[PGR88]

Massive proxy civil war coming to Iraq.

Iran will enter on behalf of the shiites. Saudi will have its faction of shiites, while Turkey will enter in the North against the Kurds.

[Genoa]

If (when?) ISIS takes Baghdad this will be moot.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Can you say independent Kurdish State?

And how does ISIS have enough people to hold these towns? Was there no sign of possible Iraqi Army collapse before this? Were they Sunnis or Shiites? Are the Shiites just incapable of performing as an Army?

[Vigilanteman]

FWIW, the victorious Allies seriously entertained the idea of creating an independent state of Kurdistan from the dismembered Ottoman Empire after World War I.

Trouble then, as now, is the various Kurdish factions couldn't agree on anything. It was like herding cats, sort of like today's GOP.

[VanDeKoik]

The Kurds need to just declare independence. They have always been good allies and they don’t deserve to be shackled to the mess Obama is leaving.

[cuban leaf]

Gee, this is gonna be fun. Three more years of obama. The world will not survive.

[Straight Vermonter]

I’d rather see the US aid the Peshmerga, to help them hold the north, than waste money by giving it to the incompetent government in Baghdad.

[Obadiah]

Well done, Obama. Well done.

[dblshot]

Not good for long term security of Jordan and then Israel.

[Daus]

Finally got around to reading Chris Kyle's American Sniper... Just so depressing seeing all of that hard work get flushed down the toilet.

His basic thesis stands. Iraqi's will submit to whoever shows the most ruthlessness.

[ScottinVA]

As much as it pains me to say this, I think Biden may have stumbled onto something when he suggested a three-state (Kurd-Sunni-Shiite) solution for Iraq.

By now, each entity would have its own military and state apparatus. The shiite-dominated hot mess that is Iraq is failing fast.

[Psalm 144]

The Sand Wars. The wind blows and it all starts over again.

[Uncle Chip]

Isn’t that interesting —

They list Mosul as falling to ISIS but isn’t Mosul a Kurdish city and why would the Kurds let it fall to them.

[RockyTx]

Iraq should be broken up.
I have been saying that for years.

[freedomfiter2]

Good. It was a huge mistake to not break up Iraq into three separate countries.

[onedoug]

Nice going, barky.

[Thunder90]

ISIS will come up against the Al Sadr militia (and Iranian special forces) in Baghdad, and resolve by the mostly Shiite Iraqi army will increase there.

[bert]

Absent a strong charismatic leader the synthetic nation of Iraq will and is devolving into three natural constituencies.

These are the Kurdish north, the Sunni in between and the Shia south.

Released from the false collective imposed by the British after WW I they are getting their longed for freedom and independence.

The pundits are arguing the Bush efforts were for nothing. Actually, the Bush efforts were to tame and then depose Saddam Hussein. W conquored Baghdad and deposed Saddam.

The nation building effort is evolving into three rather than one state. Time will tell if the three entities can exist on their own as economically viable members of the world society. Free from the tribal and religious tensions they very well may.

I believe the founding of an Islamic state that weakens or deposes Assad will be good. It may soak up all the wackos into one place where they can attempt to found a new wacko islamic state

The problem seems to be that Core AQ has lost control.

[chessplayer]

“That won’t last long now, as the Iraqis still fiddle while Anbar and Nineveh burn. The parliament has postponed a vote on Nouri al-Maliki’s declaration of emergency, which delays any cohesive response.”

---

Iraq is being carved up like a turkey and they don’t seem to care anymore than the WH does.

[Art in Idaho]

Waiting for Obama's Limbaugh Theorem response, "Say what, I didn't know about this, I heard it on TV, I'm as upset as you are, we're gonna' get to the bottom of it and make people pay. I'm shocked, don'tcha know." And again, he walks. .