Iraq: US plans rescue mission for besieged Yazidi refugees

[Jefferson23]

More than 20,000 of the 40,000 trapped by jihadists on a mountaintop have escaped but US considering full-scale rescue


Martin Chulov near Duhok

The Guardian, Sunday 10 August 2014

The United States is exploring options to evacuate thousands of Iraqi civilians trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq by Islamic militants after four nights of humanitarian relief airdrops, officials in Washington said.

At least half of the 40,000 people besieged by jihadists on Mount Sinjar had escaped by Sunday night, aided by Kurdish rebels who crossed from Syria to rescue them.

But proposals for a mission to save the remaining thousands of Yazidi people underscore the limits of the airdrops, ordered last week by Barack Obama.

"We're reviewing options for removing the remaining civilians off the mountain," deputy US national security adviser Ben Rhodes told Reuters late on Sunday.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/10/kurdish-rebels-yazidi-iraq-isis

[Fred Sanders]

1. Just yesterday I suggested this, the media numbers of refugees is inflated....but you tell me why

the "no way it can be done" majority response of the eternal optimists at DU?

Get them off the mountain and you do need to resupply them every day with massive and risky air drops.

Do. It tell me the thousands of transport helicopters available can not do it. Those Chinooks could carry 200 people each easily, and not very for is required, so many missions a day, with over 400 just of this type....many more in the vast arsenal of The Worlds Policeman.

Makes sense to me.

[Maedhros]

2. Evacuation is a positive response to this crisis, and I would support such an effort.

Air strikes have little chance of actually helping the Yazidi.

[Bill USA]

3. step 1. eradicate ISIS