A three-fer:
First - from International Business Times (caution: self-loading video):
Mosul Seized: Jihadis Loot $429m from City's Central Bank to Make Isis World's Richest Terror Force
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (Isis) has become the richest terror group ever after looting 500 billion Iraqi dinars - the equivalent of $429m (£256m) - from Mosul's central bank, according to the regional governor.
Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi confirmed Kurdish television reports that Isis militants had stolen millions from numerous banks across Mosul. A large quantity of gold bullion is also believed to have been stolen.
And this:
The Iraqi government has launched a number of failed assaults on the city leaving hopes of retaking Mosul slim.
An Iraqi army officer told the Independent: "We can't beat them."
"They're trained in street fighting and we're not. We need a whole army to drive them out of Mosul. They're like ghosts; they appear to hit and disappear within seconds."
Second - from the New York Times:
Arms Windfall for Insurgents as Iraq City Falls
The insurgent fighters who routed the Iraqi army out of Mosul on Tuesday did not just capture much of Iraq’s second-largest city. They also gained a windfall of arms, munitions and equipment abandoned by the soldiers as they fled — arms that were supplied by the United States and intended to give the troops an edge over the insurgents.
The problem is not a new one, but it looms larger now that the United States is shifting its counterterrorism strategy away from using American armed forces directly, and toward relying on allied or indigenous troops and security forces supplied and trained by the United States. President Obama proposed last week that a $5 billion fund be set up to finance such efforts.
But those proxy forces do not always prove equal to the task, and when they buckle, the United States finds itself having unwittingly armed its enemies — a problem the Obama administration has been trying to avoid in Syria by carefully limiting its aid to the opposition there. The militants who swept into control of Mosul on Tuesday are believed to be connected to the main Islamist militant group fighting in Syria.
Third - when we ransomed the deserter Bergdall, we encouraged them. From Yahoo/Reuters:
Turkey calls for emergency NATO meeting on Iraq: Turkish official
Turkey has called for an emergency meeting of NATO to discuss the security situation in Iraq after militants took 80 Turkish citizens hostage during a lightning advance, a Turkish foreign ministry official said.
Sunni insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the city of Tikrit on Wednesday and closed in on Iraq's biggest oil refinery, making further gains against the Shi'ite-led government.
Folks, this is just the beginning. Had we gone in with strong leadership at the top (looking at you Barry) and a will to win the freedom of these people, we could have won, we could have set the Iraqi's free and we could have pressed this barbaric cult back into the ninth century from whence they came.
But no. Obama's legacy is a joke.
