The good and the bad from CNN on ISIS fight

 by MOTHAX

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Two excellent stories from CNN today.  The first discusses US and Canadian civilians who are training the Peshmerga to fight against ISIS.

While it is difficult to say how many foreign volunteers are fighting ISIS, a spokesman for a Kurdish militia fighting against them in Syria -- known as the YPG -- told the New York Times their forces include more than 100 American citizens.

U.S. law enforcement officials say it is illegal to join a Syrian militia.

But some organizations have set up recruitment drives online, featuring applications for foreign fighters complete with checklists of what to bring and advice on bringing body armor across international borders.

Jordan Matson, a 28-year-old former U.S. army soldier from the tiny town of Sturtevant, Wisconsin, volunteered with the YPG.

That bit about it being illegal is a bit hard to square with the reality of how people like Jordan are getting around it:

A Canadian guy named Ian Bradbury is even going the extra step:

While individual fighters are not always accepted, volunteers working as military trainers are sharing their expertise to support those on the front lines of the fight against ISIS forces.

Bradbury set up 1st North American Expeditionary Forces (1st NAEF), a training body which, he says, is currently providing material support and training to the Peshmerga, whose name means "those who face death," in northern Iraq.

"Internal capacity building is by far the solution that you can put into a region that is suffering instability from conflict," he told CNN by phone from his base in Ottawa, Canada.

"Increasing their ability to maintain stability over the long term is far better than trying to influx it with a bunch of westerners who are going to leave within a short period of time."

He was prompted to establish the group after seeing "fairly significant gaps" in the support provided by the coalition forces for the Kurdish, Iraqi regular and militia ranged against ISIS.

I'm not sure why we would be discouraging helping our Pesh allies.  At the least it keeps our government at a discreet remove, and clearly everyone going there is doing so voluntarily.  It's not as if the US is paying them or anything.

On the not so good side, despite being down about 25 percent in total area, ISIS looks to be moving forward and attacking Ramadi, which is all kinds of bad.

Falih Essawi shouted on the phone as he described his situation. From his point of view, ISIS militants might be just hours away from taking the key Iraqi city of Ramadi.

Fierce fighting has engulfed Ramadi, which lies only about 70 miles (113 kilometers) west of Baghdad and is the capital of Anbar province, Iraq's Sunni heartland.

Essawi, the deputy head of the Anbar Provincial Council, told CNN from inside the city Wednesday that it's unclear how much longer government troops can hold their front lines against the ISIS offensive.

The politician said he was on a front line himself, armed with a machine gun. Security was "collapsing rapidly in the city," and he begged the Iraqi government for reinforcements and the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS for air support.

"This is what we warned Baghdad of what's going to happen," Essawi told CNN by phone, referring to the Iraqi government at the capital. "Where is Baghdad? Where is al-Abadi?"

I'd hate to see this develop into a situation where the Iranians come in and halt the spread of ISIS.  Not quite as much as seeing ISIS take over, but diplomatically I hope we aren't putting the Iranians in a position where they can be the saviors.

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