In an article dated 2 July 2015, the US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) reports delivery of 70 up-armored Humvees to the besieged Iraqi security forces in Camp Taji, Iraq. The delivery was made by the 310th Advise and Assist Team of the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and the 1st Sustainment Command and was part of a larger delivery of over 150 combat vehicles made possible through Operation Inherent Resolve.
Taji is strategically important and is considered a gateway to the vulnerable Iraqi capitol of Baghdad. Taji was the site used as a Forward Operating Base by US Forces during the Iraq war. It was also the site of prisoner of war detention center and had a facility for making long range ballistic missiles, chemical and nuclear weapons under the Saddam Hussein regime.
Meanwhile ISIS continues to encroach the capitol city of Baghdad. With the ineffective fighting record of the Iraqi forces and their proclivity to abandon sensitive equipment to ISIS in the past, the move to continue to supply Iraqi forces can be called into question.
The maps below show the proximity of Taji to Baghdad and the location of the Iraqi Missile Production Facility.
Taji was the site of an attempted prison break that happened simultaneously with a successful attempt at nearby Abu Ghraib were over 500 prisoners were freed by Al Qaeda. Read more about that here.
Read more about the missile plant from the Global Security site here.
