From the Miami Herald today: "The Islamic State on Friday took control of the provincial government center of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s largest province, in a major defeat for the Iraqi government. Islamic State forces launched a fierce assault of car bombs on Iraqi government security facilities overnight, and by late afternoon, their black flag was flying over the governor’s office. Security forces appeared to be in full flight as militants consolidated control over the area and prevented anyone from leaving the area.
The way CNN's playing it, (and also Rand "Barack" Paul, Ted Cruz, and Chris Crispie) you'd think that Jeb Bush's faux pas in anwering a reporter's questions about what he'd have done in Iraq was as important as the Amtrak disaster in Philadelphia, the earthquake in Nepal, or the collapse of the Iraqi government in Anbar province. Remember Ramadi and Fallujah? Those are the places U.S. Marines, Navy Seals, Army Rangers, and allied soldiers fought for, won, and reclaimed in the Big Surge, President George Bush's big gamble that prevented Iraq's largest and most important province from being taken over by the insurgency.
But who, except the clueless Obama, could not have predicted what would happen if the U.S. pulled all troops out of there, without leaving even a small contingent of say 10,000 there? Obama was so desperate for a Nobel Peace Prize and to appease the political apparatchiks of the Old and New Left that he was willing to do almost anything to appear as the President of Peace no matter that a river of blood now flows through Iraq like you've never seen before.
Yes, folks, ISIS (or DAASH) has taken over the government center, the culmination of a highly visible siege that has been going on since January. The overrunning of the government center is a major victory for ISIS commanders. As you may know, ISIS is no ragtag ill-equipped army. It's a regular force, and a strong one, well equipped with heavy weapons, which used bulldozers to push away blast walls, allowing suicide mission vehicle bombs to destroy the Iraqi government defenses.
Yet, the President of Peace and his acolytes like Republican Rand Paul preen and believe themselves occupiers of some fantasy moral high ground. This while women and children are being subjected to horrific degradation, and moderate Iraqi's are being butchered by the hundreds, and a war that was won was handed over to the modern day Attilas of ISIS or their AQ butt-buddies. The time to be worried about the moral high ground was before Obama adopted his Cut and Run Strategy.
I could ask the question "Why isn't anyone talking about this?" but that would be extraneous. I know the answer.
