Rebels captures Mosul, Iraq’s 2nd largest city

[funinspace]

Wow, events certainly looks ugly in Iraq. You don’t lose your second largest city (~600k) without it being pretty bad. I understand that this is a main jumping point into Syria for ISIL and other groups as well. Fallujah fell to ISIL back in January of this year. I wonder if the US will still deliver its first F-16’s as they are slated to be shipped over later this year….

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middl...r-rebels-seize-mosul-2014610121410596821.html

Nujaifi, who is the brother of Atheel al-Nujaifi, the state governor, said he had asked the US ambassador in Baghdad for help in order to stop what he described as "a foreign invasion by ISIL".

A pro-ISIL Twitter feed said the group had released about 3,000 people from three prisons, although other estimates were lower.

Mosul is Iraq's second largest city, and the second city to be captured by fighters this year after Fallujah.

"The city of Mosul is outside the control of the state and at the mercy of the militants," an official at Iraq's interior ministry told the AFP news agency.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said Maliki faced opposition to his call for a state of emergency, which would grant him sweeping powers.

Khan said: "Many politicians have vocally criticised Maliki's handling of the crisis. Many in Iraq are asking why a lightly armed group like ISIL have been able to take over huge cities.

 

[Warpoet]

But I thought we brought them freedom and democracy and everything is great now?

 

[funinspace]

But I thought we brought them freedom and democracy and everything is great now?

Yeah, well things can change with our troops gone for now over 2 long years. Can't wait for the Afghan sequel...I hear it should hit the theaters in about 2 years.

 

[StarryNight]

so much for the shia crescent. mehdi not shown either. wait, werent shia ~hubs~ taken in dst storm? eg al sadr at fallujah? sawing the branch or what?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Some Muslims just can't seem to live without being able to slaughter other Muslims.

But I thought we brought them freedom and democracy and everything is great now?

Yeah, well things can change with our troops gone for now over 2 long years. Can't wait for the Afghan sequel...I hear it should hit the theaters in about 2 years.

Don't be so stupid. There is only one city in Afghanistan that is even remotely under control. You can't lose a nation that you really never had much of in the first place.

 

[boneyard bill]

So Iraqi "terrorists" are threatening to take over the country, and these same "terrorists" are sending troops to Syria to fight on our side. Something here just doesn't add up. Then there's all that talk of how we needed to stay in Iraq to train the Iraqi army which apparently fled at the first sign of conflict. But now we have to stay in Afghanistan to train the Afghan army which apparently we haven't been able to do for the last 11 years.

And now nobody wants to give Malaki "emergency powers" when it appears that the government doesn't really have any power at all. So what's to give up?

I don't see why we need to have a dog in this fight or in Syria or in Ukraine. We seen to have an uncanny ability to intervene on the losing side.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

So Iraqi "terrorists" are threatening to take over the country, and these same "terrorists" are sending troops to Syria to fight on our side.

About as much as Ukranians fighting against the Germans were fighting for the Nazi side.

Something here just doesn't add up.

Math isn't your strong point.

Then there's all that talk of how we needed to stay in Iraq to train the Iraqi army which apparently fled at the first sign of conflict. But now we have to stay in Afghanistan to train the Afghan army which apparently we haven't been able to do for the last 11 years.

Well, it'd look pretty fucked up if we left Iraq in '06 when dozens of Iraqis were dying every day.

And now nobody wants to give Malaki "emergency powers" when it appears that the government doesn't really have any power at all. So what's to give up?

I don't see why we need to have a dog in this fight or in Syria or in Ukraine. We seen to have an uncanny ability to intervene on the losing side.

Mentioning Ukraine with this was a great attempt at trying to compare two completely different things as if they were similar.

 

[boneyard bill]

About as much as Ukranians fighting against the Germans were fighting for the Nazi side.

Something here just doesn't add up.

Math isn't your strong point.

Then there's all that talk of how we needed to stay in Iraq to train the Iraqi army which apparently fled at the first sign of conflict. But now we have to stay in Afghanistan to train the Afghan army which apparently we haven't been able to do for the last 11 years.

Well, it'd look pretty fucked up if we left Iraq in '06 when dozens of Iraqis were dying every day.

And now nobody wants to give Malaki "emergency powers" when it appears that the government doesn't really have any power at all. So what's to give up?

I don't see why we need to have a dog in this fight or in Syria or in Ukraine. We seen to have an uncanny ability to intervene on the losing side.

Mentioning Ukraine with this was a great attempt at trying to compare two completely different things as if they were similar.

These situations are not only very similar, they are inter-related. Syria and Iraq are about a pipeline that would ship gas from Iran to Europe. Ukraine is about a pipeline that already ships gas to Europe. Saudi Arabia wants a pipeline would ship gas from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Europe but Assad stands in the way. That's why these two countries are funding the rebels and we are officially giving non-lethal aid but I suspect were giving them much more unofficially. Of course, there are other interests as well. Israel has an interest. Oil companies have an interest. Wall Street banks have an interest. So it's a battle between OPEC and Gazprom with a number of side-shows. The only people who don't have an interest is the American people. None of these conflicts have much of anything to do with American strategic interests.

 

[funinspace]

Then there's all that talk of how we needed to stay in Iraq to train the Iraqi army which apparently fled at the first sign of conflict. But now we have to stay in Afghanistan to train the Afghan army which apparently we haven't been able to do for the last 11 years.

Well, it'd look pretty fucked up if we left Iraq in '06 when dozens of Iraqis were dying every day.

Well...since last summer dozens have been dying every day, to the tune of roughly a 1,000 a month.
See: https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

Ah, another famed town as fallen to the terrorists: Tikrit, which got its fame as Saddam's home town.

 

[tupac chopra]

The US has been training and arming "al qaeda" in Syria. Now these same people have gone and taken Mosul.

 

[Cycad]

Mission accomplished !

A few 100K death Iraqis, a secular stable country destabilized, a few trillion dollars spend.
Oil reserves in Basrah being looted as fast as possible.
And the first weapons of mass destruction still to be found.
Great work mr Bush and Blair.

 

[aeebee50]

Bad situation.

 

[funinspace]

Mission accomplished !

A few 100K death Iraqis, a secular stable country destabilized, a few trillion dollars spend.
Oil reserves in Basrah being looted as fast as possible.
And the first weapons of mass destruction still to be found.
Great work mr Bush and Blair.

The Iraqi situation prior to the Shrub, with a perpetual air blockade and severe trade sanctions still didn’t stop the psycho Saddam from running a hell hole. But yeah, the Shrub and company certainly got the ball rolling on this fiasco. However, Pres. Obama has been in charge the whole time with the recent efforts at regime change/destabilization in Syria. I’m sure our CIA was trying to pick out the good insurgents from the “bad” insurgents as we started to help fuel the Syrian civil war. However, once the green light was given to Qatar, SA, and Turkey I doubt they, or the private donors from those countries were nearly so fussy. If the US had employed the same tepid response to the uprising and deaths as in Bahrain, and told Qatar and SA to back off, I suspect that things would have settled down to a new normal after a couple months, once Syrians got the message that Assad wasn’t going anywhere. For one thing Qatari transport jets wouldn’t have been shipping weapons into Turkish military airstrips w/o US blessing. And with Assad in control of his borders, it would have been less likely that groups like ISIS/ISIL would have been able to gain so much traction.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Then there's all that talk of how we needed to stay in Iraq to train the Iraqi army which apparently fled at the first sign of conflict. But now we have to stay in Afghanistan to train the Afghan army which apparently we haven't been able to do for the last 11 years.

Well, it'd look pretty fucked up if we left Iraq in '06 when dozens of Iraqis were dying every day.

Well...since last summer dozens have been dying every day, to the tune of roughly a 1,000 a month.

Sure. The difference is, the deaths back then were due to an utterly failed occupation policy by the W Admin that helped develop a power vacuum. Now days, the military we left with Iraq with isn't developed enough to remain entrenched to stop the insurgent attacks. And their government, which is still way too young, isn't established enough to do a thing about it. Which is all a result of removing the power base in Iraq. W's legacy continues.

 

[barbos]

The US has been training and arming "al qaeda" in Syria. Now these same people have gone and taken Mosul.

Shut up! It was a good plan.

 

[dismal]

Then there's all that talk of how we needed to stay in Iraq to train the Iraqi army which apparently fled at the first sign of conflict. But now we have to stay in Afghanistan to train the Afghan army which apparently we haven't been able to do for the last 11 years.

Well, it'd look pretty fucked up if we left Iraq in '06 when dozens of Iraqis were dying every day.

Well...since last summer dozens have been dying every day, to the tune of roughly a 1,000 a month.

Sure. The difference is, the deaths back then were due to an utterly failed occupation policy by the W Admin that helped develop a power vacuum. Now days, the military we left with Iraq with isn't developed enough to remain entrenched to stop the insurgent attacks. And their government, which is still way too young, isn't established enough to do a thing about it. Which is all a result of removing the power base in Iraq. W's legacy continues.

Well, fortunately W left the power bases intact in places like Libya, Syria and Egypt so they are doing just great.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Then there's all that talk of how we needed to stay in Iraq to train the Iraqi army which apparently fled at the first sign of conflict. But now we have to stay in Afghanistan to train the Afghan army which apparently we haven't been able to do for the last 11 years.

Well, it'd look pretty fucked up if we left Iraq in '06 when dozens of Iraqis were dying every day.

Well...since last summer dozens have been dying every day, to the tune of roughly a 1,000 a month.

Sure. The difference is, the deaths back then were due to an utterly failed occupation policy by the W Admin that helped develop a power vacuum. Now days, the military we left with Iraq with isn't developed enough to remain entrenched to stop the insurgent attacks. And their government, which is still way too young, isn't established enough to do a thing about it. Which is all a result of removing the power base in Iraq. W's legacy continues.

Well, fortunately W left the power bases intact in places like Libya, Syria and Egypt so they are doing just great.

Egypt was never part of Obama's plans seeing that US stayed out of it for so long. Wasn't France a bigger player in Libya? And Syria is just a mess with too many nations involved. Of course, Iraq being compared to Libya and Syria would seem to be a bit foolish, seeing one involved an all out US invasion and then following crap occupation.

 

[boneyard bill]

What I have to ask is, "Where is ISIL getting their weapons from? And who is supplying them with food, fuel, and transport?" Rebellions do not finance themselves. Someone is behind this. My guess would be Saudi Arabia since they are Sunni and the rebels are Sunni, and the Iraqi government is sympathetic to Iran. But what that would mean is that Saudi Arabia is working against US policy in the Mid-East.

On the other hand, I guess that's to be expected. US policy everywhere in the world is so incoherent that one shouldn't expect that our allies are necessarily going to defer to all of our schemes all of the time.

 

[tupac chopra]

What I have to ask is, "Where is ISIL getting their weapons from? And who is supplying them with food, fuel, and transport?" Rebellions do not finance themselves. Someone is behind this..

As I mentioed above. The US has been arming "rebels" in Syria. many of these Syrian "rebels" would be aligned (or the same) as those who have taken Mosul.
The US has admitted they are helping Syrian opposition, which includes Muslim radicals, with "lethal and non lethal" assistance.
Rice: US offers 'lethal and non-lethal' aid to Syrian opposition

Syria borders Iraq. Mosul is quite near the Syrian border.

the people running America are boneheads. But if you criticise them or what they do it means you are unpatriotic

 

[steve_bnk]

The Arabs-Muslims are doing what they have for centuries, slaughter each other over sect and clan andtribe. The difference is now because of oil it affects us and we see it 24/7 on TV.


When Maliki was elected we declared avictory for democracy, and he promptly attacked and persecutedSunnis out of govt.


Summarizing some of today's mediacommentary, Sunnis are oppressed and they rebel..what a freaking surprise.


The Arab oil states and Iran are stablebecause they are authoritarian sates that do not tolerate subversionand destructive sectarian dissent.


It is utter American hubris for ou rpoliticians to think we are so powerful we can change any of it by force of our will. The last 10 years shows our overwhelming militarypower does ot work, unless we are willing to fully unleash it withoutrestraint. As in WWII. In the breakout from Normandy Eisenhowerresorted to carpet bombing the French countryside incurring civiliancausalities.


Have a draft and fully mobilize forwar. Occupy and pacify Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan as in postWWII. Anything less is wasted effort as we see in Iraq..


In these times we do ot have the stomach and will for it.