ISIS Is One Mile From Baghdad

ISIS militants are just one mile from Baghdad. The march into the largest city in the country comes on the heels of President Barack Obama admitting that the threat of the group was “underestimated.” The fighting near the city has become fierce, as reports from inside the Middle East region maintain the Islamic State fighters are just about to reach the doorstep of Baghdad.

The ISIS fighters have already garnered a large portion of both Iraq and Syria, but some experts fear that a takeover by the Islamic State in Baghdad could prove “disastrous” for the United States. Thwarting the reach of the group could prove significantly more difficult if Baghdad, with a population of about 7 million, falls under the complete control of ISIS.

“The Islamic State are now less than 2km away from entering Baghdad. They said it could never happen and now it almost has,” Canon Andrew White, a priest leading the only Anglican church in the Iraq city, said.

“Obama says he overstated what the Iraqi Army could do. Well you only need to here a very short while to know that they can do very, very, little,” The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East member added.

Islamic State militants took over the control of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq. Massive fighting is still ongoing in Fallujah – a town about 25 miles away from Bagdad. BBC News is reporting that Iraqi troops are fighting ISIS militants approximately six miles away from Baghdad. If reports from the news agency are accurate, the Iraqi Army could “barely contain” the ISIS fighters or force a retreat even with the airstrikes offered by the United States.

During the 60 Minutes interview, President Obama had this to say about ISIS and the turmoil in the Middle East.

“During the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you had huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they [ISIS] were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos. [ISIS is] sort of a hybrid of not just the terrorist network, but one with territorial ambitions, and some of the strategy and tactics of an army.”

According to Obama administration military advisers, ISIS now numbers about 40,000 fighters – all of which have sworn allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his plan to create an Islamic caliphate.

http://youtu.be/gqxNsPVkLAU

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