Posted: 08/14/2014 at 10:30am | IP Logged

Trapped Iraqis May Wait in Vain for US Rescue

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CBN News

The United States has launched another airstrike on Islamic terrorists in northern Iraq. It's now far less likely, however, that the U.S. military will conduct any rescue and evacuation missions to help the Yazidi people trapped on Iraq's Sinjar Mountain.

In five days, the U.S. military has delivered more than 114,000 meals and more than 35,000 gallons of water to the displaced and desperate Yazidis.

But because the Pentagon said American military advisers on the mountain found far fewer refugees than expected, the United States may not do much more than that.

U.S. officials say the airdrops of food and water made a difference and that airstrikes on Islamic State targets allowed many of the Yazidis to escape.

On Wednesday, United Nations officials condemned reports of sexual violence by Islamic terrorists against women and children belonging to Iraqi minorities.

"They say they have received atrocious accounts on the abduction and detention of Yazidi, Christian, Turkomen, and Shabak women and girls and boys, and reports of savage rapes. Some 1,500 Yazidis and Christians may have been forced into sexual slavery," Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said.

Meanwhile, a team of 129 U.S. Marines and Special Forces has been assessing the threat to the refugees.

"You look at corridors, you look at airlifts, you look at different ways to move people who are in a very dangerous place on that mountain to a safer position," one military official explained.

But at issue now is whether President Barack Obama, elected on a platform of ending the Iraq war, will heed the many calls for a military campaign to contain or destroy the Islamic State.

It's an undertaking that could dominate U.S. foreign policy for the remainder of his term.

His own defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, said the group poses "a threat to the civilized world."

Nevertheless, the president has only authorized a limited campaign of targeted airstrikes designed to protect refugees and American personnel in the Kurdish region - but not take out the group's leadership or logistical hubs.

"The role of U.S. forces is not one of re-entering combat on the ground. It's how to provide humanitarian assistance to this affected population," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said.

A strategy to destroy the Islamic State would not require large numbers of American ground troops.

But it would require military action in western Syria where the Islamic State is headquartered, and perhaps most importantly, could stretch combat operations into the election season.