ISIS reaches Baghdad suburbs, US troops block the way to BGW Int'l Airport.
(Examiner) In their push to completely wipe out the national government of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, terrorist members of the al-Qaeda allied Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Islamic Jihadist organization have made their way to the westernmost suburbs of Baghdad, as reported by CBS News on Oct. 10, 2014. CBS is also reporting that between the furthest advance of the ISIS column and the center of the nation's capital sits Baghdad International Airport (BGW) where at least 300 American troops assigned as perimeter security, as reported by the McClatchy News Service on June 30, 2014.
With the outlying suburb of Abu Ghraib teetering on completely falling to ISIS, if the area comes under complete control of the Islamists, the Americans will be within easy range of ISIS artillery. Abu Gharib is a mere 8 miles from the runway perimeter, while the distance from BGW to the US Embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone is roughly 9.5 miles. The Washington Times reported earlier this summer that ISIS captured upwards of 52 American made M198mm howitzer heavy artillery pieces, capable of hitting targets 14-20 miles away.
The captured M198's reportedly cost $500,000 per piece. To add insult to injury, the Islamists have also seized 1,500 up-armored Humvees which cost the American taxpayer $220,000 each.
Despite the oft-quoted promise of Barack Obama to never deploy American so-called "boots on the ground," he's personally ordered approximately 1,600 US troops in-country since the Iraqi National Army essentially dropped their weapons and ran away from ISIS militants last spring. Despite the pin-prick US airstrikes on ISIS forces throughout Iraq, the terrorists now surround Baghdad on three sides, with the roads leading east the only ones still in government control.
