"The Fall of Mosul" Topic

"Iraq, which had achieved a tenuous stability when U.S. troops were still present in 2011, continues to descend further into the abyss. Already the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (as al-Qaeda in Iraq has rebranded itself) has taken control of Fallujah and many other parts of Anbar Province. Now its control is extending to Ninewa Province and the second-largest city in the entire country: Mosul.

The latest news: "Iraqi army soldiers abandoned their weapons and fled the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, as Sunni militants freed hundreds of prisoners and seized military bases, police stations, banks and the provincial governor's headquarters."

This immensely strengthens a group that, as recently as 2008, has been on its deathbed. The New York Times quotes one analyst suggesting that ISIS could "use cash reserves from Mosul's banks, military equipment from seized military and police bases, and the release of 2,500 fighters from local jails to bolster its military and financial capacity."…"
Full article here
link

Bad news.

Amicalement
Armand

Waiting to see how the Kurds respond. Cant see them rolling over for this. They need Mosul and the oil.

I'm seeing in retrospect, two strategic errors the US made. 1) Supporting the Muj against the USSR in Afghanistan. Should have left both to their own devises. Probably would have been no 9/11. The USSR, may not have fallen. The balance of power worldwide was gone, causing a bit of a vacuum. Regardless we see the Russians pretty much are doing what they want to do today. Afghanistan is still a failed state, and will probably remain so. As we see in Somali. 2) Had the US/West left Saddam in power, what we are seeing going in Iraq today, with the Jihadists/AQ/etc. kicking the Iraqi's butts. Makes me think of what happened in Indochina after the US pulled out. Who are worst soldiers ? The ARVN or the Iraqis ? I know no one can see the future, but, what we see here is the real "Domino Theory". Cause and affect …

Tikrit has fallen too, apparently, fighting near Samarra: link

Yes, as I mentioned the Iraqi army is getting it's butt kicked and rivals the ARVN. It appears much of Iraq is in conflict with Jihadist types. That most likely wouldn't have happened if Saddam was still in power. Not that I have any love for Saddam who was a Stalin fan … but if radical islam continues it path. Some places like Syria, Iraq, Afganistan and possibly some other regions may come under their [de-facto] control …

I think the Iraqi army is making the ARVN look like the USMC.

And it is a shame because at the time of the withdrawal, there were some Iraqi units that were worth a crap. And there still might be but obviously not enough of them.

How ISIS And Iraq Upheaval Threatens The Wider World

" The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has taken over much of the Iraqi province of Nineveh, including the country's second largest city, Mosul. In the course of doing so, they have released thousands of jihadist prisoners, reportedly taken hundreds of people hostage and -- perhaps most worryingly of all -- fortified their already strong territorial position in the region.

The group has made impressive gains in the last year. Besides this week's achievements, ISIS have come to dominate the international media discourse on the war in Syria and wrested control of the city of Falluja, which, astonishingly, is less than an hour from Baghdad.

We should be worried. This, after all, is a group that was rejected by al Qaeda because of its ferocity. Its mysterious leaders are far beyond the extremist pale, and that they seem to be consolidating a territorial base must be put at the forefront of international counter-terrorism policy…"

Full article here.
link

Amicalement
Armand

Iraq Rebels Take Saddam's Home Town In Lightning Advance.

" Sunni rebels from an al Qaeda splinter group overran the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday and closed in on the biggest oil refinery in the country, making further gains in their rapid military advance against the Shi'ite-led government.

The threat to the Baiji refinery comes after militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized the northern city of Mosul, advancing their aim of creating Sunni Caliphate straddling the border between Iraq and Syria.

The fall of Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city, is a blow to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's attempts to defeat the Sunni militants, who have regained territory in Iraq over the past year following the withdrawal of U.S. forces, seizing Falluja and parts of Ramadi west of Baghdad at the start of the year…"
Full article here.
link

Things are getting worst.

Amicalement
Armand

ISIS Jihadists Have Captured An Unknown Number Of US Black Hawk Helicopters In Iraq

"Just when one thought US foreign policy couldn't sink any deeper into the hole of its embarrassment, it takes out a shovel and starts digging. Overnight, in what AP describes as a stunning assault that exposed Iraq's eroding central authority, Al Qaida-inspired militants from ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, overran much of Mosul on Tuesday, seizing government buildings, pushing out security forces and capturing military vehicles as thousands of residents fled the second-largest city.

For those who may have forgotten, Iraq was one of those countries "liberated" by the the United States, which unlike Afghanistan where the opium trade is still important, did pull out its troops two and a half years ago.

Ths shocking takeover of Mosul took place months after Al Qaeda-linked fighers took over another Iraqi town, Fallujah, earlier in the year and which they have successfully defended against government attempts to reclaim it…"
Full article here.
link

And worst…

Amicalement
Armand

I don't know Patrick, the Iraqi's are dropping weapons, taking off their uniforms and running … so ? The ISIS Jihadists are more than glad to pick up anything left behind. They are driving around in HUMMWVs now. Hopefully any former US Choppers given/sold to the Iraqis don't fall into ISIS hands. As with their eclectic ranks, there may be some former pilots in the ISIS mix ? The Iraqi gov't is not "friendly" to the Sunni and Kurds, so you have sectarian/ethnic divides. ( Again … Like in Afghanistan, wait until the US/NATO/the West leaves there !) As all three factions don't get along on any given day … and it has been that way for a long, long time. Plus along with the ISIS there are AQ still about and they don't generally get along. So for those of you looking for gaming options, you can get a 5 way going … If the ISIS pushes into Baghdad in force as they are saying they will … it will be an amatuer hour version of Stalingrad. The border nations should be standing by/preped for refugees. If they have not done so already. To say as the media is stating about a pending humanitarin crisis … they are late … that already started awhile back … If he US should do anything. The use of drone strikes from neighboring friendly countries. Cruise missiles/SLAM/TLAMs from all available assets in range. Lots and lots and lots of drones and cruise missiles/etc…. Don't risk losing any pilots to the ISIS/AQ/etc., loonies ! You can't depend on the Iraqis … for anything IMO. I even doubt we should send anymore ammo, weapons etc. to them, much will probably fall into the wrong hands. As I have been saying for years, these fantical islamists have to be stopped, for everyone's sake. And the only way to do that is kill them in large numbers, repeatedly … The wild card IMO, what will Iran do now ?

The Kurds moved in and took back Tikrit. Now I imiagine they are telling the government if they want Mosul back there will be some changes.

WtF what ever happened to 'you broke it you own it'
Anyway more for my 28mm technical and Hummers to do ( get to re paint my US troops and actually see US equipment and arms getting chewed up instead.
Real CF for the politicians that play bad chess though.
Agree with the Legion 4 as well, CIA giving Mujahs AA missiles in Afgahs was a foolish idea.
Wow we really are getting spoilt for modern gaming now days. Cheers and 'earnest' gaming gents

Take one eye on Iran.
They are waiting their moment.
That would be a hell of wargame!.(smile)

Amicalement
Armadn

The developments I expect to follow rapidly in the next week:

1. The KRG will move its western border up to the Tigris, all the while innocently protesting that they are just protecting local Kurds.

2. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will start anxiously looking around for more helicopter landing zones as alternates for the ones in the compound (note: I lived in the new Embassy housing in Baghdad for a while, those buildings are built to withstand direct rocket strikes. Be a heck of a scenario there: ISI overruns the U.S. Embassy). News media will prominently display a photograph of an American with a wide butt standing on the roof, helping lines of refugees into a helicopter… Just like Saigon, 1975.

3. Iran eagerly looks for any excuse to overtly prop up its Maliki puppet government and increases the number of IRGC military advisors attached to Shi'a militia in the south.

4. Those same Shi'a militia will take over the Iraqi Army's worthwhile weaponry, the Iraqi Army will collapse, and the front lines of a genuine Sunni/Shi'a civil war will form pretty much through Baghdad.

5. The KRG will, in the next month or two, use the fracturing of Iraq as an excuse to declare independence, and Turkey will be the first foreign country to recognise them.

6. The Saudis, Kuwaitis, and UAE start assembling "volunteer" units to head north, under the motto: "Better to fight them in Basrah, than fight them at home!".

The two strongest reasons why the U.S. lost the Iraq war by failing to build a strong central non-sectarian government:

1. Disbanding the Iraqi Army shortly after taking Baghdad. This left hundreds of thousands of youths unemployed and on the streets. And thousands of Army officers unemployed and disillusioned.

2. Allowing Iranian widespread interference in the 2005 elections that brought Maliki to victory.

ISIS Now Controls A Shocking Percentage Of Iraq And Syria

"This map from the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War is an up-to-date depiction of the operational area of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a jihadist group so intractable that it was expelled from Al Qaeda's global network in February of 2014.

The group took over Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, earlier this week. And now the extremist militants have captured parts of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, which is located just 95 miles from the capital of Baghdad. Hundreds of prisoners were freed from prisons in each city.

ISIS operates across a vast geographic area. Jalula, Iraq, the easternmost population center under ISIS's control, is over 360 miles from Raqqah, Syria, the group's westernmost zone of control. ISIS sprawls across the Iraqi-Syrian border. It's attacked inside of Iraqi Kurdistan, sits at the doorstep of Syria's Alawaite heartland, and has broad operational abilities inside Iraq's Sunni Triangle, and even its Shi'ite south. ISIS cuts across ethnic and sectarian regions, controlling major cities and desert wilderness…"

link

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Iraq Disintegrating As Insurgents Advance; Kurds Seize Kirkuk.

"Iraq was on the brink of disintegration Thursday as al-Qaeda-inspired fighters swept through northern Iraq toward Baghdad and Kurdish soldiers seized the city of Kirkuk without a fight.

Lawmakers gathered at the Iraqi parliament to discuss the declaration of a state of emergency, a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki assured Iraqis that the insurgents' gains were temporary and would soon be reversed by the Iraqi army.

But after the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captured fresh territory and set its sights on Baghdad, Iraq seemed to be fast slipping out of government control…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

It appears the Iranians have crossed the border to "help" the current Shi'a regime. And it appears, as was in the last Gulf War, the Kurds seem to be the best Iraq can muster. Plus the Kurds generally consider themselves Kurds not Iraqis and have wanted their own homeland, Kurdistan for decades. Whose traditional ethnic borders are in Syria, Iraq and Turkey. They and the Turks have been fighting a low intensity conflict for decades … Maybe Turkey will step in, in some form. Maybe the Kurds will get their own state after it's all said and done ? And Iraq gets divided up on ethnic/religious lines. The bad news, the ISIS types may make their own state under Sharia Law … in what was Iraq and or Syria. Call in the CAS, Drones and Cruise missiles, but you have to have "good" targets. Like all COIN, the insurgents operate among civilains … collateral damage works in their favor … Plus every ISIS type that dies, [by US CAS, etc.] helps Assad in Syria … You can't make this stuff up !

L4, the Kurds per se have *not* been fighting the Turks for decades. One small group has, but the larger Kurdish organisations are close business and political partners of the Turks. For decades.

And ISIS already established their own state under Sharia law in 2007.

Iraq is going to fall to these folks.

How Did 800 ISIS Fighters Surprise And Rout 2 Iraqi Divisions Trained By U.S. Advisers And Armed With Billions Of Dollars In American Weapons?

"The seizure of Iraq's second largest city by a group too ruthless to make it in "core" al Qaeda represents the culmination of years of history and a U.S. foreign policy that has failed to properly conceive of and counter the Al Qaeda movement at its most basic level.

Long War Journal recently produced an excellent GEOINT model of ISIS's gains across Iraq and Syria; though ISIS's control of the towns and cities in question is not universal or uniform, neither is the Iraqi or Syrian government's respective control of their own space. Including recent gains, Al Qaeda now controls a space roughly the size of Syria…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Iraq Militants Make Strides, Shi'ite Cleric Issues Call to Arms.

" crowd of Shi'ite worshipers in the iconic shrine city of Karbala applauded Friday, as senior cleric Abdel Mehdi al Karbalaie, representing Iraq's top Shi'ite spiritual leader Sheikh Ali Sistani, urged Iraqi citizens to volunteer and defend their country against Sunni ISIL militants:

He said that Iraq is going through an extremely critical period….and that it is the patriotic duty of its sons who are able to bear arms to defend their country, their people and their holy sites by volunteering to join the security forces. He also urges Iraqi politicians to put aside their differences and unite in support for the military…"

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Sorry tuscaloosa … thank you, I should have clarified by saying "some Kurds" … And actually ISIS delcared a "defacto" state in 2007 … it is not recogonized by anyone but themselves, I believe, AFAIK … So as always it's a matter of degrees and interperation. The Kurds … or should I say some Kurds have already declared their region in Nothern Iraq a Kurdish "defacto" state … As we see through out history, "organisations [that] are close business and political partners" … does not always mean they won't go to war … Even in this case a small precentage of Kurds are deemed terrorists in their fight with Turkey … again, it's a matter of degrees …

How Did 800 ISIS Fighters Surprise And Rout 2 Iraqi Divisions Trained By U.S. Advisers And Armed With Billions Of Dollars In American Weapons?

Just like in Vietnam … It comes down to a weak corrupt government's troops have a tendency not to fight. The ISIS and VC/NVA/Communists are/were motivated by a strong idealogy … for better or worse … And that can be a very strong motivator as we see through out histroy …

Advancing Iraq Rebels Seize Northwest Town In Heavy Battle

"Sunni insurgents seized a mainly ethnic Turkmen city in northwestern Iraq on Sunday after heavy fighting, solidifying their grip on the north after a lightning offensive that threatens to dismember Iraq.

Residents reached by telephone in the city of Tal Afar said it had fallen to the rebels from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after a battle which saw heavy casualties on both sides.

"The city was overrun by militants. Severe fighting took place, and many people were killed. Shi'ite families have fled to the west and Sunni families have fled to the east," said a city official who asked not to be identified…"
Full article here.
link

YouTube link

Amicalement
Armand

Leaving aside the hypocrisy of the Saudis complaining about Iraq being sectarian…. the most interesting development seems to be the rapprochement between the USA and Iran.

A second bite at the cherry, after an opportunity was missed with the invasion of Afghanistan.

Of course, this would make the two countries allies in Iraq, and opponents in Syria.

As noted, you can't make it up.

The US and Iran are in Vienna discussing Iranian Nucs right now … However, what the media talking heads are saying, the US and Iran probably won't come to any agreement on Nucs, let alone what is going on in Iraq right now … old habits …

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

See here
link

Amicalement
Armand

The Iraqi military has reached a new high in lows when it comes to effectivness in combat ops … Like in Vietnam, it's their own country and we gave them lots of training, weapons, etc. … and yet they drop their weapons, take off their uniforms and run away … So much for "honor" which is supposedly held in high regard in the muslim/arabic world … Save for "honor" killings of their own wives and daughters … As I have said, based on what has been going on for some time and currently in Iraq, Syria, Libya, SWA, Sudan, Somalia, etc., etc., radical islamic fanatics/terrorists/etc., have become quite a problem to the West and all the locations they operate in … And the "good" moslems don't seem to be able to do anything about or in some cases even care … No easy answers … Nucs are an answer, but it is not a good one. And it would look like genocide …

Nukes? Honestly?
Nukes dropped on pickup trucks and mud hovels?

Battle For Baquba: Isis Sunnis Wrestle With Shiite Iraqis For Control Of The Last Major Town Before Baghdad As Country Splits Along Sectarian Lines.

"* Isis militants stand just one hour's drive from Baghdad
* Iran pledges to send 5,000 troops to support government-led Shiites
* Shiites fight back in Baquba as around 40 Sunni prisoners found murdered in their cells
* U.S. sends in 275 military personnel to protect embassy staff
* Thousands of Iraqi Shiites enlist to fight back and protect capital

Fierce fighting erupted at the northern approaches to Baghdad today as pro-government Shiite militiamen desperately clung on to the last town before the capital in the face of a lightning-quick assault by Sunni Arab militants.

Meanwhile, in the west, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed it has taken control of the key border areas near Tal Afar and is rounding up Iraqi soldiers after a battle at an undisclosed location near the Syrian/Iraq border…"

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Iraq's Foreign Minister Makes A Plea To Washington To Launch Air Strikes Against ISIL Rebels. The White House Says No

"Iraq has asked the US to stage air attacks on Sunni insurgents as the Islamist fighters edged closer to full control of Iraq's largest oil refinery and continued to hold out against troops trying to retake the city of Tal Afar.

As the war to redefine the region's borders entered a second week, Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, appeared on al-Arabiya television to issue the urgent plea: "We request the United States to launch air strikes against militants."…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Isis Storms Saddam-Era Chemical Weapons Complex In Iraq

"Facility containing disused stores of sarin and mustard gas overrun by jihadist group.

The jihadist group bringing terror to Iraq overran a Saddam Hussein chemical weapons complex on Thursday, gaining access to disused stores of hundreds of tonnes of potentially deadly poisons including mustard gas and sarin.

Isis invaded the al-Muthanna mega-facility 60 miles north of Baghdad in a rapid takeover that the US government said was a matter of concern.

The facility was notorious in the 1980s and 1990s as the locus of Saddam's industrial scale efforts to develop a chemical weapons development programme…"

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Iraq Crisis: Who's In Control Of What? Map Shows Cities Under ISIS, Government Or Kurdish Forces

"As an al-Qaida offshoot makes advances in Iraq and government forces push back against the militants to reassert control over cities, the flurry of fighting in the country has made it difficult for the casual observer to discern who is in control of a particular area or region.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and the Kurdish peshmerga force between them now control large swathes of the country's north and northeast. The Institute for the Study of War, or ISW, a non-profit, public policy research organization, has produced this "Control of Terrain in Iraq" map dated Thursday that distinctly marks areas based on who was controlling them on that day…"

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Nukes? Honestly?
Nukes dropped on pickup trucks and mud hovels?

Yes, Nucs are like a "final solution", but as I said, it would be genocide of all living things in the area. See we have the tech to "fix"(?) things, but since we[the West or more accurately the US] are basically a humain society, we don't use them. Don't let anyone doubt that if UBL/AQ or ISIS, Jihadists, terrorists, etc. had gotten hold of Nucs that they would have have used them … Nucs/atomic weapons don't have to be a massive device. As an LT in the 101, I was "selected" to be an Atomic Demolitions Missions Officer. The devices could be carried in a ruck. I don't know if they still use such devices today. But regardless, I wouldn't doubt somewhere in our inventory is something similar that could be carried by a drone … And don't forget the old Davy Crockett Atomic Cannon of the '50s … Small Tac Nucs … not what we saw [and hope to never see again !] used at the end of the war in Japan.

That anyone could consider nukes might realistically solve this problem reveals much about the mindset that got us in the problem to begin with.

Was not seriously considering Nucs … a bit of tongue-in-cheek remark/discussion. And I just extrapilated on it … But thank you again for pointing out my failure to express myself …

Iraq Crisis Map: How The Isis Front Line Has Shifted

"As the Isis offensive on Baghdad rages on, take a look at our daily updated Iraq crisis map to see where the latest frontline fighting is taking place.

The above map shows the situation as of June 21.

Areas shaded in red are under the Sunni jihadists' control, while the yellow shaded area is controlled by Kurdish pershmerga fighters…"

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Supposedly the leader of IS or ISIS or ISIL, etc., gave a speech at one of the oldest mosques in Mosul over the past few days, if I heard CNN correctly … Oh well … we'll see …

Rebels repel Iraqi attempt to retake Tikrit

"Iraqi forces have withdrawn from the rebel-held northern Iraqi city of Tikrit after a new push to retake the city met heavy resistance, soldiers involved in the operation said.

Government troops and allied Shia volunteer fighters were forced to retreat just before sunset on Tuesday to a base 4km south after coming under heavy mortar shelling and sniper fire, the sources said.

The attempt to retake Tikrit, which fell to Sunni fighters led by the Islamic State group on June 12, began two-and-a-half weeks ago…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

ISIL's Captured U.S.-Made Howitzers Can Devastate Baghdad

"Sunni radicals with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) may have captured as many as 52 U.S.-made M198 howitzers in their march across Iraq in June.

"They shouldn't have too much trouble shelling large area targets like a city if they have sufficient ammo," Jeremy Binnie of the British military consultancy HIS Janes toldMcClatchy news service Monday.

The artillery weapons, which cost roughly $500,000 USD each, include GPS aiming systems…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Today's press states that ISIS and Sunni allies plan to lay siege to Baghdad in three weeks.

If ISIS topples the government they would still have to quell a Kurd and Shiite revolution. ISIS has an uneasy coalition, Sunni supporters are not as radical, and as seen in the past, once they feel finished. They will melt away. They just want to be left alone to govern themselves.

Today on CNN, between the shoot down in Ukraine and the IDF offensive on HAMAS … IS told all the Christians in Mosel to either convert to islam, leave or and I quote, "be put to the sword" … And based on IS and other moslem fanatics past predilections. Will we see videos of beheadings as has been seen previously ? By the large luntic fringe of the corrupted version of the "peaceful" moslem religion … Also IS has taken more land in the North and West of Iraq … I'm sure Baghdad is on the menu as well an mentioned … And there will be the inevitable "gnasting of teeth" and "wringing of hands" by many, saying "How could we let this happen !?!?" …

Iraqi Forces Have Been Defeated In The Battle For Tikrit

" Iraqi troops and their militia and volunteer allies were on the verge of declaring victory over Sunni militants holding the strategic town of Tikrit and were about to hoist the Iraqi flag over key government buildings, when, a survivor recalled Wednesday, "the doors of hell opened."

The Iraqi forces had apparently walked into a trap, and some soldiers — and many more of their untrained volunteer supporters — were either killed or badly wounded when the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria sprung it, according to accounts from two soldiers and volunteer leaders reached by telephone afterward.

The debacle in Tikrit on Tuesday offered a vivid illustration of how badly the Iraqi military needs advisers. For weeks, the Americans had implored Iraqi leaders not to fight for the centers of cities, but to establish control of roads and highways, and thus set their own conditions for battle. But the 300 American military and intelligence advisers now in the country are not, as of now, working directly with troops and commanders at the front…"
Full article here
link

Also…
YouTube link

Amicalement
Armand

< Shakes head in disgust > Again … Who are worse soldiers ? The Iraqis or the ARVN ?

Legion – How could you pick such a comparison.

Just a very broad brush attempt at irony …

ISIS Continues It's Military Campaign In Both Syria And Iraq

"More than 700 people were killed in clashes over two days between pro-government forces and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) militants in Syria.

Activists from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the deaths represented the bloodiest fighting since the civil war began in 2011.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and Isis militants battled following the rebel group's capture of the Shaar gas field east of Homs city…"

link

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

ISIS Burns 1,800-Year-Old Church In Mosul

"Militants from the radical jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have set fire to a 1,800-year-old church in Iraq's second largest city of Mosul, a photo released Saturday shows.

The burning of the church is the latest in a series of destruction of Christian property in Mosul, which was taken by the Islamist rebels last month, along with other swathes of Iraqi territory.

A video posted on YouTube July 9 shows a tomb being destroyed with a sledgehammer which government officials said was "almost certainly" the tomb of Biblical prophet Jonah…"
Full article here
link

Trully barbarians!.

Amicalement
Armand

Barbarians is too generous a term for these true examples of "Undermench"… Their predilection for massive human carnage is not enough … As I have said, there will be the inevitable "gnasting of teeth" and "wringing of hands" by many, saying "How could we let this happen !?!?"

Attack on Iraq prisoner convoy kills dozens

"At least 60 people have died in clashes after suicide bombers and fighters attacked a bus transferring convicts from a prison north of Baghdad, according to Iraqi police.

Security and medical officials said on Thursday that about 50 prisoners were among the dead, many of them burnt beyond recognition. A number of policemen also died.

"At least 60 people, prisoners and policemen, were killed in a suicide attack followed by several IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and shooting," an Interior Ministry official told the AFP news agency…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand