Mosul topples to al Qaeda
According to CNN, the Iraqi Army left Mosul faster than they left Kuwait City in 1991.
Militants on Tuesday seized the airport, TV stations and governor’s offices in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, as police and soldiers ran from their posts — a stunning collapse of the security forces that has raised questions about Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s ability to hold the country together.
In perhaps a sign of just how serious the threat is to Iraq’s stability, al-Maliki took to the airwaves to call on all men to volunteer to fight, promising to provide weapons and equipment.
“We will not allow for the remainder of the … province and the city to fall,” he said in a live speech broadcast on Iraqi state TV.
The militants are believed to belong to the extremist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, an al Qaeda splinter group also known by its acronym ISIS. These fighters are believed to include many from outside Iraq, senior police officials said.
Yeah, Mosul is fairly close to Syria, so the battle there is merely an expansion of the Syrian Civil War. From Reuters;
The United States, which pulled out its troops two and a half years ago, pledged to help Iraqi leaders “push back against this aggression” as the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency that would give him extraordinary powers to tackle the crisis.
But the battle, for the time being, seemed to be over. Some police were discarding uniforms and weapons and fleeing a city where the black flag of ISIL now flew over government buildings.
“We have lost Mosul this morning,” said a colonel at a local military command center. “Army and police forces left their positions and ISIL terrorists are in full control.
“It’s a total collapse of the security forces.”
Yeah, well, we promised to help South Vietnam to prevent an invasion from North Vietnam. That worked well, too.
Category: Terror War
I was in Mosul 2006/2007. It was the wild wild west for sure, pisses me off that the sorry shits couldn’t keep them out !
I was there in 05/06. It will always be a shithole.
Was there 2004/5 – color me shocked, especially after seeing the old ICDC and later on in Baghdad the new Iraqi Army cruising around in those new M1151s. I just saw a few pictures of those shiny toys turned into burning scrap. Great feeling of accomplishment, there :).
I was there same time frame. 4BCT 1 CAV. Im not sure whether to be angry, hurt, or some strange combination of those two and many others. It just seems like all that we did, all that we lost, all that we gave up was for absolutely nothing.
I’m sure we are all in total shock and surprise at this, I know I am…NOT!
I for one am shocked, shocked I tell you. Who could have seen this coming when we left. A lot of good dudes died taking the city and holding it. What a damn shame. Those cartoon characters(Iraqi Army)are pretty worthless.
Same here. I’m sure anyone who has spent any amount of time in uniform knew Iraq would turn out this way.
So much for Status of Forces agreements.
WHAT Status of Forces agreement?
I was a deployer in 2008 when 3ACR (Brave Rifles) owned Diamondback and Marez. Sad to see all that effort go to waste so quickly.
Proving once again the ‘pull out method’ just doesn’t work.
It is far worse than being reported.
I am hearing the real story.
The largest US Embassy in the world may fall soon.
And I say that because, the news on the ground is bad and no one believes the Calvary will arrive when needed.
What a surprise? NOT! When we left who else saw this coming. We trained and equipped the Iraqis just like the South Vietnamese but as soon as the enemy showed up…the South Vietnamese were tossing weapons and uniforms and headed back to the rice paddies. So, the Iraqis are tossing their weapons, shedding their uniforms and heading back to the goat herding. You can train men how, you can train them tactics and skills and equip them to make excellent use of all you gave them. But…you cannot teach or train or instill…courage. Apparently they have a far different idea about their “homeland” and its value as a democracy than we thought they had. But I always believed the Iraqis were brave when we were there to support the in the lead and behind them but left to themselves they could care less about the state and ultimate future of their country. So, let them have whatever they are willing to stand and fight for. That is all any nation deserves. Blood is the price of freedom for any country and always has been. Life under Sharia law is obviously more appealing to them than freedom and the willingness to stand and fight for it. So when they finally digress to the seventh century shit hole they were, they will have gotten what they were willing to stand for and no more.
Please Lord, if Master Chief’s post above is on target, let us send aid NOW to our Embassy to defend and/or evacuate it before we have another Benghazi.
Obama and Kerry…are you listening? Can you see what is happening and coming and are you preparing for it NOW? Please tell me you aren’t sitting on your hands again just “waiting to see how it plays out”. There will be no phony video to blame this time if our Embassy is taken and the entourage killed or held hostage.
Deja vu all over again. I remember how pissed I was as I read the news of the NVA barreling down Highway 1 to Saigon. It happened so quickly. I did not hold the ARVNs in high regard when there but thought they would put a little more effort in protecting what we secured for them. The problem is I was a patriot. I would die to protect my homeland. All they thought of was to protect their own asses. Patriotism only extended to their families.
I thought the same of the Iraqis but not ever having been there still hoped for the best.I think western culture is unique in that sense. We see a larger group as ours, not just family. It may be true of the Japanese and Chinese as well.
My sympathies to those of you who served there. Remember you can only answer to yourselves for your own actions. You tried your best and served honorably. That is what really counts. Maybe we will learn that we really can’t save the world from itself.
Semper Fi
Taurus USMC 0302…You and me both brother. I was always suspicious of ARVN soldiers, especially behind me. But I thought they would have at least put up a good show of a fight. I remember the photos of huge piles of M-16s they had tossed and uniforms. I guess I should have expected less and I wouldn’t have been so disappointed when the end came. I agree with you, the soldiers of Iraq like the ones of us from Vietnam have nothing to be ashamed of. We did the job we were charged with doing and did it well. As I said, you can’t teach or instill courage or patriotism.
“…So, let them have whatever they are willing to stand and fight for. That is all any nation deserves. Blood is the price of freedom for any country and always has been. Life under Sharia law is obviously more appealing to them than freedom and the willingness to stand and fight for it. …”
Sparks, that’s exactly how I feel — but you said it in the words I couldn’t piece together.
If they want our “democracy” strongly enough, they’ll fight for it. If they don’t … who are WE to come in and tell them how to run their country.
Hell … we don’t butt in on many of the tiny nations in conflict. And, I’m jaded enough now to raise the “Neo-Isolationist” banner and proclaim “What the hell does that have to do with killing communists?”
It’s time we pull out of being the world’s “Fire Brigade.”
rgr1480
So this is what “ending a war” looks like.
It’s back to the future — for them and us.
We can add Mosul to the list of Obama’s foreign policy triumphs. Mosul will become a synonym for failure along side Saigon and Somalia. The military wins the battles only to have inept politicians squander the victories and lose the wars. Afghanistan will soon join that list.
You think this is a pile of warm runny shit? Just wait a couple of years when we pull out of Astan with Karzai kissing everyone’s ass to get on the last plane out.
That EmmFerrrrr will be on the last plane out BEFORE our last plane.
B. Hussein 0bama just HAD TO pull out as early as possible, it’s a huge pity that his Daddy didn’t, knowhutimean?
Your an ass. Argue a valid point. Have some respect. He’s still is our President and OUR country voted him in. knowhutimean? I hope in conjunction to being a proud infidel, you also served in the military. Could you imagine if YOUR daddy pulled out? I wouldn’t have to write this.
Just like Vietnam. I still meet a lot of Vietnamese that came over here in the boatlift to get out of that country when we abandoned the South Vietnamese people…
Pol Pot was a consequence of the cowardice in the political system as they voted to leave all of them swinging in the wind…
Makes me sick to my damn stomach to hear this…
Arm the Kurds.
Recognize and empower the Kurdish state (Kurdistan).
Problem solved.
Really?
What a clusterfuck.
How can you lose a whole city like that?
Did they ever get back Fallujah?
Fallujah is still held by the rebels.
http://news.yahoo.com/clashes-near-iraqs-fallujah-conflict-toll-reaches-366-182309297.html
What a damned mess…….
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/militants-seize-key-sections-of-iraqi-city-mosul-and-free-1000-people-in-prison-break-9520982.html
Apprently ISIS looted $425,000,000 worth of Iraqi cash from the Mosul central Bank.
Heard that this morning and now they have been identified as the most dangerous, well equipped and wealthy terrorist group in the world.
Lovely, just lovely.
Again, I fall back to our 1940s foreign policy in the Far East….
I wonder how much a Blackhawk is worth on the market.
Or a 747. I’d be more worried about them buying commerical air liners.
Funny how Saddam never had this problem. He had Sadr Sr killed, and scared Jr enough that he didn’t come back until the US made it safe for him to do so. Saddam would have been an asset against Al Qaeda.
What a fucking waste.
Tikrit has now fallen and ISIS is 95 miles from Baghdad.