U.S. to Evacuate Many Staff Members From Baghdad Embassy

ERBIL, Iraq — The American Embassy in Baghdad plans to evacuate a substantial number of its personnel this week in the face of a militant advance that rapidly swept from the north toward the capital, the State Department announced on Sunday.

The embassy, a beige fortress on the banks of the Tigris River within the heavily-secured Green Zone, where Iraqi government buildings are also located, has the largest staff of any United States Embassy.

The exact number of people being evacuated was not clear Sunday. The embassy would remain open, a person familiar with the planning said, and much of its staff of about 5,500 would stay in Baghdad. The American government is expected to call the move a relocation, suggesting that it is a temporary precaution, the person said.

Other Americans in Iraq, particularly contractors working for companies that had been training the Iraqi military on weapons systems purchased from the United States, have already been evacuated from the country.

U.S. to Evacuate Many Staff Members From Baghdad Embassy

It was obvious this was coming but if the terrorists get ahold of this embassy they are set!

en.wikipedia.org...

The embassy has extensive housing and infrastructure facilities in addition to the usual diplomatic buildings. The buildings include:[8]
Six apartment buildings for employees
Water and waste treatment facilities
A power station
Two "major diplomatic office buildings"
Recreation, including a gym, cinema, several tennis courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool
The complex is heavily fortified, even by the standards of the Green Zone. The details are largely secret, but it is likely to include a significant US Marine Security Guard detachment. Fortifications include deep security perimeters, buildings reinforced beyond the usual standard, and five highly guarded entrances.

Cost almost a billion dollars so lets hope it can fend off invaders.

The cities being taken over in Iraq by ISIS hit the news overnight. It's like nobody saw this coming, so no plans were made as to a course of action, which has me totally baffled.
The NSA knows where J.Q .Public is, who they talk to on the phone, complete internet history, health & bank records, how often they eat- yet they were oblivious to the build-up of these events?

Maybe it's time to stop looking at what they WANT us to look at, and figure out what they're trying to distract us from.

LOL

www.ibtimes.com...

When 800 insurgents approached Iraq's second-biggest city on Wednesday, they were able to strike such fear in residents that two divisions of 30,000 Iraqi soldiers fled in panic, dropping their uniforms and weapons. The militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, roamed the streets of Mosul freely, grabbing weapons from the main army base, freeing hundreds of prisoners from the city's jails and even stealing $480 million from banks. Since then, these fighters have overtaken several other cities in northwestern Iraq, including Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.

This kind of sounds like a good slapstick comedy movie. Hot Shots Part Tree?

A band of rebels come running over the hill and 30,000 military men flee in terror, then they go romp naked in 480 million doing the best scrooge mcDuck impression they can muster.

a reply to: boncho

What do you expect from guys who can't even do a jumping jack?

ETA: Iraq is either a lost cause or a long term occupation for the West... decision time, are we going back?

The terrorist continue to move closer...


IRAQ: ISIL MILITANTS EXTEND GRIP IN DIYALA, FALLUJAH
www.dailysabah.com...

BAGHDAD – Armed ISIL militants captured new towns and villages in Iraq's Diyala province on Saturday, according to a local official in the governorate. "Earlier this morning, armed groups led by the self-claimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have extended their grip in many regions and villages in the north of Diyala," Ahmed Alzercochem, mayor of the Saadia region, told Anadolu Agency.

If they can somehow capture Americans in Iraq, imagine what they could negotiate for with the Obama administration?

All prisoners at Guantanamo?

The complete unconditional surrender of Iraq to their control and rule, and guarantees that the USA will stay out of the region?

$500 BILLION?

Yeah, without US military on the ground in Iraq in significant numbers, and assets in the region, they would be wise to evacuate every American in Iraq immediatly.

a reply to: boncho

Cue Benny Hill soundtrack?

Just goes to show ya how these terrorist are winning the mind war in Iraq, aka FEAR. Makes sense since they've been bombing the hell out of Iraq for years now killing thousands upon thousands of people.

www.cnn.com...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered Saturday that Iraqi troops stand up to the militants -- an order that came after, and in light of, Iraqi security forces completely collapsing when militants assaulted Mosul.

"Samarra will be the starting point, the gathering station of our troops to cleanse every inch that was desecrated by footsteps of those traitors," al-Maliki said in broadcast remarks.

On Sunday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that some U.S. security personnel will be added to the staff at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and other staff members will be temporarily relocated to consular offices in Basra and Irbil and to the Iraq Support Unit in Amman, Jordan.

a reply to: ausername

That is exactly what I was thinking about, the sky is the limit now that the terrorist knows that we have a weak president that will do anything to negotiate with them.

One thing that nobody seems to understand is that it was not only 5 terrorist for 1 American, it was also money involved even if the government didn't acknowledge that littler fact.

thank goodness

let iraq fall; hopefully it splits into the 3 seperate countries/governments it was before ww1 (though to be fair at that time it was part of the ottoman empire)

a reply to: LadySkadi

It's a lost cause. These guys will recruit from locals, they have seized assets, they are well organized, and better armed, funded and supplied now...

Any attempt to retake Iraq would have to involve ground forces at some point, and by the time they mobilize and move in, you can expect high losses of American soldiers...

It has to be all or nothing... We could lose more in a month there, than in the years there before...

IMO

a reply to: marg6043

The group they negotiated with are all about money and drug dealing... They had no interest in the Taliban, or the detainees at Guantanamo.

You are wise Marg.

It will all come out eventually... We hope.

IMO

a reply to: boncho

Jesus!

800 VS 30,000!!! And they ran away?

They didnt even have the decency to blow their base and weapons up on their way out!?!?!?

Now 30,000 weapons, a military base full of APCs, munitions, gear, aircraft, and god knows what else is in insurgent hands?!?!

I bet you its all bought and paid for by the US. We will have paid for the bullets being shot at our guys in the near future.

Please, dont give them guns every again. Iraq is not capable of wiping their butt.

This is pathetic.

EDIT TO ADD:
And they robbed the banks...I wonder how many years of soldiering a couple hundred million will buy?

This was freaking christmas for them!

originally posted by: LadySkadi
a reply to: boncho

What do you expect from guys who can't even do a jumping jack?

ETA: Iraq is either a lost cause or a long term occupation for the West... decision time, are we going back?

These are the people that were covertly armed (by the US) to create a civil war in Syria.
Not sure if turning around and attacking Iraq was also planned by US intelligence or if it just happened because they got bogged down in Syria and decided on a weaker target. I am sure that most of what we've been seeing is part of a much larger nefarious plan. All across the middle east, US intelligence has helped the most radical islamists overthrow governments.

originally posted by: pirhanna

originally posted by: LadySkadi
a reply to: boncho

What do you expect from guys who can't even do a jumping jack?

ETA: Iraq is either a lost cause or a long term occupation for the West... decision time, are we going back?

These are the people that were covertly armed (by the US) to create a civil war in Syria.
Not sure if turning around and attacking Iraq was also planned by US intelligence or if it just happened because they got bogged down in Syria and decided on a weaker target. I am sure that most of what we've been seeing is part of a much larger nefarious plan. All across the middle east, US intelligence has helped the most radical islamists overthrow governments.

If what you say is true, apparently the "Arab spring" just went through the seat cushion and into the president's rear end.

Ouch.

This administration doesn't have a good track record with embassy staff.

Just sayin'

Oddly enough it will be the Iranians that clean up this mess in Iraq. That will result in Iraq being placed firmly in the Iranian camp. A double barrelled headache for the U.S. and other western countries.

With the U.S. being totally emasculated and humiliated in the ME by their blunders and losses, it will be up to the German led EU to bring the area under control. With a belligerent Russia to the north and an increasingly unstable ME to their south, the EU must and will militarise.

The EU must secure energy supplies. Do they trust and rely solely on Russian energy? Or do they and their ME allies, Saudia Arabia, Lebanon, Israel, attack and subdue the Iranians and their proxies and bring the area under EU (German) control.

Now that the U.S. has had its arse firmly kicked, only three powers have the might to bring the ME back under control: Russia; China; or the EU + ME allies.

As stated above it will be the EU need for a stable energy supply (one that they can control) that will force the above senario upon them.

IT will be split into 3 countries more than likely.

This reminds me of something that happened in 1975.

History does repeat itself, why haven't we learned our lesson.

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: ausername

That is exactly what I was thinking about, the sky is the limit now that the terrorist knows that we have a weak president that will do anything to negotiate with them.

All presidents and other governments have been making these payment to terror groups for ages, it's just something they don't like to publicly disseminate and also something they publicly state, they don't do.

All that means is any payments will end up "classified".

SOURCE

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said Wednesday his government estimates that over the last three years more than $70 million has been provided to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups from ransom paid to kidnappers.

Lyall Grant said he circulated a draft resolution to council members Tuesday calling on the 193 U.N. member states "to prevent terrorists from benefiting directly or indirectly from ransom payments."

A U.N. resolution adopted weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States already bans all countries from financing terrorism.

Heck, before 9.11 they didn't even have anything on the books to discourage this sort of thing...

a reply to: triune

An Iranian takeover of Iraq should be no more desirable than the current Sunni led mob taking over now.

The Saudis will not let that happen, Iran needs to stay out. It could lead to escalating tensions that could lead to a much broader war and conflict the western would will not be able to stay out of.

Iran eyes Iraq with a similar evil intent to the Sunni rebels.

Then again, there may be no stopping this madness now.

imo