Just when one thought US foreign policy couldn't sink any deeper into the hole of its embarrassment, it takes out a shovel and starts digging. Overnight, in what AP describes as a stunning assault that exposed Iraq's eroding central authority, Al Qaida-inspired militants from ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, overran much of Mosul on Tuesday, seizing government buildings, pushing out security forces and capturing military vehicles as thousands of residents fled the second-largest city.
For those who may have forgotten, Iraq was one of those countries "liberated" by the the United States, which unlike Afghanistan where the opium trade is still important, did pull out its troops two and a half years ago.
Ths shocking takeover of Mosul took place months after Al Qaeda-linked fighers took over another Iraqi town, Fallujah, earlier in the year and which they have successfully defended against government attempts to reclaim it.
That however, was just the appetizer: Mosul is a much bigger, more strategic prize. The city and surrounding Ninevah province, which is on the doorstep of Iraq's relatively prosperous Kurdish region, are a major export route for Iraqi oil and a gateway to Syria.
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10 comments:
Change you can believe in....
Inevitable.Not a question of if but when.If troops had been pulled out in,say 2020 the same would have eventually happened.This is the ultimate testament to just how great a job the US did in Iraq,but we do have our own country to worry with.
I think we should send Scary Kerry and King Barry over there to talk to them about their behavior.
The Iraqi people were better off under Saddam. No government at all in Egypt, Syria is still using chemicals to kill their own citizens/genocide, Iraq is a mess, Hillary and Kerry have been doing a great job in their secretary of state roles?
Absolutely correct 9:26-The Iraqi people were indeed better off under Saddam.He killed terrorists.
Didn't Hillary and Obama endorse the Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq? We gave them Billions$$$.
oops, Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt*
Funny you try to make this about Obama when really this is the culmination of a failed misguided attempt at nation building that began 10 years ago. 713 hit it right on the head. I guess the rest of you would rather had seen 100+k of our men and women in uniform on the ground there for another 10yrs trying to make peace between factions that have been fighting since before the US was even born. Let them have at it. If the international community wants to send in a peace force, let the Saudis, Kurds, Turks, and Kuwaitis work it out. We can be in line to continue to sell them the equipment to support job growth here at home.
11:51 The comments are actually much less about Obama than I would have expected on here. I think most sensible people realize now it's not about Bush or Obama, it's about an out of control totalitarian government that has been failing the American people for two decades or more.
253, this is 1151. Here here good sir. Problem is, WE made it this way. All you who vote according to the "R" or "D" in front of a candidates name, made it this way. All who demonize one side while cheering the other, made it this way. All who continue to suck up whatever the talking heads on radio and tv say, you made it this way.
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