ISIS/ISIL make major gains in Iraq

[Mr. Morden]

The ISIL isn't going to take all of Iraq. A Shiite rump state will remain.

Which will include at least half the population of the country.

You could certainly have a years-long civil war in the mold of Syria (with the interesting difference that the existing regime is at least nominally democratic and friendly to the West…..but how long is that going to last?).  But yeah, no one's going to take over the whole country, unlike Vietnam.

[Mr. Morden]

Do these events push Kurdistan closer to independence?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27836520

[Indy Texas]

Clearly an Iraq overrun by Islamists and Iranian puppets is so much better than Saddam's Iraq.

This is just the punctuation on the evidence that the foreign policy of George W. Bush, neoconservatism and the Republican Party was and still is a miserable failure of a pipe dream.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I'm skeptical that ISIS is organized enough to keep their "Caliphate" together in anything beyond the very short term. I think it's definitely possible, but not the sure thing some people seem to be assuming.

[Simfan34]

Clearly an Iraq overrun by Islamists and Iranian puppets is so much better than Saddam's Iraq.

This is just the punctuation on the evidence that the foreign policy of George W. Bush, neoconservatism and the Republican Party was and still is a miserable failure of a pipe dream.

Anyone else you'd like to throw in? Condi Rice? Brent Scowcroft? Barney the Dog?

[bgwah]

Unfortunately, partition seems inevitable.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

We brought a group more extreme than Al Qaeda to power in Iraq at the cost of over $1 trillion. Everyone who supported the Iraq war is unfit for public office. As then Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Bob Graham said, the blood is on your hands.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Deus Naturae]

Pentagon Sends Aircraft Carrier to Gulf.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Pentagon Sends Aircraft Carrier to Gulf.

Ironically, it's the USS George H.W. Bush.

[Angel of Death]

Speaking of irony, guess who just had the gall to chime in and actually lecture people on the issue?
I believe they call this a "flight forward".

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Pentagon Sends Aircraft Carrier to Gulf.

Ironically, it's the USS George H.W. Bush.

In 1998, George HW Bush wrote that invading Iraq would have been stupid.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Pentagon Sends Aircraft Carrier to Gulf.

Ironically, it's the USS George H.W. Bush.

In 1998, George HW Bush wrote that invading Iraq would have been stupid.

And in 2003, he wrote a "daddy loves you" letter to his son telling him to do as he pleases with Iraq .

[Deus Naturae]

Oil analysts: If Baghdad falls, gas prices could soar.

[Nhoj]

Reason #45 why Saddam Hussein should have been left in power.

Funny enough, many people fighting with ISIS do. Its been reported baathist groups and others are taking part.
Also people talking about Baghdad falling are silly. Unless they mean it will fall to shia militias.

[Silent Hunter]

ISIS have actually lost ground in the last couple of days; the Iraqis may be able to sort this out without US assistance.

[Mr. Morden]

Pentagon Sends Aircraft Carrier to Gulf.

Ironically, it's the USS George H.W. Bush.

In 1998, George HW Bush wrote that invading Iraq would have been stupid.

Presumably whatever military action the US is currently preparing for would involve dropping bombs, a la the Gulf War, not "invading".

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Oil analysts: If Baghdad falls, gas prices could soar.

yes thats the most important effect here

[bgwah]

ISIS claims it has executed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/world/middleeast/iraq.html?hp

How long before we start using the w-word?

[Beet]

So apparently Bashar Assad is pounding ISIL in coordination with the Iraqi government. Who is our friend again? Who is our enemy?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

So apparently Bashar Assad is pounding ISIL in coordination with the Iraqi government. Who is our friend again? Who is our enemy?

When Reagan sold WMD to Saddam, he was our friend.
When Reagan sold weapons to Iran, whom Saddam was fighting, they were our friends.
When we trained the Afghan Mujahideen, they were our friends.
Are our middle east policies clear now?

[swl]

By hating each other, all the parties involved in this conflict (the Shia, the Sunni, the Kurds, the different tribes, the US, Iran, Turkey...) gave way to the most violent and the most ruthless of them. Well done idiots.

[Silent Hunter]

So apparently Bashar Assad is pounding ISIL in coordination with the Iraqi government. Who is our friend again? Who is our enemy?

The enemy of my enemy is the enemy of my enemy. No more. No less.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Unfortunately, ISIS appears to have mastered "Pillage, then burn."

[Bacon King]

How likely is it that Obsma can steal Iran from Putin's orbit?

[dead0man]

How likely is it that Obsma can steal Iran from Putin's orbit?

If the religious oligarchy in Tehran thinks we can butter their bread better than Putin, sure.