via Daily Mail.
Iraqi troops are losing control of one of the country's major oil refineries to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS, according to a U.S. official today.Read the entire story here.
The estimated 270 soldiers on the Baiji refinery are outnumbered and trapped as the battle raged on for a fourth day with up to 500 ISIS militants.
The terrorists plan to keep the soldiers isolated until the run out of food and ammunition, a U..S. source said.
An amphibious assault is the most difficult of military operations. An airborne assault comes a close second. Assaulting a fortified urban redoubt is also up there.
But relieving a beleaguered force that has been surrounded and cutoff has to rank high too.
Quite honestly it would take the audacity and skill of an Armored Brigade to get the job done and the Iraqis just don't have it. If previous results are predictors of future performance then these guys in the refinery are already dead....they just don't know it yet.
The bigger problem for western democracies, China and the world is that this will be the excuse that speculators will need to jack up oil prices to obscene levels.
Profits will be made but the world will be plunged into a recession.
ISIS has accomplished what AQ couldn't. They will have wrecked the world economy with one bold military operation. I hate the bastards but I have to admire the audacity of this plan...the execution and the skill that they've demonstrated on the battlefield.
I might have called them Haji in the past....but after this performance its Mr. Haji. Once again we learn an age old lesson. You don't have to like your enemy, but if they demonstrate skill you must respect them.
