Meanwhile, ISIS was busy conquering the city of Ramadi in Iraq. With a population of roughly half a million, Ramadi is one of Iraq's largest cities and is situated in a strategic location less than 70 miles from Baghdad.
So, U.S. officials are patting themselves on the back for the death of an easily replaceable oil trader, and ISIS is taking over entire cities, institutionalizing Sharia, and brainwashing the children of Iraq to become the next generation of jihadists. Does anyone see this ending well?
To understand jihad, watch this:CNN—The key Iraqi city of Ramadi fell to ISIS on Sunday after government security forces pulled out of a military base on the west side of the city, officials said.
Al Fateh Grand Mosque in Ramadi
The ISIS advances came after militants detonated a series of morning car bomb blasts, Mayor Dalaf al-Kubaisy and a high-ranking Iraqi security official said. The explosions forced Iraqi security forces and tribal fighters to retreat to the city's east, they said.
"This is a huge setback to Iraqi forces and to the U.S. strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIS," said Peter Mansoor, a retired U.S. Army colonel.
But Iraqi and U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, said the fight for Ramadi is far from over.
"It is possible to see the kind of attack we have in Ramadi, but I am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed," Kerry said during a visit to Seoul, South Korea, on Monday. "Large numbers of Daesh were killed in the last few days, and will be in the next days because that seems to be the only thing they understand."
Daesh is an Arabic acronym for ISIS, one that the terror group notoriously dislikes.
Clashes have raged in the beleaguered capital of Anbar province, Iraq's Sunni heartland, for months as Iraqi and allied forces battle ISIS militants for control of the strategically located city, which is just 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad. (Continue Reading.)
