#ISIS Leader Ibrahim Awwad al-Badri al-Samarrai Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Looks to Gain Ground in #Iraq

At WSJ, "Top Militant Carves New Identity for Group: Leader of al Qaeda Offshoot ISIS, Emphasizing Practical Gains and Patriotism Over Ideology, Distinguishes His Mission":

As a master's-degree student at a university in Baghdad in 1997, Ibrahim Awwad al-Badri al-Samarrai was so poor he took cash handouts every month from a kindly professor, said a former classmate.

Now flush with cash, armed to the teeth and backed by an army known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, he is within striking distance of attacking the city where spent his humble youth.  The rise of the militant Islamist leader, who changed his name to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in 2010, is a rags-to-riches story that mirrors the rise of the ISIS militia he now leads.

By emphasizing practical gains over ideology and placing a premium on battlefield victories rather than lofty principals, Mr. Baghdadi's ISIS has become one of the most powerful militant Islamist groups, said experts on militant Islamism.  For the West, ISIS's strength and identity have created a new sort of enemy that has a reputation for brutality and in many ways looks and acts like the army of a state seeking to expand its territory.

ISIS is "actualizing the idea of the Islamic state. On the jihadi side of things, there's appeal in that," said Aaron Zelin, an expert on Islamist groups at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.  "You have guys just talking about it and al Qaeda and Jabhat Al Nusra saying they'll get there, whereas ISIS is just doing it," he said, referring to ISIS's rivals in Syria and throughout the world.

While ISIS shares much of the same ideology and jihadist vocabulary as al Qaeda, it differs on methodology. Whereas al Qaeda, which got its start during the resistance against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s, behaves as a terrorist organization advancing a global ideology, ISIS in many ways acts like the army of a sovereign nation with defined borders and a semi-legitimate system of governance...

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi."

Obama-Addled Democrat Slurs Iraq Vet J.R. Saltzman: 'You got your arm blown off cause of #BushCheneyLies...'

Man, this dude is overdosing on the leftist Obama-laced Kool-aid.

At Twitchy, "‘Beneath contempt’: Iraq vet J.R. Salzman told he lost arm because of Bush and not doing his job":

Classy guy, that @mikeejoe. I guess any soldier who lost a limb in Iraq wasn't doing their job. pic.twitter.com/N8zrXeP0V1

— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 15, 2014

Total asshole:

Dirtbag leftist: ~~> @mikeejoe

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 16, 2014

Obama Sneakily Releases 12 Jihadis from Parwan Detention Center in #Afghanistan

Obama's sending the terrorists back to the battlefield, very quietly and secretly.

At Jihad Watch, "U.S. quietly releases 12 jihadis from U.S. military prison in Afghanistan":

Just in case the five jihadis traded for Bowe Bergdahl weren’t enough, Barack Obama has released twelve more. What could possibly go wrong? Ten of them are Pakistanis, and “Pakistani officials have said that returned detainees would be kept under surveillance to make sure they had no militant links.” We all know that Pakistani authorities are completely honest and indefatigably anti-jihad!

Keep reading.

IDF Soldiers Arrest Top Hamas Terrorist Hassan Yousef

Via Blazing Cat Fur, who's got a complete report, "Things heat up in Israel over kidnapped teens: Shots fired at soldiers near Jerusalem, rockets at Ashkelon."

Lara Logan: #ISIS Arms Seizures Have 'significantly changed the dynamics of what we face...'

I watched this morning, the first time I've seen her on TV since that botched "60 Minutes" segment on Benghazi some time ago. She's lucky she wasn't fired. But good thing. If you know Logan, she's really one of the few network reporters out there who truly understands the nature of the enemy and the costs to international security from an American and Iraq defeat across the region.

At Truth Revolt, "Lara Logan Explains the Disaster of Losing US Weapons to ISIS."



And flashback to 2012, "Lara Logan Speaks Truth to War on Terror."

U.S. Must Put Out the Fire in #Iraq — With Ground Troops

So far the first analysis I've read thus far expliciting calling for a ground troop deployment.

From Frederick Kagan, at the New York Daily News, "Put out this fire":

President Obama says that he is mulling options for providing support to Iraq, but with great reluctance. "The U.S. is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis," he said Friday.

A political plan for Iraq is vital. Everything the administration has said about the sectarianism and mis-governance of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki is true. Assistance to Iraq must include strong conditions to press Maliki to change his approach - or leave office.

But the Iraqis need vigorous and intelligent American involvement right now to prevent a stalemate that will leave ISIS in control of much of northern Iraq. That is an unacceptable outcome, one that would do far more damage to America than our retreat from Vietnam in 1975.

We face a simple choice: We can either rejoin our demoralized Iraqi partners in the fight against ISIS or we can watch as this Al Qaeda franchise solidifies its control over several million Iraqis and Syrians, completes its plundering of military bases and continues to build up, train and equip an honest-to-goodness military.

Rejoining the fight means immediately sending air support; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets; air transportation; Special Operations forces; training teams; and more military equipment back into Iraq. It does not mean re-invading Iraq.

Immediately sending air support and Special Forces to Mosul might shock ISIS and embolden the population enough to rout the jihadis from the city. But if it does not, the Iraqi Security Forces may well prove unable to regain Mosul on their own.

In that case, a small contingent of U.S. ground forces would be required...

Keep reading.

RELATED: At the Wall Street Journal, "Militants Claim Photos Show Mass Execution in Iraq: Twitter Account Associated With ISIS Appears to Dozens of Captured Men in Civilian Clothes," and "Iraq Militants Claim Soldier Massacre: Photos of Alleged Killings Posted Online as U.S., Iran Near Talks on Cooperation to Counter Insurgents."

Also at Long War Journal, "ISIS photographs detail execution of Iraqi soldiers."

Beware the Islamic #Caliphate in the Middle East

From political scientist Michael Curtis, at American Thinker, "Beware the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East":

The Obama administration confronts a difficult problem of what role to play in the context of the success of ISIS, civil war in both Iraq and Syria, and sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis. The administration was wrong when the chief of staff, Denis McDonough, declared in 2011 that the U.S. had helped bring about a secure, stable, self-reliant Iraq. No one is presently calling for American troops to fight on Iraqi soil. But should the U.S. now supply drones and manned aircraft, strengthen intelligence capabilities, and aid in more training exercises? Can the administration and U.S. citizens in general forget the American sacrifices and losses in the battles for Mosul and Fallujah? The Obama belief that the tide of war was receding and therefore that the U.S. could reduce its forces abroad, and concentrate on “nation-building,” was always arguable, if popular in public opinion, and now resembles a policy of appeasement. It was unhelpful that Obama suggested to Congress that it repeal the 2001 Authorization to use military force against al-Qaeda.

American refusal or hesitation in helping to control the Islamic threat in Iraq is even more unacceptable because the objective of ISIS is clear. It is fighting to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Persian Gulf area, and to become the leader of global jihad. ISIS has declared that “we are soldiers of Islam and took on our responsibility to bring back the glory of the Islamic Caliphate."

Whatever the decisions made by President Obama on the increasingly perilous situation in Iraq, and the regional instability caused by the ambitions of ISIS, he has to take into account two other facts: the decision for total withdrawal in 2016 from Afghanistan, a country menaced by the Taliban, and the interest of some Palestinians to create another version of the Islamic caliphate surrounding or replacing the State of Israel. Will the U.S. and the European Union face with all their courage the fight against Islamic tyranny and the support for Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East?

RTWT.

Father's Day #Rule5

I'm going to hold off on a big roundup today. I want to keep up with developments in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Pirate's cove has some lovely Rule 5 blogging, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is a horrible fossil fueled vehicle which should be banned for Everyone Else, you might just be a Warmist."

Have a great day everybody!

ADDED: At First Street Journal, "Rule 5 Blogging: Back to the IDF!," and Goodstuff's, "GOODSTUFF'S BLOGGING MAGAZINE (143rd Issue)."

U.S. Begins Evacuation of U.S. Embassy in #Iraq

At the New York Times (via Memeorandum), "U.S. to Evacuate Many Staff Members From Baghdad Embassy."

Also at Gateway Pundit, "U.S. EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD to Begin Evacuation," and Zero Hedge, "U.S. Orders Partial Evacuation of Baghdad Embassy as Aircraft Carrier Arrives in Gulf." (Added: From Robert Spencer, at Jihad Watch, "U.S. to evacuate substantial number of personnel from Baghdad embassy."

And here's this morning's report from CBS News:

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair Calls for Western Intervention in #Iraq

At the BBC, "Tony Blair: 'We didn't cause Iraq crisis'."

And from the Office of Tony Blair, "Iraq, Syria and the Middle East – An essay by Tony Blair":

The civil war in Syria with its attendant disintegration is having its predictable and malign effect. Iraq is now in mortal danger. The whole of the Middle East is under threat.  We will have to re-think our strategy towards Syria; support the Iraqi Government in beating back the insurgency; whilst making it clear that Iraq’s politics will have to change for any resolution of the current crisis to be sustained. Then we need a comprehensive plan for the Middle East that correctly learns the lessons of the past decade. In doing so, we should listen to and work closely with our allies across the region, whose understanding of these issues is crucial and who are prepared to work with us in fighting the root causes of this extremism which goes far beyond the crisis in Iraq or Syria.

It is inevitable that events in Mosul have led to a re-run of the arguments over the decision to remove Saddam Hussein in 2003. The key question obviously is what to do now. But because some of the commentary has gone immediately to claim that but for that decision, Iraq would not be facing this challenge; or even more extraordinary, implying that but for the decision, the Middle East would be at peace right now; it is necessary that certain points are made forcefully before putting forward a solution to what is happening now.  3/4 years ago Al Qaida in Iraq was a beaten force. The country had massive challenges but had a prospect, at least, of overcoming them. It did not pose a threat to its neighbours. Indeed, since the removal of Saddam, and despite the bloodshed, Iraq had contained its own instability mostly within its own borders.

Though the challenge of terrorism was and is very real, the sectarianism of the Maliki Government snuffed out what was a genuine opportunity to build a cohesive Iraq. This, combined with the failure to use the oil money to re-build the country, and the inadequacy of the Iraqi forces have led to the alienation of the Sunni community and the inability of the Iraqi army to repulse the attack on Mosul and the earlier loss of Fallujah. And there will be debate about whether the withdrawal of US forces happened too soon.

However there is also no doubt that a major proximate cause of the takeover of Mosul by ISIS is the situation in Syria.  To argue otherwise is wilful. The operation in Mosul was planned and organised from Raqqa across the Syria border. The fighters were trained and battle-hardened in the Syrian war. It is true that they originate in Iraq and have shifted focus to Iraq over the past months. But, Islamist extremism in all its different manifestations as a group, rebuilt refinanced and re-armed mainly as a result of its ability to grow and gain experience through the war in Syria.

As for how these events reflect on the original decision to remove Saddam, if we want to have this debate, we have to do something that is rarely done: put the counterfactual i.e. suppose in 2003, Saddam had been left running Iraq.  Now take each of the arguments against the decision in turn...

The reality is that the whole of the Middle East and beyond is going through a huge, agonising and protracted transition. We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that ‘we’ have caused this. We haven't. We can argue as to whether our policies at points have helped or not; and whether action or inaction is the best policy and there is a lot to be said on both sides. But the fundamental cause of the crisis lies within the region not outside it.

The problems of the Middle East are the product of bad systems of politics mixed with a bad abuse of religion going back over a long time. Poor governance, weak institutions, oppressive rule and a failure within parts of Islam to work out a sensible relationship between religion and Government have combined to create countries which are simply unprepared for the modern world. Put into that mix, young populations with no effective job opportunities and education systems that do not correspond to the requirements of the future economy, and you have a toxic, inherently unstable matrix of factors that was always – repeat always - going to lead to a revolution.

But because of the way these factors interrelate, the revolution was never going to be straightforward. This is the true lesson of Iraq. But it is also the lesson from the whole of the so-called Arab Spring. The fact is that as a result of the way these societies have developed and because Islamism of various descriptions became the focal point of opposition to oppression, the removal of the dictatorship is only the beginning not the end of the challenge. Once the regime changes, then out come pouring all the tensions – tribal, ethnic and of course above all religious; and the rebuilding of the country, with functioning institutions and systems of Government, becomes incredibly hard. The extremism de-stabilises the country, hinders the attempts at development, the sectarian divisions become even more acute and the result is the mess we see all over the region. And beyond it. Look at Pakistan or Afghanistan and the same elements are present.

Understanding this and analysing properly what has happened, is absolutely vital to the severe challenge of working out what we can do about it. So rather than continuing to re-run the debate over Iraq from over 11 years ago, realise that whatever we had done or not done, we would be facing a big challenge today.  Indeed we now have three examples of Western policy towards regime change in the region. In Iraq, we called for the regime to change, removed it and put in troops to try to rebuild the country. But intervention proved very tough and today the country is at risk again. In Libya, we called for the regime to change, we removed it by airpower, but refused to put in troops and now Libya is racked by instability, violence and has exported vast amounts of trouble and weapons across North Africa and down into sub- Saharan Africa. In Syria we called for the regime to change, took no action and it is in the worst state of all.

And when we do act, it is often difficult to discern the governing principles of action. Gaddafi, who in 2003 had given up his WMD and cooperated with us in the fight against terrorism, is removed by us on the basis he threatens to kill his people but Assad, who actually kills his people on a vast scale including with chemical weapons, is left in power.  So what does all this mean? How do we make sense of it? I speak with humility on this issue because I went through the post 9/11 world and know how tough the decisions are in respect of it. But I have also, since leaving office, spent a great deal of time in the region and have studied its dynamics carefully.

The beginning of understanding is to appreciate that resolving this situation is immensely complex. This is a generation long struggle. It is not a ‘war’ which you win or lose in some clear and clean-cut way. There is no easy or painless solution. Intervention is hard. Partial intervention is hard. Non-intervention is hard.

Ok, so if it is that hard, why not stay out of it all, the current default position of the West? The answer is because the outcome of this long transition impacts us profoundly. At its simplest, the jihadist groups are never going to leave us alone. 9/11 happened for a reason. That reason and the ideology behind it have not disappeared.

However more than that, in this struggle will be decided many things: the fate of individual countries, the future of the Middle East, and the direction of the relationship between politics and the religion of Islam. This last point will affect us in a large number of ways. It will affect the radicalism within our own societies which now have significant Muslim populations. And it will affect how Islam develops across the world. If the extremism is defeated in the Middle East it will eventually be defeated the world over, because this region is its spiritual home and from this region has been spread the extremist message.  There is no sensible policy for the West based on indifference. This is, in part, our struggle, whether we like it or not...

Continue reading.

Tunisian #ISIS Jihadist Executes 5 Captured Soldiers in #Iraq — WARNING GRAPHIC

According to Dubai journalist Jenan Moussa on Twitter (here, here, and here):





More on the jihadist's Facebook page. Social media for the caliphate.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up...", and "Reaganite Republican, "

More at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Desertion," and Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies."

CARTOON CREDIT: Marian Kamensky.

#ISIS Jihadists Prepare for Khalifah in #Iraq

Checking the #ISIS pages on Twitter, there's lots of talk of jihadist forces quickly encroaching on Baghdad, but it's mostly in Arabic, so I can't confirm.

That said, numerous ISIS accounts are boasting of the coming Khalifah (caliphate).

Inshallah.

"@AbuAishah_: Bi'ithnillāh! pic.twitter.com/Gnkv6QDJGI"
— #PrayforISIS (@Haneeeeeeefaa) June 15, 2014

Caan't wait. Oh I cant WAIT. ^_^ :")) pic.twitter.com/GbWH61UjSB
— #PrayforISIS (@Haneeeeeeefaa) June 15, 2014

The munafiqeen refuse to awknowledge the possibility of Khilafa in Iraq while the kuffar mention it as the greatest threat arising.
— Ghazi (@ghazishami) June 15, 2014

Miranda Kerr Flaunts Cleavage in New Photoshoot for 'The Edit' Magazine

At London's Daily Mail, "She's the ultimate biker babe! Miranda Kerr flaunts considerable cleavage in a low cut top as she straddles a motorcycle in VERY racy new photo shoot."

Sen. Lindsey Graham: 'The Next 9/11' Now Being Planted by #Iraq Chaos

I caught this interview earlier.

I don't love Sen. Grahamnesty, but as he says at the clip, he's been to Iraq more times than he can count.

VIDEO: Mitt Romney Eerily Predicted Epic # Iraq Collapse in '07

This is fantastic!

Via Independent Journal Review, "In 2007, Romney Predicted Current Events In Iraq So Accurately He Must Have Had A Time Machine."

Oh My! Leftist Wonk Rosa Brooks Shreds Obama's Foreign Policy in One Tweet!

Via Theo Spark:

US respnse 2 Syria,Russia,Iraq: 1)Huh? 2)We're watching this closely 3)With concern. 4)Hey, stop- 5)We won't tolerate that! 6)Mmm. Whatever.

— Rosa Brooks (@brooks_rosa) June 13, 2014

Brooks is very far to the left. Indeed, seems to me O's foreign policy would be right in her wheelhouse. Chalk it up to one more political opportunist abandoning this administration faster than you can say "Election 2016."

Leftists 'Re-Litigate' the #Iraq War

I noted the other day how MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski wanted "to go back and 're-litigate' the origins of the war in 2003."

I suppose it's a standard of our time, but everything nowadays --- and I mean everything --- is evaluated through the harsh lens of political polarization.

Today's exhibit: David Atkins' piece attacking the evil "neocons" at the Washington Monthly, "The brutal neoconservative legacy in Iraq."

The funny thing about this: I don't disagree with a lot of the criticism. It's just too obviously bothersome to note that President Bush had bipartisan support for approving 2002's Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, including a majority of the Democrats (58 percent) in the Senate, and especially Hillary Clinton. (And recall President Bill Clinton signed the Iraqi Liberation Act in 1998, authorizing regime change in Baghdad as a continuation of U.S. policy since the 1991 Persian Gulf War).



So, yeah, a lot went wrong with the war, but the deployment had the support of the American people, as well as top political leaders across the spectrum. The attacks on the war since 2003 have been the most treasonous political about-face in modern times, if not in American history. The true face of the Democrat Party was revealed for all to see at that time, and the country ultimately elected Barack Obama to the White House on a hard left antiwar platform. And how's that working out? The fruits of the antiwar movement are now seen today from the release of Bowe Bergdahl to the coming collapse of Baghdad. That's the Democrat Party legacy. And that's what's going to be remembered when people ask "Who lost Iraq"?

Hat Tip: BooMan Tribune and Memeorandum.

Nicole Kidman at 'Grace of Monaco' Press Conference at Shanghai International Film Festival on Sunday

Lovely.

At London's Daily Mail, "Perky Nicole Kidman covers up her ample cleavage two days after wearing a VERY low cut gown that stole the show."

VIDEO: MI-35 Helicopter Gunship Fires on #ISIS Jihadists in Iraq

Via SilverIsTheNew:

Footage released by Iraq’s defense ministry on Saturday showed a helicopter gunship targeting what Iraq says are Sunni militant targets in northern Iraq. The Mi-35 helicopter gunship fired missiles at several buildings and a vehicle in the provinces of Nineveh and Salaheddin.

More at RT.

Plus, at London's Daily Mail, "How Isis have rampaged towards the capital: A blow by blow account of how Islamist militants outnumbered 20-to-1 by the army cut through huge swathes of Iraq."

Check back for updates throughout the day.

#Angels Rally to Beat #Braves 11-6 in 13 Innings

One heckuva game.

At LAT, "It's a lucky 13th for the Angels against Atlanta."

Just read it all at the link.

Mike DiGiovanna on Twitter was going crazy himself, to say nothing of my friend lamblock!

Albert Pujols leads of 10th with 2B off Kimbrel, Hamilton follows with RBI 1B to give #Angels 6-5 lead. Crazy, wacky stuff.
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) June 15, 2014

Here's something I didn't expect to hear: "C.J. Wilson pinch-hitting for the Angels." It's true, in the top of the 13th.
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) June 15, 2014

#Angels load bases with no outs in 13th. Calhoun RBI 1B, Trout 2-run 2B, now 9-6 over #Braves. No more tweets. Gotta write.
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) June 15, 2014

I'm going to be blind drunk in the corner signing Irish drinking songs if we don't win soon LOL @AmPowerBlog

— Bossy & Proud of It (@lamblock) June 15, 2014

Judge Jeanine Pirro: 'You Need to Be Worried...'

Week in and week out, Judge Jeanine broadcasts the most devastating attacks on this cowardly presidential regime. But believe it when she says even she's scared this time. The disintegration of Iraq threatens Americans. The war will come to the homeland. It's only a matter of time. This to our Nobel Prize winning president, who declared that the U.S. was leaving behind a "stable, peaceful Iraq."

Hardly.

For the U.S., a Disappointing World

From Walter Russell Mead, at WSJ (via Blazing Cat Fur), "The chaos in Iraq is just the latest evidence that history doesn't follow America's optimistic script":

It has not been a good year for the liberal world order. Not since the end of the Cold War have so many crises erupted in so many places: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's relentless push in the East and South China seas, and the surge in jihadist violence and terror from Boko Haram in Nigeria to the religious war that now engulfs Syria and Iraq. This is not what Americans thought the world would look like in the third decade since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

As we struggle to understand why the post-Cold War world has been such an unpleasant place, it is tempting to turn foreign policy into a political football. There are plenty of Democrats who think that everything would have been fine if President George W. Bush hadn't blundered into the Iraq war. There is also no shortage of Republicans who think that everything would have worked out fine if only Barack Obama hadn't made it to the White House.

While it is true that both presidents got some important things wrong, it is what unites them rather than what divides them that is the root cause of our troubles. Both Messrs. Bush and Obama, like many of their fellow citizens, radically underestimate the dangers and difficulties in the path of historical progress...

Continue reading.

#Iraq Military May Not Be Capable of Counteroffensive

From Jessica Lewis, at the Wall Street Journal, "The Terrorist Army Marching on Baghdad":

The extremists are encircling Baghdad and likely planning an offensive. But ISIS may move again to strike Samarra, 70 miles to the north and close to the ISIS front line. If these Islamists, who are Sunnis, seize Samarra's al-Askari mosque—a revered Shiite monument—the country will be thrown into another sectarian civil war. That has long been ISIS's aim. In a civil war, ISIS thinks it can emerge as the stronger military power. Then the group would have a state, would be fully armed and ready to expand westward, into Syria's northern cities beyond ISIS-held Raqqa.

The Shiite-dominated Iraqi troops would likely fight to protect Samarra and Baghdad. But the Iraqi military is not at full strength, and its forces are not combat-ready. Desertion, low morale and maintenance deficiencies are rampant. Over the past year, ISIS has thoroughly intimidated Iraqi troops in the north. Three of the four northern army divisions are defunct. The remainder are gathering now in Samarra and Taji, regrouping under other formations for the protection of Samarra and Baghdad.

Another problem: Many of Iraq's deployable units are already reinforcing Anbar province in the west against ISIS. According to 2013 estimates, the Iraqi army contains 14 maneuver divisions, roughly 200,000 soldiers in addition to 40,000 federal police and 300,000 local police. Four of the army's divisions are assigned to northern areas of Iraq that have just fallen out of state control. If Iraqi security forces try to retake the north, ISIS would be joined by Baathist elements loyal to the memory of Saddam Hussein and additional insurgent groups in trying to repel them. The Iraqi military simply may not have the capacity to launch a sufficient counteroffensive...

Continue reading.

Recall I posted Jessica Lewis yesterday, "#Iraq Analysis — The Battle for Baghdad: Scenarios."

Iraqi PM Orders Troops to Make Stand in #Samarra; U.S. Sends Aircraft Carrier

The report from earlier today, at CNN.

The U.S.S. George H. W. Bush should be in the Northern Persian Gulf about now.

#ISIS Posts Sunni Police Chief Beheading in #WorldCup Tweet — WARNING GRAPHIC

At the New York Post, "‘This is our ball’: Iraqi jihadis cut off head for World Cup tweet."

Twitter shut down the @ANSAR_DWLA_IRAQ feed, but here's the original photo:

#Iraq Analysis — The Battle for Baghdad: Scenarios

From Jessica Lewis, at the Institute for the Study of War:

Baghdad

ISIS will seek to target the seat of Iraq’s government in the Green Zone. This may be a symbolic target rather than an operational target. Strategically, ISIS does not need to overrun the Green Zone. They only need to demonstrate the ability to maneuver ground forces into the city center, past the best that the ISF can muster, and touch the flagpole. If ISIS is able to assault the Green Zone with a ground attack force, they will realize the full defeat of the Iraqi Security Forces. The command and control of Shi’a militias, police forces, and Iraqi civilians in the wake of such an attack would overwhelm the Baghdad Operations Command. The core functions of the Iraqi state would break down. Baghdad would become a ward of the Iranian government to protect the Khadimiya shrine, and Baghdad would become a buffer zone for low-level attacks across an Iranian-ISIS demarcation line...

That's at taste.

Continue reading.

Convenient: IRS Has 'Lost' Two Years of Lois Lerner's Emails

From Katie Pavlich, at Town Hall.



Also at Twitchy, "‘PHONY SCANDAL ALERT!’ Disbelief after IRS claims Lois Lerner emails have been ‘lost’," and "Rep. Jason Chaffetz: IRS testified that Lois Lerner’s emails were archived [video]."

VIDEO: Angelina Jolie — We Should Have Done More in #Syria

"It's really quite horrifying as a humanitarian ... we are lacking in leadership in the world, in general."

Yeah, well, you wouldn't want to wander too off the Hollywood-leftist reservation, heh.

Watch: "Actress Angelina Jolie: We Should Have Done More in Syria."

Neil Cavuto Interview with Mark Levin on #Iraq Disintegration

The great thing about Mark Levin is he always indicates that he's not a military or defense expert, "But when I see caravans of barbarians who're decapitating people who supported us, going down street after street after street, and our bombers and our jet-fighters just sit there getting rusty, that bothers me a lot."

Watch:

Petra Nemcova for GQ Portugal May 2014

Wow.

At Sports Illustrated, "Petra Nemcova and GQ Portugal rethink the “sideboob,” Sean Avery has some thoughts on Hilary Rhoda’s bridal look, and more news."

VIDEO: President Barack Obama #Commencement Address at University of California, Irvine

Here's the full video, "President Obama Delivers the Commencement Address at the University of California, Irvine."

Right here at home in Irvine. Turns out he threw out the "post-partisan" script.

At CNN, "Climate change deniers ‘serious threat’ to future, Obama says."

The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker?

Seriously?

The New Republic's epic smear of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, at Althouse, "'I live in Wisconsin, and I've been following Scott Walker since the 2010 election here, and I have no idea what the 'toxic strain of racial politics' refers to. But congratulations to TNR for it's eye-catching and weird sexualization of Walker: 'Scott Walker Is So Hot Right Now' and for having the nerve to sub-head with "too bad" as you smear him with the accusation of "toxic strain of racial politics'."



Althouse subscribes to TNR and has the smear, "The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker: A Journey Through the Poisonous World That Produced a Republican Star," on her iPad.

Obama's Rush for #Iraq Exit and Maliki's Autocratic Rule Ensured Much Hard-Won Progress Would Be Lost

From Fouad Ajami, at the Wall Street Journal, "The Men Who Sealed Iraq's Disaster With a Handshake":

Two men bear direct responsibility for the mayhem engulfing Iraq: Barack Obama and Nouri al-Maliki. The U.S. president and Iraqi prime minister stood shoulder to shoulder in a White House ceremony in December 2011 proclaiming victory. Mr. Obama was fulfilling a campaign pledge to end the Iraq war. There was a utopian tone to his pronouncement, suggesting that the conflicts that had been endemic to that region would be brought to an end. As for Mr. Maliki, there was the heady satisfaction, in his estimation, that Iraq would be sovereign and intact under his dominion.

In truth, Iraq's new Shiite prime minister was trading American tutelage for Iranian hegemony. Thus the claim that Iraq was a fully sovereign country was an idle boast. Around the Maliki regime swirled mightier, more sinister players. In addition to Iran's penetration of Iraqi strategic and political life, there was Baghdad's unholy alliance with the brutal Assad regime in Syria, whose members belong to an Alawite Shiite sect and were taking on a largely Sunni rebellion. If Bashar Assad were to fall, Mr. Maliki feared, the Sunnis of Iraq would rise up next.

Now, even as Assad clings to power in Damascus, Iraq's Sunnis have risen up and joined forces with the murderous, al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which controls much of northern Syria and the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Mosul and Tikrit. ISIS marauders are now marching on the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and Baghdad itself has become a target.

In a dire sectarian development on Friday, Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called on his followers to take up arms against ISIS and other Sunni insurgents in defense of the Baghdad government. This is no ordinary cleric playing with fire. For a decade, Ayatollah Sistani stayed on the side of order and social peace. Indeed, at the height of Iraq's sectarian troubles in 2006-07, President George W. Bush gave the ayatollah credit for keeping the lid on that volcano. Now even that barrier to sectarian violence has been lifted.

This sad state of affairs was in no way preordained. In December 2011, Mr. Obama stood with Mr. Maliki and boasted that "in the coming years, it's estimated that Iraq's economy will grow even faster than China's or India's." But the negligence of these two men—most notably in their failure to successfully negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement that would have maintained an adequate U.S. military presence in Iraq—has resulted in the current descent into sectarian civil war.

Outstanding.

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Calls for Shia Jihad."

Iraq Veteran J.R. Salzman Slams Obama — #Iraq

Brutal.

At Twitchy, "‘Why did you throw our sacrifices away?’: Vet J.R. Salzman slams President Obama."

.@BarackObama Thousands of Americans sacrificed life and limb in Iraq, and you're tweeting about student loans as it falls to terrorists?
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 13, 2014

I did not get an arm blown off in Baghdad so you could sit on your ass and watch Iraq fall, @BarackObama. I did my job. DO YOUR JOB.
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 13, 2014

And don't give us any of that "I inherited this mess" BS on Iraq. You were president the last three years of the Iraq war, @BarackObama.
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 13, 2014

You promised to fix the worlds problems, yet you somehow lost a war THAT WAS ALREADY WON. How is that even possible, @BarackObama?!?
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 13, 2014

Wolf Blitzer Interview with John McCain on Iraq's 'Existential Threat'

Heh, he wants Susan Rice fired.

Fire 'em all for that matter!

Hundreds of British Jihadis Flooding Into #Iraq

Hoisting the black flag over Iraq.

And after they're done there, they'll head back to Britain to rain down destruction on the infidels.

At London's Daily Mail, "British fanatics heading to Iraq to join ISIS militants in their HUNDREDS amid fears 'they could bring terror to UK'."

Doctors Use Forceps to Remove Cellphone Stuck Down Man's Throat

So disgusting the nurse in the background is gobsmackingly horrified. Her face says it all as a long stream of saliva drools off the phone as doctors rip the thing from deep inside the man's oral cavity.

Truly sick.

At Mirror UK.

And on YouTube, too gross to embed (and that's saying a lot), "See man with mobile phone stuck in his mouth reducing medics to laughter."

Iraqi Military Repels #ISIS Jihadis North of Baghdad

Really?

Well, we'll see how they hold up.

I expect word anytime now of Maliki fleeing to Tehran.

But see the Wall Street Journal, "Iraqi Military Makes Gains North of Baghdad in Conflict With ISIS: U.S. Moves Aircraft Carrier into Persian Gulf."

Also at Al Alam, "Iraq forces retake town north of Baghdad."

Sounds like very limited and isolated success thus far.

Check back for updates.

Obama's Appeasement Midwifes the Birth of Islamic #Caliphate In Iraq

At IBD:

Ramirez cartoon: Don't forget your golf clubs, Mr. President http://t.co/g3FPhUCodj #Iraq pic.twitter.com/0HW3yjxIID
— IBDeditorials (@IBDeditorials) June 14, 2014

From Syria to Iraq to Afghanistan to Pakistan, the jihadist dream of a caliphate stretching from the Atlantic to the Himalayas is taking shape. It's aided by a feckless foreign policy not seen since Neville Chamberlain.

As President Obama learns about it in the newspapers, the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is dismembering Iraq, adding Saddam Hussein's birthplace of Tikrit to the list of cities once liberated by the U.S. that are now flying jihadist flags. The war on terrorism is over all right, and Obama lost it.

An American official has told The Blaze that the U.S. Embassy, United Nations and other foreign organizations with a presence in Iraq are "preparing contingency plans to evacuate employees." We might soon see helicopters on the roof of our embassy in Baghdad in a scene reminiscent of the last days of Saigon as Iraq becomes Obama's Vietnam.

Unlike Vietnam, ISIS is not interested in liberating the homeland from colonial oppressors. ISIS and other radical Islamists have long proclaimed a goal of restoring a pan-Islamic state, a caliphate that extends from the Mediterranean coast to the Iranian border. One such Islamic empire, in the seventh century, spanned the Middle East, spread to Southwest Asia, North Africa and Spain, ending with the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258.

The largest and most powerful rebel force in Syria is Jabhat al-Nusra, with 7,000 fighters. It's a branch of al-Qaida in Iraq, from which it has received regular payments.

"It's now time to declare in front of the people of the Levant and (the) world that the al-Nusra Front is but an extension of the Islamic State in Iraq and part of it," Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is quoted as saying recently in a piece on AlArabiya.net.

"This (ISIS' rise in Iraq) is of great significance," according to an assessment released Wednesday by the Soufan Group, a private security company. A restored caliphate will attract "many more disaffected young people ... from all over the Muslim world, especially the Middle East, lured by nostalgia for al-Khulafa al-Islamiya (the Islamic caliphate), which remains a potent motivator for Sunni extremists."

Restoring the caliphate was the stated goal of Osama bin Laden in creating al-Qaida, but the terrorist group was never designed to take and hold territory as is ISIS, now flush with captured cash and weaponry.

"It's ISIS that will build the caliphate, not al-Qaida," says Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, who monitors jihadist activity for the Middle East Forum...

Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Calls for Shia Jihad

Following-up from yesterday, "Thousands Heed Call to Arms in #Iraq: Top Shiite Cleric Urges Defense Against Fast-Moving Sunni Insurgents, Fanning Sectarian Conflict."

Here's the clip, from Telegraph UK:



And the latest from CNN, "Iraq's leaders scramble to rally forces against militant advance."

#ISIS Claims Credit for Kidnapping Israeli Teenagers

From Algemeiner, at the link.

Terror Cell Affiliated With Bloodthirsty #ISIS Claims Responsibility for Presumed Kidnapping of Israeli Teens http://t.co/c0ZkS7B3IA #Israel
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 14, 2014

#WATCH: Nighttime search for 3 missing #Israeli teenagers. We will work day & night to bring them home http://t.co/HA6gI0kxoV
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 14, 2014

#EXCLUSIVE: Inside look at the search for 3 teens presumed kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists #BringBackOurBoys http://t.co/qco4Hi3as9
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 14, 2014

And from the IDF spokesman, who discounts ISIS claims.

#IDF is operating under the presumption that the 3 #Israeli teens were abducted by #Palestinian militants. Our Mission, bring them home ASAP

— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) June 14, 2014

Ukraine Army Plane Shot Down

At BCF, "Pro-Russian rebels shoot down large Ukrainian transport plane, killing dozens."

Also at AP, "Raw: Military Plane Shot Down in Ukraine."

And Russia Today (FWIW), "Ukraine military Il-76 plane downed by self-defense forces in Lugansk," and "Moment Ukraine Il-76 military transport jet shot down in Lugansk."

Bare-Faced #ISIS Executioner Shakir Wahiyib

A jihadi rock star.

Well, let's not celebrate these ghouls too much now, eh?

At Telegraph UK, "Iraq crisis: the bare faced ISIS executioner who spreads terror with his open killing":

Shakir Wahiyib is a feared enforcer for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham who does not cover up his face in videos of his killings.

In an army full of masked, black-clad figures, he is the one man who is never shy to show his face. But for those unlucky enough to cross him, the face of Shakir Wahiyib, a feared enforcer for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, is often the last they will ever see.

The star of a series of grisly jihadist videos, including one in which three men are executed after failing his "Quranic quiz", Wahiyib is one of the few publicly-identified leaders of the shadowy jihadist group that has swept through northern Iraq.

The bare faced ISIS executioner who spreads terror with his open killing http://t.co/MmlJY58A29 pic.twitter.com/D99Xfxt1o6
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 14, 2014

Whoa J-Lo!

Jennifer Lopez for Billboard magazine, looking fit and fabulous.

See, "Whoa, J.Lo! Jennifer Lopez Billboard Cover Shoot."

“@JV3GA90: Who Cover of @billboard Magazine well duh it @JLo of course showing you body for the Gods #JLoAKAjune17 pic.twitter.com/ipoZ5svTvS” 😊

— Jennifer Lopez (@JLo) June 13, 2014

Chrissie Hynde Out With Debut Solo Album

Toby Harnden retweeted Chrissie Hynde yesterday. Amazing.

At the New York Times, "Chrissie Hynde, Minus the Pretenders."

And Sydney Morning Herald, "Hard rockin' Chrissie Hynde unleashes solo album: 'I'm way past writing my break-up album'."

The album, "Stockholm," is out in vinyl (along with digital formats, naturally).

"Ignore every 'expert' who tells you that #ISIS is not al Qaeda because their leaders don't get along..."

Yes, exactly.

People keep saying that Ayman al-Zawahiri dissed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, excoriating ISIS as "too extreme" blah, blah.

The mind boggles. You can do a million point-blank executions to the back of the head, and beheadings until Kingdom come, but don't tell me murdering nearly 3,000 people on September 11 doesn't quite match up. Taking down the Twin Towers? Seriously. It's hard to get more extreme. Or, well, come back and get me when al-Baghdadi secures his own personal nukes. An atomic al-Qaeda would be pretty extreme indeed.

But see Bare Naked Islam, down at the conclusion here, "ISIS winning in Iraq despite being greatly outnumbered by 15 to 1."

'Al Qaeda Has Been Decimated...'

At White House Dossier, "Obama During Campaign: 'Al Qaeda Has Been Decimated'."

Iraq Lost Iraq

Some food for thought, from DrewM., at AoSHQ, "America Isn't 'Losing' Iraq, Iraq Is":

Obama won the 2008 election in no small part because he promised to get the US out of Iraq. John McCain lost in no small part because he famously argued we should stay "100 years" if that's what it took. The American people made their choice. To now say that having won on getting out of Iraq Obama should have instead turned around and adopted McCain's losing policy idea is absurd.

This does not absolve Obama from his negligent inaction in the face of the imminent threat presented by the still growing ISIS invasion. That's entirely on Obama and his band of national security incompetents. But the great "loss of Iraq"? That's on the Iraqis. They were given a chance to build a decent country after Saddam's removal and they squandered it.

I think it's a little more complicated (Obama "turned around" on a lot of things in national security since 2008, for example), but the bottom line on ISIS is correct.

Planned Parenthood Counsels Underage Girl in Bondage and Sadomasochism

Go to the website, from Lila Grace Rose and Live Action, "Planned Parenthood Exposed."

And Ms. Rose is interviewed by Dana Loesch, at the Blaze, "Lila Rose and Dana Loesch on Planned Parenthood Exposé ."

More from Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Planned Parenthood: BDSM advocate no longer counseling teens; Update: Live Action derides “the token firing” strategy; Update: PP lied about termination?"

Leftists Long for Saddam Hussein

From Tom Wilson, at Commentary, "Liberals Longing for Saddam":

When the invasion of Iraq took place, many left-liberal commentators—particularly those in Britain and Europe—had a curious response. Of course they detested Saddam, they assured us, but might it not be the case that Saddam—a strong man—was the only person who could govern “a place like that”? This stunning suggestion that human rights and basic freedom might not be for everyone, that some human beings are just better off under despotism, was shocking then and its shocking to consider now. But for the most part these arguments faded from discussion as a jittery democratic reality got off the ground in Iraq. What good liberal would want to consign the Iraqi people back to the dark days of Saddam? Besides, one got the impression that most of these voices weren’t actually that favorable toward the Baathist regime, they just hated the thought of the use of Western power far more.

Now, however, with Iraq descending into chaos once again—arguably as much the result of the strength of Islamism as the weakness of democracy—these “liberals” are dusting off those old arguments and wheeling them back out in another attempt to bamboozle a public they’ve already spent over a decade misleading. Yet, one voice has gone much further. Chris Maume, an editor at the UK Independent, who by all accounts spent much time in Iraq during the glory days of Saddam, not only takes this opportunity to sow doubts about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, but even does so by mounting the most astonishing defense of life under Saddam.

Whitewashing the poverty suffered by most Iraqis compared to the obscene wealth enjoyed by the Saddam’s ruling clan, Maume reflects, “Baghdad was noisy and mucky and full of building sites, but it was bustling and thriving. There wasn’t a huge amount in the shops, but people had all they needed to get by.” Perhaps they did, but you can’t imagine writers for the Independent ever insisting that the underprivileged in Western countries have long “had all they needed to get by.”

Maume writes particularly glowingly about the healthcare available in Iraq, as well as the order and stability compared to today. Back in the good old days it was “a fully functioning state in which it was possible to live a fulfilled life.” Of course Maume wouldn’t be so callous as not to spare a thought for Saddam’s victims; “If you were Kurdish, or a dissident, life wasn’t like that, and I’m not suggesting for a second that we should forget their suffering. But by and large, life was OK in Saddam’s dictatorship.” And of course to the estimated 180,000 Kurds murdered by Saddam, one should also add the oppression of the marsh Arabs. But it sounds as if Maume accepts what happened to them as the price for the “benefits” that other Iraqis enjoyed under Saddam. And yet it isn’t hard to think of other despotic regimes where, provided you weren’t the wrong ethnic group, perhaps for a time life was perfectly pleasant for everyone else...

Keep reading.

Not only did leftists long for Saddam, they longed for --- and actively worked toward --- U.S. defeat in Iraq. And seeing the sheer ideological blindness of leftists blaming the Bush administration for the current crisis is almost beyond belief. It's staggering even. Erik Loomis had this yesterday, for example, "The next few days (weeks?) are going to be insane. Can we make a running list of writers to never take seriously again after they claim the U.S. should send troops to Iraq or attack Obama for withdrawing those troops?"

"Never take seriously." That would be any leftist discussing national security.

Can U.S. Embassy in #Iraq Withstand ISIS Attack?

I suppose it's a good question.

Mostly, though, I expect the helicopters will land on the roof and that'll be it. And apparently that's no easy trick, with so many personnel to evaculate.

At CNN:

Is the U.S. Embassy in #Baghdad able to protect Americans against an #ISIS attack? @eliselabottcnn reports: http://t.co/0WN39CBEOz

— CNN Video (@CNNVideo) June 14, 2014

U.S. Options in #Iraq

So far, Retired Army Lieutenant General James Dubik had the best analysis, "U.S. Must Act to Prevent Extremists’ Victory in #Iraq."

Something to think about in light of this report from CBS Evening News:

Thousands Heed Call to Arms in #Iraq

At the Wall Street Journal, "Top Shiite Cleric Urges Defense Against Fast-Moving Sunni Insurgents, Fanning Sectarian Conflict":

Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric issued a rare call to arms to defend against attacking Sunni insurgents, portending a wider sectarian conflict as thousands of young men heeded his words.  Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has millions of followers world-wide, called on all able men to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an al Qaeda offshoot, whose lightning offensive across a large swath of western Iraq this past week sent tremors across the region.

"Given the current threat facing Iraq, defending the land, honor and holy places is a religious duty," said a statement from Ayatollah Sistani that was read by his representative at a Friday sermon in Karbala.

The statement came as the U.S. declared a "shared interest" with Iran in subduing the Islamist insurgents and President Barack Obama said his administration would consider a range of responses in the coming days to help Iraq's defense, including airstrikes.

Ayatollah Sistani's call was quickly answered by thousands of gun-toting men, who emerged in Baghdad, Basra and other Iraqi cities to declare their readiness to join a holy war. TV images showed young men lining up behind pickup trucks and outside of military bases.

Ayatollah Sistani's call followed a chorus of statements from prominent Shiite clerics in Qom and Najaf this week seeking unity among Shiites to join the government's armed struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS.

The developments underscore the inability of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government to muster sufficient military force to blunt the rebel force. Four days after the insurgents captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, with little military resistance, the weakness of Iraq's forces was again evident on Friday during battles raging for control of the corridors leading to the capital Baghdad.

Ayatollah Sistani, whose influence across the Shiite world is unrivaled, rarely involves himself in politics and military strategy. He follows a Shiite doctrine known as "quietism," which promotes Islamic principles but shuns a political role for its clerics.

Even during the height of Iraq's civil war, the reclusive 83-year-old cleric refrained from issuing a fatwa to fight Americans or Sunni insurgents.

That he would do so now suggests that Ayatollah Sistani and the Shiite community views ISIS—and its loose alliance with disenfranchised Sunni tribes and insurgent groups—as the most significant threat Iraq's government has faced.

"Sistani wants to say he did his part under grave circumstances," said Mehdi Khalaji, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and an expert in Shiite theology. "No one has been as anti-Shiite as ISIS, not the Sunnis and certainly not the Americans."

More.

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters on #Iraq Crisis: 'Very Good Chance Our Embassy Will Be Attacked...'

"This is going to make Benghazi look like chump change."

Listen at the second half of the clip. Peters has sources inside the military intelligence community and they are "horrified" at developments in Iraq.



The first half, also excellent, discusses Bowe Bergdahl's return to the U.S.

Peters is livid that he's receiving better medical care than our veterans. Rather than a court martial, Obama wants to give Bergdahl a "general discharge" at full benefits for life.

PREVIOUSLY: "Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: 'In the Middle East, the United States Is Now In its Weakest Position Since 1945...'"

Faces of Hate: The Extremists and Bigots Behind #BDS

At Algemeiner, "‘Who’s Behind the Hate at NYU?’ Asks New Ad Campaign":

A new ad campaign appeared online on Wednesday, drawing attention to the New York University faculty member who heads the American Studies Association that is calling for an academic boycott of Israel.

Advocacy group The Israel Project funded the campaign.  The ad was delivered by Google AdWords on news sites and went to a landing page entitled Peace Not Hate.

The campaign asks, “Why is NYU supporting academic bigotry?”

“Last year, the American Studies Association (ASA) joined the hate-campaign against Israel by voting to boycott Israeli professors,” it said.  “NYU should have immediately pulled their funding of the group, like other universities. But NYU has continued to fund its ASA chapter.”

“By steering university funding to a group that fuels academic bigotry, NYU is betraying its students and its own commitment to academic openness.”  The webpage linked to a petition before exhorting readers, including alumni who might be worried about the school’s “good name.”

It said, “Don’t let a fringe group of haters and extremists demonize Israel and dirty the good name of NYU.”  “Tell NYU to live up to its highest principals. Add your name and email to tell NYU: Honor truth. Stop funding hate.”

While New York University’s president and provost have condemned the ASA’s boycott. the group’s new president, NYU Social and Cultural Analysis Professor Lisa Duggan, was pilloried for her stance, and muddled arguments, by Forbes Investigative Journalist Richard Behar, in a 15,000-word exposé.

The saga continued when Duggan, a lesbian, accused the veteran reporter of homophobia by noting that rather than any expertise in the Middle East, Duggan teaches ‘Queer Historiographies and Constructions of Whiteness in the United States.’

Keep reading.

The campaign's "Peace Not Hate" website is here.

And previously, "Letter Protesting Professor Lisa Duggan's Racist Anti-Israel Conference to NYU President John Sexton."

Brooke Goldstein: #ISIS Jihadis 'Are Now Coming Home...'

This was on Megyn Kelly's show last night, and it's good.

Goldstein brilliantly extrapolates from the current crisis in Iraq to the likely consequences for American security. She argues we're practically begging for a new wave of attacks on the U.S. homeland, and "god forbid," perhaps even another 9/11.



Marc Thiessen was on just before Goldstein, and that segment is here, "Brutal New Terror Group Parading Police Hostages Through Iraq Cities - The Kelly File."

Russian Fashion Model Svetlana Cluck

A needed break from Iraq war blogging, at Corridor40, "SVETLANA CLUCK BY ATTILIO D’AGOSTINO FOR POLANSKI MAGAZINE VOL. 3."

John McCain Pushes Back Against MSNBC's Cut-and-Run 'Confusion' on #Iraq

Folks may remember, back in late 2007, I was blogging all out for John McCain for the 2008 GOP primaries. McCain's lost a lot of credibility since his defeat to Obama in the general election that year --- and to this day I cringe at his treasonous McShamnesty programs --- but I'll never regret supporting his presidential campaign because I knew a President McCain would have never allowed the collapse of Iraq, the likes of which we're watching unfold in real time.

So now he's back in his element as the region goes up in flames. It's only a matter of days now, if not hours, until the fall of Baghdad, and the MSNBC hacks like Mika Brzezinski want to go back and "re-litigate" the origins of the war in 2003. That's to be expected, as McCain so ably points out at the clip.

And as we go forward, literally for the remainder of this presidency, the question of "Who lost Iraq?" is going to dominate. And with a string of other foreign policy disasters to his name, I can guarantee you that President Obama's going to come up wanting badly, and people will be pining for the leadership of former President George W. Bush.

At Politico, "McCain Iraq interview gets heated."

Cowardly Collapse of Iraq Security Forces in Face of #ISIS Barbarity

Following up from earlier, "Extended Civil War Likely in #Iraq."

I exchanged tweets with Louise Mensch:

WSJ: Iaqi soldiers dressing in civies beneath their military uniforms "in case they have to flee" #Baghdad http://t.co/CHhvn007ga
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 13, 2014

@AmPowerBlog such cowards as they are. I read 10k of them fled 800 men.
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) June 13, 2014

@AmPowerBlog I despair of modern men at times. Masculinity, honour is dead
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) June 13, 2014

And now see the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Fear, sectarian divisions, low morale lie behind collapse of Iraqi forces in face of militants":

CAIRO — The video, set to sweetly lilting religious hymns, is chilling. Islamic militants are shown knocking on the door of a Sunni police major in the dead of night in an Iraqi city. When he answers, they blindfold and cuff him. Then they carve off his head with a knife in his own bedroom.

The 61-minute video was recently posted online by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaida splinter group of Sunni extremists. The intent was to terrorize Sunnis in Iraq's army and police forces and deepen their already low morale.

That fear is one factor behind the stunning collapse of Iraqi security forces when fighters led by the Islamic State overran the cities of Mosul and Tikrit this week, sweeping over a swath of Sunni-majority territory. In most cases, police and soldiers simply ran, sometimes shedding their uniforms, and abandoned arsenals of heavy weapons.

Even after the United States spent billions of dollars training the armed forces during its 2003-2011 military presence in Iraq, the 1 million-member army and police remain riven by sectarian discontents, corruption and a lack of professionalism.

Many Sunnis in the armed forces are unprepared to die fighting on behalf of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government, which many in their minority community accuse of sharp bias against them. The Islamic State has exploited this by touting itself as the Sunnis' champion against Shiites.

Shiites in the armed forces, in turn, feel isolated and deeply vulnerable trying to hold on to Sunni-majority areas.

Desertion has been heavy the past six months among forces in the western province of Anbar, Iraq's Sunni heartland, where troops have been fighting in vain to uproot Islamic State fighters who took over the city of Fallujah, said two high officials — one in the government and the other in the intelligence services.

The militants who early this week swept into the northern city of Mosul included former Sunni army officers who had deserted out of frustration with al-Maliki's government, the two officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence reports.

As the militants approached, the two officials said, many of the top army commanders in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, fled to the autonomous Kurdish region...

Continue reading.

More at Atlas Shrugs, "Heads of Iraqi Policemen And Soldiers Line Streets of Mosul, Brutal Sharia Imposed" and Bare Naked Islam, "IRAQ: ISIS terrorists’ mass executions and beheadings of Iraqi soldiers and civilians (WARNING: Graphic)."

Obama Subpar on #Iraq

Following up from previously, "While #Iraq Falls to al Qaeda, Obama is Off to Fundraise and Play Golf in Palm Springs."

And seen today on Twitter:

Pamela Brown

She's been anchoring CNN's Newsroom, in for Brooke Baldwin.

What a sweetie.

Are You Reading Theo Spark?

Lots of lovely blogging over there of late.

Especially the photos, here and here, for example.

Extended Civil War Likely in #Iraq

More great coverage today at the Wall Street Journal, as you can see from my front-page tweet, and the newspaper's beautiful graphic of the region and key actors.

And here's today's editorial on the crisis, "The Iraq Debacle":

#ISIS raises the black flag in #Iraq, on the cover of today's @WSJ. pic.twitter.com/N7OTbW7QcL
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 13, 2014

Islamist militants are aiming to redraw the map of the Middle East. http://t.co/TEmuQGp9vu #ISIS pic.twitter.com/UZU27TzrR6
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) June 13, 2014

The magnitude of the debacle now unfolding in Iraq is becoming clearer by the day, with the terrorist army of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, marching ever closer to Baghdad. On Tuesday the al Qaeda affiliate captured Mosul, a city with a population greater than Philadelphia's, a day later it took Tikrit in the Sunni heartland, and on Thursday ISIS commanders announced they plan to attack the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

No one should underestimate the danger this presents to the stability of the region and to America's national and economic security. An extended civil war seems to be the best near-term possibility. More dangerous is ISIS's ambition to establish a Muslim caliphate in the heart of the Persian Gulf, which would mean a safe haven for Islamic terrorism that would surely target the U.S. The danger to Iraq's oil exports of three million barrels a day is already sending prices up and global equities down.

***

The threat to Baghdad is real and more imminent than is widely understood. Four Iraqi divisions have melted away before the 3000-5,000 ISIS force, which is gaining deadlier weapons as it advances. One source says Iraqi soldiers who are supposed to protect Baghdad are dressing in civilian clothes beneath their military uniforms in case they have to flee. Iraq's air power, such as it is, could soon be grounded if civilian contractors are endangered.

President Obama finally addressed the spreading chaos during a photo-op with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday, noting "a lot of concern" but making no commitments to help. The White House turned down an urgent appeal from Baghdad to intervene with air strikes, leaving Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki little choice but to turn to Iran to fill the breach—and extend its influence. Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is said to be on top of things from the Situation Room. Inshallah.

The prospect of Iraq's disintegration is already being spun by the Administration and its media friends as the fault of George W. Bush and Mr. Maliki. So it's worth understanding how we got here.  Iraq was largely at peace when Mr. Obama came to office in 2009. Reporters who had known Baghdad during the worst days of the insurgency in 2006 marveled at how peaceful the city had become thanks to the U.S. military surge and counterinsurgency. In 2012 Anthony Blinken, then Mr. Biden's top security adviser, boasted that, "What's beyond debate" is that "Iraq today is less violent, more democratic, and more prosperous. And the United States is more deeply engaged there than at any time in recent history."

Mr. Obama employed the same breezy confidence in a speech last year at the National Defense University, saying that "the core of al Qaeda" was on a "path to defeat," and that the "future of terrorism" came from "less capable" terrorist groups that mainly threatened "diplomatic facilities and businesses abroad." Mr. Obama concluded his remarks by calling on Congress to repeal its 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force against al Qaeda.

If the war on terror was over, ISIS didn't get the message. The group, known as Tawhid al-Jihad when it was led a decade ago by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was all but defeated by 2009 but revived as U.S. troops withdrew and especially after the uprising in Syria spiraled into chaos. It now controls territory from the outskirts of Aleppo in northwestern Syria to Fallujah in central Iraq.

The possibility that a long civil war in Syria would become an incubator for terrorism and destabilize the region was predictable, and we predicted it. "Now the jihadists have descended by the thousands on Syria," we noted last May. "They are also moving men and weapons to and from Iraq, which is increasingly sinking back into Sunni-Shiite civil war. . . . If Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki feels threatened by al Qaeda and a Sunni rebellion, he will increasingly look to Iran to help him stay in power."

More.

PREVIOUSLY: Here's yesterday's report on WSJ coverage, "Iran's Revolutionary Guard Deployed Against ISIS Forces in #Iraq."

EARLIER: Compare WSJ's editorial to NYT's, "New York Times Blames Nouri al-Maliki for #Obama Administration's Meltdown in the Middle East."

New York Times Blames Nouri al-Maliki for #Obama Administration's Meltdown in the Middle East

Typical cut-and-run drivel from the unofficial newspaper of record.

Check out this editorial, letting the Obama White House off the hook , "Iraq in Peril: Prime Minister Maliki Panics as Insurgents Gain":

What’s happening in Iraq is a disaster and it is astonishing that the Iraqis and the Americans, who have been sharing intelligence, seem to have been caught flat-footed by the speed of the insurgent victories and the army defections.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is said to be in a panic. It is hard to be surprised by that, because more than anyone he is to blame for the catastrophe. Mr. Maliki has been central to the political disorder that has poisoned Iraq, as he wielded authoritarian power in favor of the Shiite majority at the expense of the minority Sunnis, stoked sectarian conflict and enabled a climate in which militants could gain traction.

With stunning efficiency, Sunni militants in recent days captured Mosul, the second-largest city; occupied facilities in the strategic oil-refining town of Baiji; and are now headed for Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes and untold numbers have been killed.

The insurgency’s gains will not be a threat just to Iraq if the militants, who have also been fighting in Syria, succeed in establishing a radical Islamic state on the Iraq-Syria border. No one should want that — not the Kurds, not the Turks and not the Iranians.

The deadly surge is the work of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which grew out of Al Qaeda in Iraq and is considered even more violent than its predecessor. Since the United States withdrew from Iraq at the end of 2011, the group has steadily gained strength and recruited thousands of foreign fighters; it broke with Al Qaeda earlier this year and is now viewed as a leader of global jihad.

As this week’s events unfolded, it was alarming to learn of the swift capitulation of thousands of Iraqi Army troops who surrendered their weapons to the enemy and disappeared. After disbanding Saddam Hussein’s army in 2003 after the invasion by coalition forces and dismantling the government, the United States spent years and many billions of dollars building a new Iraqi Army, apparently for naught. The militants have captured untold quantities of American-supplied weaponry, including helicopters, and looted an estimated $425 million from Mosul’s banks.

And this is classic cover for Obama's absolute Middle East cluster:

The United States simply cannot be sucked into another round of war in Iraq. In any case, airstrikes and new weapons would be pointless if the Iraqi Army is incapable of defending the country.

Why would the United States want to bail out a dangerous leader like Mr. Maliki, who is attempting to remain in power for a third term as prime minister? It is up to Iraq’s leaders to show leadership and name a new prime minister who will share power, make needed reforms and include all sectarian and ethnic groups, especially disenfranchised Sunnis, in the country’s political and economic life — if, indeed, it is not too late.

Right.

Sooper Mexican nails it:

If you like your armed al Qaeda terrorist takeover you can keep your armed Al Qaeda terrorist takeover! pic.twitter.com/y4MWEQVTO0

— el Sooper (@SooperMexican) June 13, 2014

Obama Rules Out Ground Troops as #ISIS Jihadis Threaten Baghdad Takeover

At the Wall Street Journal, "Obama to Review Options on Iraq, But Will Send No Troops: President Says It's Ultimately Up to Iraqis to Resolve Situation."

And at CNN:

Latest on #Iraq as WH mulls options for possible military action: http://t.co/nzqwp45T1q
— CNN NationalSecurity (@NatSecCNN) June 13, 2014

PREVIOUSLY: "Iraq Crisis: Beheadings, Sharia Imposed as #ISIS Encircles Baghdad; 1,700 Shia Troops Executed; Refugee Crisis Mushrooms."