is this a real thing that is actually happening?

[Ben Kenobi]

the ISIS is one of the rebel groups in syria. almost all of those calling for western intervention in syria wanted to support the rebels (although presumably not those rebels).

Nice spin, since the same folks against the war in Iraq supported destabilizing Syria with direct support for the rebels.

[C0ckney]

no.

[MOBIUS]

Saddam would have never let this happen...

Thanks, Bush, for helping Al Qaeda, sorry, ISIS...

[Dr Strangelove]

yeah they (the ISIS) seized falluja at the end of last year.

the government has apparently been begging the kurds to get involved for some time; they've so far said 'no thanks'. perhaps they see a weaker iraqi state as in their interests, perhaps it's a bargaining tool (we'll help crush ISIS if you give us kirkuk), perhaps they don't see fighting as in their interests, or perhaps they don't feel capable of dislodging ISIS.

Doesn't Mosul have a large Kurd population? I'm surprised that the Kurds won't defend their own people.

[C0ckney]

i think it's mostly sunni arab, although there is a kurdish minority in the province. saddam's 'arabisation' policy forced many kurds, and other minorities (assyrians, turkmen, armenians etc.), out of the city itself. since the american invasion many of these people have left iraq altogether, as lawlessness spread and islamist extremists rose to prominence.

to expand a little on reason number 3 that i gave, it could well be that the kurds see the ISIS takeover of mosul as a prelude to the collapse of iraq as a functioning state. with the areas of iraq already under their administration, together with parts of northern syria under kurdish control, they could declare a kurdish state, which absent a functioning iraq and syria, would have to be recognised by the international community.

[germanos]

The Kurds have many reasons to sit on the fence. For one, they have autonomy in northern Iraq, and the last thing they want is to give the Iraqi government and/or other (parliamentary) factions the pretext for revoking their autonomy as an "enemy of the Iraqi State".

A Kurdish domination of Mosul or Nineveh province is unlikely to be met with approval of other Iraqi's. My bet is they will want to be sure they can keep (politically) what they can get (militarily) IF they enter on the government's behalf.

And ISIL doesn't seem to be a walk over. So the Kurds might cherish what they have for that reason as well.

[germanos]

Oh well, there goes Tikrit as well.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/iraqi-city-tikrit-falls-isil-fighters-2014611135333576799.html

[AAAAAAAAH!]

Next up, Baghdad!

[dannubis]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !

[AAAAAAAAH!]

We can always count on religion to make the world a better place

[dannubis]

BOO YAH !

[self biased]

thank goodness we got most of our troops out.

[Guynemer]

BREAKING NEWS:

Everything remains as terrible as it has been since the dawn of civilization.

[regexcellent]

thank goodness we got most of our troops out.

This is not supposed to be an endorsement of our troops being there, but if they were there then this wouldn't have happened. The insurgents can't actually stand up to an organized defense, which the Iraqi military is not.

[C0ckney]

if the west hadn't invaded iraq, this wouldn't have happened.