Posted on 05/22/2015 8:01:10 AM PDT by mandaladon
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Almost a year after Islamic State's shock capture of Mosul, Iraq's second city, the black flags of the jihadis have been raised over Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province to the west of Baghdad, seat of Iraq’s increasingly theoretical central government.
Nobody talks of Mosul or recapturing it from Islamic State. It is a forgotten city. Now it is all about the fall of Ramadi, the neighbouring ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in central Syria and beyond - the Libyan city of Sirte, hometown of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
To the eyes of many in the region, the real strategic loss behind the IS seizure of two Sunni cities in Iraq and Syria in a week is the evaporation of any Sunni alternative to the jihadis.
Although many leaders dismissed IS as vainglorious when it declared its cross-border caliphate in eastern Syria and western Iraq last summer, in its cohesion and purpose it is now seen by some – particularly Iraq’s minority Sunnis – as more of a state than the Iraqi government it is fighting.
"Simply put, the Islamic State is, or is on the verge of becoming, what it claims to be: a state," wrote David Kilcullen who was a key player in the US 2007-08 Iraq troop 'surge' and a close observer of the rise of Islamic State. View gallery A car is engulfed by flames during clashes in the city … A car is engulfed by flames during clashes in the city of Ramadi, May 16, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer
He argues that unless Washington and its allies urgently change their counter-terrorism strategy the threat will only get worse. A coalition including the United States has been engaged in air strikes against Islamic State last summer, yet the group's advance has continued.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The Islamic State already has the foundations of a state..............Obama disagrees...
It’s safe to say that terrorists are no longer an army without a state.
“O” basically handed them their ‘state’ and NOW he will force the rest of the world to deal with them AS IF they are the equivalent of other ‘states’ and, as if THEIR leadership is the equivalent of other duly elected leaders in the world.
I am sure it won’t be long before “O” demands that ISIS is represented in the UN.
That is certainly a crime of universal magnitude and at the very LEAST, it’s a crime against humanity, for which “O” will NEVER be charged or prosecuted.
Our ‘President’ is a heartless, blundering, unprincipled animal who has NO business at the head of the most powerful national entity on earth. There are generations of ME inhabitants who will suffer and die before the situation is rectified in any way ... Generations will live (and die) to regret that “O” was EVER our ‘President’.
And all because NO ONE will challenge the American ‘President’ who made it happen!
Everyone is ignoring the 800 lb gorilla in the room and it is getting frustrating.
This is the Iraq/Iran war redux. The goal of both is the Caliphate. If Iran thinks that Hezbollah can hold the North against ISIS attacking Syria, they are sadly mistaken. Especially since even though Hezbollah is in Syria and Lebanon, Assad threw in with Hussein.
And now with Iran losing in Yemen to the Sunnis, they will need to do something radical. Iran’s sphere of influence in the ME is quickly contracting.
So, Obama is giving Iran access to a bomb? I don’t think this is for anti-Israel operations so much as a counter to Sunni domination.
And where is ValJar from?
Exactly what 0 hoped for.
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