U.S. Begins Humanitarian Mission for Refugees in Iraq - Update: Far fewer stranded than we were told, rescue unlikely now

[sharon sanders]

U.S. Begins Humanitarian Mission for Refugees in Iraq: Officials


The U.S. has started an operation to drop humanitarian supplies of food and water to refugees trapped on a mountaintop in northwest Iraq, and U.S. aircraft are in the air ready to launch airstrikes to defend the refugees and U.S. resources, U.S. officials told NBC News on Thursday.

more...

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/u-s-begins-humanitarian-mission-refugees-iraq-officials-n175201

[Emily]

Re: U.S. Begins Humanitarian Mission for Refugees in Iraq - Update: Far fewer stranded than we were told, rescue unlikely now

http://news.yahoo.com/us-forces-head...201034780.html

'Far fewer' stranded on Iraq mountain than feared, US says
AFP
By Abdelhamid Zebari 6 hours ago
Dohuk (Iraq) (AFP) - An American assessment team found "far fewer" Yazidis trapped in northern Iraq than expected, making an evacuation mission less likely, as the flight of minority groups from advancing jihadists showed no let-up Thursday.

The UN refugee agency had said tens of thousands of civilians, many of them from the Yazidi religious minority, were trapped on Mount Sinjar by jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, which has overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria.

But the Pentagon said that -- based on a firsthand assessment by a small party of US military personnel -- the plight of those on the mountain was not as bad as had been feared, and an evacuation mission was therefore "far less likely".

A US military official said the special forces personnel had returned safely to Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said the fewer than 20 troops did not engage in any combat.

"The team has assessed that there are far fewer Yazidis on Mount Sinjar than previously feared, in part because of the success of humanitarian air drops, air strikes on (IS) targets, the efforts of the (Kurdish forces) and the ability of thousands of Yazidis to evacuate from the mountain each night over the last several days," he said.

"The Yazidis who remain are in better condition than previously believed and continue to have access to the food and water that we have dropped."...

Gosh, this reminds me of the WMD lie that got us into Iraq in the first place. The real Yazidi human rights problem is their own treatment of their women, IMO.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...s-of-Iraq.html

The Devil worshippers of Iraq
By Sean Thomas
12:01AM BST 19 Aug 2007
...
They are divided strictly into castes, who cannot marry each other. The upper castes are polygamous. Anyone of the faith who marries a non-Yezidi risks ostracism, or worse. Some weeks ago a young girl was stoned to death by her Yezidi menfolk in Iraq; she had fallen in love with a Muslim and was trying to convert. The sickening murder was filmed, and posted on the internet, adding to the Yezidis' unhappy reputation.