An unidentified employee of Sallyport reportedly sent a message stating that 500 civilian US government contract workers have been trapped in Baghdad by forces that claim to be affiliated with Al Qaeda, according to an unreleased and unverified CNN report. The employee claims to be in Iraq in support of a “little known F-16 Iraq support mission.”
The home page on Sallyport’s website expresses the company’s concern for the civilian contractors and gives information regarding whom family members should contact to obtain information about their loved ones and the actions being taken to extract them from Iraq.
The unidentified civilian contractor has further indicated that he and other civilians were being herded to a central location and that they “are being told nothing.” The contractor further expressed concerns that he and the other contractors believe themselves to be surrounded by ISIS forces, information he claims to have received from a recent security Intel report.
The Sallyport civilian contractor who sent the message from Baghdad, Iraq claims that the Clint, Lockheed-Martin contractors, DoS and most women have already been evacuated.
While the Sallyport contractors exact mission has not been publicized, it is likely related to contracts by Lockheed-Martin to supply F-16 fighter jets to the Iraqi Air Force, which is currently in its formative stages. The Iraqi Air Force has been defunct since 2003, after the U.S.-led invasion. According to an MSN report, the Iraqi Air Force was slated to receive 36 of the fighter/attack aircraft.
This report comes on the heels of information that the US governments was moving contractors to Balad Air Base for security reasons.
Through all of this, President Barack Obama has stated that he is considering a variety of possible US responses to the violent uprising in Iraq, but that he has ruled out sending in US ground forces. This is despite the fact that ISIS forces have reportedly obtained US-provided weaponry, much of it captured from Iraqi forces, many of whom fled the fighting.
A source in Iraq at the time of the uprising’s breakout, speaking on condition of anonymity, claims that the ISIS forces also have advanced Russian weaponry, including STA (surface to air) missiles.