Iraq, 2014. Not Doing So Well.

Iraq, 2014. Not Doing So Well.

Some doomsayers, or "realists", politicians or other pundits predicted it: Iraq would be torn up and divided by sectarian strife. It is looking true right now.

Mosul and other key Iraqi places are falling to ISIS.

ISIS is an organization that most of the Western world considers a terrorist group. After taking a large city like Mosul lately, ISIS might as well be  deemed a de facto government spanning the Syria/Iraqi border, straddling former fought over territory of Al-Anbar Province, a place where the Iraqi anti-Coalition Government forces wreaked havoc and high casualties from 2003 to as late as 2009.


This blog post was started more around the time that Mosul fell about a month ago, near the beginning of June of this year. In the summer weeks since then (now July 1, 2014), official Iraqi forces have fought back against ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (or Shem)), and have apparently struck back hard in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and other places that seemed fated to the Al-Qaeda or Wahhabi jihadist types. It currently appears the Shia-led government may make a stand.


More US forces and advisors have been sent to Baghdad to shore up the embassy and that central part of the country. There should be no repeat of the disaster of Benghazi and the US ambassador in September 2012.


Good news for the current state of Iraq (backed by the UN and the US) is that the official government is making a stand.


Fingers can be pointed in many different ways: President Bush (2001-2009) or the current president Obama (2009-2014+) in dealing with both Iraq and the bloodbath the last 4 years in Syria under Bashar Al-Assad.


Blame and credit can be leveled at US presidents and other world leaders. The soldiers and civilians in harm's way are the ones who pay the most.


Gas prices are the highest since 2008; Iraqi stability and oil production are part and parcel of these worldwide prices.


And many cynics and so-called "realists" call it the real bottom line: world economic forces.