Mosul – The city General Petraeus cleaned up and used as the model for how to deal with counter insurgency – Has fallen.
“Mosul now is like hell. It’s up in flames,” said Amina Ibrahim, who like many others was heading for northern Iraq’s more stable Kurdish-controlled zone. “I lost my husband in a bomb blast last year, I don’t want my kids to follow him.”
IRAQ – Militants storm northern city of Mosul, freeing thousands of prisoners, as Iraqi prime minister declares state of emergency and offers to arm citizens who volunteer to fight against militants Al-Qaeda seized control of Iraq’s third biggest city on Tuesday, freeing thousands of imprisoned fellow fighters in a series of jailbreaks and sparking a mass exodus of refugees.
The assault on the city of Mosul, 225 miles north west of Baghdad, saw the Iraqi army retreat to the outskirts after a sustained assault by men armed with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. As well as seizing the main governorate building – forcing the city’s governor to flee – the gunmen were also reported to have gained control of three different jails, numerous police stations and an airport, where several military planes and helicopters were based. (more…)








COMPARE AND CONTRAST – 