Why we are bombing ISIS in Erbil....

[dixiegrrrrl]

Erbil is the capital of the oil-endowed Kurdish Regional Government, in northern Iraq.There the United States built political alliances and equipped Kurdish peshmerga militias long before the Bush Administration’s invasion of Iraq, in 2003. Since 2003, it has been the most stable place in an unstable country. But last week, well-armed guerrillas loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, threatened Erbil’s outskirts, forcing Obama’s momentous choice. (The President also ordered air operations to deliver humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of Yazidis and other non-Muslim minorities stranded on remote Mount Sinjar. A secure Kurdistan could provide sanctuary for those survivors.)

“The Kurdish region is functional in the way we would like to see,” Obama explained during a fascinating interview with Thomas Friedman published on Friday. “It is tolerant of other sects and other religions in a way that we would like to see elsewhere. So we do think it is important to make sure that that space is protected.”

All true and convincing, as far as it goes. Kurdistan is indeed one of a handful of reliable allies of the United States in the Middle East these days. Its economy has boomed in recent years, attracting investors from all over and yielding a shiny new international airport and other glistening facilities. Of course, in comparison to, say, Jordan or the United Arab Emirates, Kurdistan has one notable deficit as a staunch American ally: it is not a state. Nor is it a contented partner in the construction of Iraqi national unity, which remains the principal project of the Obama Administration in Iraq. In that light, Obama’s explanation of his casus belli seemed a little incomplete.

Obama’s advisers explained to reporters that Erbil holds an American consulate, and that “thousands” of Americans live there. The city has to be defended, they continued, lest ISIS overrun it and threaten American lives. Fair enough, but why are thousands of Americans in Erbil these days? It is not to take in clean mountain air.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/oil-erbil

Article written by Steve Coll, who knows his stuff.
2005: Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2000

[msongs]

1. gee maybe the oil coporations could pay for their own security forces nt

[Dems to Win]

2. Gotta protect that CIA drone base in Erbil

Here's a link to a July news story from McClatchy

Expansion of ‘secret’ facility in Iraq suggests closer U.S.-Kurd ties
BY MITCHELL PROTHERO
McClatchy Foreign Staff
July 11, 2014

IRBIL, IRAQ — A supposedly secret but locally well-known CIA station on the outskirts of Irbil’s airport is undergoing rapid expansion as the United States considers whether to engage in a war against Islamist militants who’ve seized control of half of Iraq in the past month.

Western contractors hired to expand the facility and a local intelligence official confirmed the construction project, which is visible from the main highway linking Irbil to Mosul, the city whose fall June 9 triggered the Islamic State’s sweep through northern and central Iraq. Residents around the airport say they can hear daily what they suspect are American drones taking off and landing at the facility.

snip

Peshmerga forces already are manning checkpoints and bunkers to protect the facility, which sits just a few hundred yards from the highway.

“Within a week of the fall of Mosul we were being told to double or even triple our capacities,” said one Western logistics contractor who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he’d signed nondisclosure agreements with the U.S. government on the matter.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/11/233126/expansion-of-secret-facility-in.html#storylink=cpy

[Thinkingabout]

3. My question would be is why is ISIS in Erbil?

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Kurds.

ISIS is attacking anyone/anyplace that is not ISIS, essentially.
In Iraq the Kurds have won an independent state, and are pro-western. Good enough reason for ISIS to be targeting them.

Starting next Monday, there is supposed to be a big conference in Erbil,,
Thousands of people are there for oil and gas business.

Here is the blurb:

We are pleased to announce that 4th Erbil International Oil & Gas Exhibition will be organized in Erbil, Iraq on April 21-25, 2015. The event, officially supported by the Ministry of Oil will be held at the Erbil International Fair Ground which is one of the largest energy related events in Iraq and 4th Erbil Oil & Gas is the only sectoral event approved by UFI in northern region of Iraq.

3rd Erbil Oil & Gas Exhibition concluded on the 21st April 2015 with 50 exhibitors and 5000 visitor numbers. This was one of the massive events of Northern Iraq region dealing with oil and gas sectors. 3rd Erbil International Oil and Gas Exhibition hosted professional traders and delegates as trade visitors. Government associates, engineers and decision makers from natural oil company, construction sector, engineering construction & contracting services, financial services, project consultancy, repair services, trade associations, transportation, storage & handling came to the show in large numbers. For both regional and international companies, this exhibition provided a platform to assess the products and technologies available to local companies.

http://www.erbiloilgas.com/#