Mosul

The kick in the assets news that Mosul - the 2nd most biggest city in all the Land Betwixt The Two Rivers - has fell to al Qaeda is an uncool flourish to ISIS' new al Qaeda Nation State.

And it all could have been avoided. 44's "Stupid Shiz FoPo is like totally to blame too...

It is harder to imagine a bigger disaster for American foreign policy–or a more self-inflicted one. There was no compelling reason why Great Satan had to pull our troops out of Iraq; if 44 had tried harder to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement, he probably could have succeeded. But his heart was in troop withdrawal, not in a long-term commitment.

There is, of course, no guarantee that events would have played out any differently even if U.S. troops had been present, but the odds are they would have. After all the event that triggered the current cataclysm was Prime Minister Maliki’s vindictive and short-sighted attempt to persecute senior Sunni politicians–something he waited to do until U.S. troops had withdrawn. As long as U.S. troops were present in significant numbers, their very presence gave extra leverage to American generals and diplomats to influence the government and their aid, especially in intelligence-gathering, logistics, and mission planning, allowed the Iraqi military to more effectively target terrorists.

Now all that is gone. The Iraqi military seems to be falling apart. Many Sunnis are embracing ISIS militants while many Shiites, for their own protection, are drawing closer to Iranian-backed militants. And what is the U.S. doing? It is selling Maliki F-16s that will only exacerbate the violence without addressing its causes.

Even worse maybe is news that ISIS is now like the richest T org on the planet - bank busting several hundred million bucks out of Mosul banks.

Not to mention ISIS could defeat any conventional Arab Army

Pic - "Next Stop - Bahgdad!"