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uawchild

(2,208 posts)
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 02:52 PM Oct 2015

DESPITE US-LED CAMPAIGN, ISLAMIC STATE RAKES IN OIL EARNINGS

Source: Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Islamic State rakes in up to $50 million a month from selling crude from oilfields under its control in Iraq and Syria, part of a well-run industry that U.S. diplomacy and airstrikes have so far failed to shut down, according to Iraqi intelligence and U.S. officials.

Oil sales - the extremists' largest single source of continual income - are a key reason they have been able to maintain their rule over their self-declared "caliphate" stretching across large parts of Syria and Iraq. With the funds to rebuild infrastructure and provide the largesse that shore up its fighters' loyalty, it has been able to withstand ground fighting against its opponents and more than a year of bombardment in the U.S.-led air campaign.

The group has even been able to bring in equipment and technical experts from abroad to keep the industry running, and the United States has recently stepped up efforts to close off this support.

Washington has been talking to regional governments, including Turkey, about its concerns over the importing of energy infrastructure into IS-run territory in Syria, including equipment for extraction, refinement, transport and energy production, according to a senior U.S. official with firsthand knowledge of the IS oil sector.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISLAMIC_STATE_OIL_BUSINESS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-23-02-41-45



"Washington has been talking to regional governments, including Turkey, about its concerns over the importing of energy infrastructure into IS-run territory in Syria"

OMG... there it is... the answer to who has been funding ISIS. Add Turkey, NATO Ally, to the list that includes so called "Gulf State Angels" that have been funding ISIS "privately". So, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar... who else is funding ISIS?
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jalan48

(13,797 posts)
2. What a surprise!
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 03:00 PM
Oct 2015

I'm sure there are no big name oil firms involved as well because it's all about freedom.

nyabingi

(1,145 posts)
3. I'm sure the US knows full well
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 03:02 PM
Oct 2015

who is purchasing this oil and also making sure these oil wells run by ISIS aren't bombed. The talks with Russia are probably going to be full of pleas for them not to destroy these ISIS wells (and I doubt Putin will listen).

If the US had really wanted to destroy ISIS, we would've taken care of these years ago, but this is further proof that ISIS has always been our proxy army and we've been lying to everyone saying we are "fighting" them. We've only been trying to contain and control them until they fulfill our strategic objectives in Syria (get rid of Assad and divide up the country into controllable parts so we can control the flow of pipelines through the Middle East).

I'm hoping Iraq requests Russian help with airstrikes and destroys every single one of these oil wells.

How meekly the American people accept being blatantly lied to and having their soldiers and money wasted at the whims of the very rich and powerful who view us all as workers, consumers and cannon fodder.

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)
4. Thank you. This is what I suspect also.
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 03:15 PM
Oct 2015

Multinational corporations are buying that oil.

Maybe not directly, but certainly indirectly.

Is China buying it? India? Pakistan?

Where is the oil going?

Should be easy to find out if the US can follow the money.

Where is ISIS processing the money? It does not take cash, I'm sure. So what banks does it put its money in. There are all sorts of ways of figuring out who is backing ISIS.

And they should be enlisted to a) stop the killing and brutality immediately (that's their responsibility) and b) stop ISIS as an ideology and organization. Whoever is assisting ISIS is no safer than the rest of the world as long as such an extremist ideology is thriving.

rafeh1

(385 posts)
5. Isis is a convenient foil
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 03:33 PM
Oct 2015

Isis is a convenient foil for a whole range of people.

From Assad, to US to Iran to Russia to US. All claim to be fighting ISIS yet as the Russian campaign shows they bomb everyone but Isis. Assad of syria applies a hands off policy on Isis in order to throttle the genuine opposition.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
8. Close, but no cigar. The Russians actually bomb everyone including ISIS.
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 04:24 PM
Oct 2015

Up until now, Assad is really the one who has been fighting ISIS. As of earlier this year, the Pentagon estimated that airstrikes had killed 6,000. http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/23/politics/pentagon-isis-casualties-territory/ Critics charge that the Pentagon has exaggerated its body count, particularly the 50% mortality claimed for ISIS leadership.

Total ISIS casualties to date are estimated at about 8,000. According to Agency France Press: http://www.geo.tv/article-189504-IS-executes-over-3000-in-Syria-in-year-long-caliphate

BEIRUT: Posted: June 28, 2015 The Islamic State group has executed more than 3,000 people in Syria, including hundreds of civilians, in the year since it declared its self-described "caliphate," a monitor said on Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group monitoring Syria´s conflict, said it had documented 3,027 executions by IS since June 29, 2014.

Among those executed are 1,787 civilians, including 74 children, said the Observatory.

Members of Sunni Shaitat tribe account for around half of the civilians murdered.

IS killed 930 members of the clan in Deir Ezzor last year after they rose up against the extremist group.

The toll also includes recent mass killings by IS in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, which the jihadist group re-entered briefly this week after being expelled in January.

The monitor said it had counted at least 223 executions in the border town this week.

The Observatory also documented 216 IS executions of rival rebel factions and Kurdish fighters, as well as the executions of nearly 900 regime forces.

IS has also executed 143 of its own members it accused of crimes including spying, many of them captured as they were trying to desert the group, the Observatory said.

And at least 8,000 IS militants have been killed in battles and US-led air strikes, added the monitor.

IS emerged in Syria in 2013, growing from Al-Qaeda´s one-time Iraq affiliate and initially seeking to merge with Al-Qaeda´s Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

When Al-Nusra refused the merger, the two groups become rivals, and IS went on to announce its "caliphate" in territory in Syria and Iraq last year, proclaiming its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "Caliph Ibrahim".

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)
6. ISIS does not take that money in cash. It has to put it in safekeeping in a bank somewhere.
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 04:03 PM
Oct 2015

It has accounts. We need to follow the money. Where is ISIS putting it?

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
7. Oil to Turkey, that's @ $600 mil/yr. The IS budget is $2 bil. Who makes up the difference?
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 04:05 PM
Oct 2015

Look closely into my eye . . .

 

hollowdweller

(4,229 posts)
10. We could just bomb the oil facilities and use drones to kill everybody that shows their faces
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 07:35 PM
Oct 2015

If we wanted to.

Guessing oil companies have veto power over doing this because they do not want to have to rebuild the facilities or have their personell who have been brought in killed by US airstrikes.

I will be interested to see what the Russians do. I mean the Russian army basically trashed their own countryside to deprive Napoleon's army of it's ability to live off the land.

As the Russian army fell back, Cossacks were given the task of burning villages, towns and crops.[9] This was intended to deny the invaders the option of living off the land. These scorched-earth tactics greatly surprised and disturbed the French, as the willingness of the Russians to destroy their own territory and harm their own people was difficult for the French to comprehend.[13] The actions forced the French to rely on a supply system that was incapable of feeding the large army in the field. Starvation and privation compelled French soldiers to leave their camps at night in search of food. These men were frequently confronted by parties of Cossacks, who captured or killed them.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia
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