Reports from Iraq describe the areas that are now under the control of ISIS, the Sunni Moslem jihadist "state" that is causing the collapse of the Iraqi government. Stories report beheaded bodies of police and Iraqi troops lining the roads. It is a mass execution on a mammoth scale.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, Shiite men are rushing to join the forces of the government to defend the city against the ISIS onslaught. That too is bizarre. After all, the Iraqi government has nearly a quarter of a million men in its army who have been unable to stop 5000 or so fighters from ISIS. Can it be that old men and new recruits will stand and fight when the trained soldiers just ran away?
Then there are the reports that the Iraqi air force is now bombing Iraqi military bases in the occupied areas because the ISIS forces are using them. There is little indication that there are actually ISIS forces at the bases because there are so few of those fighters that they need to stay at the front lines to remain effective. The bombing seems more based upon panic than anything else.
The truth is that fear and insanity seems to be prevailing in Iraq. There is no native force which has remained calm and resolute in the face of the fighting.
This situation cannot last. Something big will happen in the next week that will tilt the situation decisively one way or the other.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, Shiite men are rushing to join the forces of the government to defend the city against the ISIS onslaught. That too is bizarre. After all, the Iraqi government has nearly a quarter of a million men in its army who have been unable to stop 5000 or so fighters from ISIS. Can it be that old men and new recruits will stand and fight when the trained soldiers just ran away?
Then there are the reports that the Iraqi air force is now bombing Iraqi military bases in the occupied areas because the ISIS forces are using them. There is little indication that there are actually ISIS forces at the bases because there are so few of those fighters that they need to stay at the front lines to remain effective. The bombing seems more based upon panic than anything else.
The truth is that fear and insanity seems to be prevailing in Iraq. There is no native force which has remained calm and resolute in the face of the fighting.
This situation cannot last. Something big will happen in the next week that will tilt the situation decisively one way or the other.
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