By far the biggest story in the world this week is the capture of large Iraqi cities Mosul and Tikkrit, and large areas of the country, by ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. But there is very little attention to this here, or in the mainstream media, or in Congress.
It is especially disgusting that the Republican House of Representatives continues with ugly, grandstanding phoney scandals, like the Bergdahl matter, but ignores the crisis in Iraq. Things have suddenly blown up so bad there may well be intervention by Turkey and Iran. The corrupt and incompetent Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki has just called for U.S. intervention. ISIS has just announced that it's aiming for Baghdad.
Of course, the Republicans are gearing up to blame all of this on Obama for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by 2012.
I'd like to highlight one central fact. Contrary to common parlance, ISIS is not a grubby band of terrorists. Although originally an al-Qaeda affiliate, it has been so brutal in Syria that even the al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri called on it to disband. It is now operating as a real army, which greatly outclasses the current incompetent Iraqi military.
And a major reason for this is the monumentally stupid decision by U.S. viceroy Paul Bremer to completely dissolve Saddam's army, leaving thousands of trained officers with no place to go.
There was a good analysis of the situation today on CNN.COM: http://www.cnn.com/...
Here is a key excerpt:
While not as big as what it had been prior to the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq's military under Saddam Hussein boasted an estimated 430,000 soldiers and another 400,000 personnel in paramilitary units and security services when U.S.-led troops invaded in spring 2003.
* * *
After the military was overrun, it was dissolved -- along with Iraq's defense and information ministries -- by Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq.
That left hundreds of thousands of troops suddenly out of work. Those with ranks of colonel and above -- who knew the most about strategy, tactics and more -- were hit even harder, as they weren't entitled to severance packages and couldn't work for the new Iraqi government.
Then they had to go somewhere.
According to Fawaz Gerges, a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, "hundreds, if not thousands, of skilled officers of Saddam Hussein's ... joined ISIS."
That means this militant force -- even as it is supplemented by foreign fighters -- is trained and knows Iraq well. And its leaders may be more organized, strategically savvy and adept at fighting than some in Iraq's current military.
I fear we'll all be watching Iraq with horror for the rest of this year.