Ramadi. He, like me, think that the Iraqi Shias blew it when they didn't make  some concessions to the Sunnis and Kurds. And now we see the price of their arrogance. They will lose everything if they don't pull their heads out their fourth point of Contact (their butt for non-airborne personnel out there).

And now, to know that ALL that sacrifce was just wasted by the Oxygen-thieves we have in charge right now... Anger is a mild word for it.

[txradioguy]

Yep, That's the one. I remember us going up from the railroad bridge in the south after crossing the Euphrates to head towards where we were establishing COP Falcon. It was a horrible area, as the insurgents had had free run of it for 6 months. Which meant that we encountered stiff resistance.

Once COP Falcon was established (at the intersection of RTE Sunset and another route which I can't recall now off the top of my head, we were about 3 km south of the Anbar provincial Capital), we started patrolling in the city. We were in the officer's district of Ramadi, where some of Saddam's loyal officers had retired. It was challenging gaining their trust, for obvious reasons.

But around the time of August, the Sunni awakening took place, and things started to get better. By the time we left 3rd ID had a much better sector than when we started.

I distinctly recall on my last night in sector, A guard tower in one of the COP's to the northeast of us (COP Cobra IIRC) got hit by a mortar. Of the two guards who were in the tower, one had only been in sector for a few hours, the other was leaving the next day. It was so saddening to hear that.

This article actually sums up my feelings pretty succintly: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/06/fallujah-ramadi/4344011/  I believe the LTC Tedescoe (at the time) was battalion commander of 1/37 AR at the time in Ramadi. He, like me, think that the Iraqi Shias blew it when they didn't make  some concessions to the Sunnis and Kurds. And now we see the price of their arrogance. They will lose everything if they don't pull their heads out their fourth point of Contact (their butt for non-airborne personnel out there).

And now, to know that ALL that sacrifce was just wasted by the Oxygen-thieves we have in charge right now... Anger is a mild word for it.

You ready to mount up and retake that piece of real estate...again?   

[RayRaytheSBS]

You ready to mount up and retake that piece of real estate...again?   

Sadly Yes, I am.

[txradioguy]

Sadly Yes, I am.

Yeah me too.  Just afraid that I'll be one of those father/son or father/daughter serving together while deployed stories when we finally go back in and rid the place of ISIS.

[RayRaytheSBS]

Yeah me too.  Just afraid that I'll be one of those father/son or father/daughter serving together while deployed stories when we finally go back in and rid the place of ISIS.

I just don't want it to be something like this photo. But with this administration, anything is possible. Because 'at this point, what difference does it make'?