Iraq is on the brink of disintegration as Sunni militants seize more towns and set their sights on the ancient Cradle of Civilization capital Baghdad. In the past few days, al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, as well as Tikrit and Dhuluiya.
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| Afghanistan, Pakistan, India just to the right |
Meanwhile, Iraqi Kurds have seized control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk. The Sunni militants now control a territory that stretches from the eastern edge of Aleppo, Syria, to Fallujah in western Iraq and now the northern city of Mosul.
Their advance has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, displacing some 500,000 people in Mosul alone -- the largest number of people ever moved in one day in world history. Mosul fell in part because U.S.-trained Iraqi forces abandoned their posts.
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| ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, fills power vacuum (latimes.com) |
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has reportedly urged the U.S. to carry out airstrikes in recent months, but the Obama administration [which has shown itself to be nothing more than a continuation of the Cheney and Bush administrations] has declined the request so far.
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| "Fund secret war in Iraq. Divest at home." |
Democracy Now is joined by guests Reuters Bureau Chief Ned Parker in Baghdad and Mohammed al Dulaimy, an Iraqi journalist with McClatchy Newspapers, who reported from Iraq for years and is now seeking U.S. asylum out of fear for his safety if he returns. This is Dulaimy’s first TV interview after years of maintaining a low profile to protect his safety.
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| US made Iraq part of Military-Industrial-Prison Complex, Camp Bucca, 2009 (Dusan Vranic/AP) |
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