After the attacks of September 11, 2001 the Bush administration went into overdrive in its quest to achieve a new American Century a neo-conservative wet dream born out of book written by Francis Fukuyama titled The End of History and the Last Man.
William Kristol along with a Robert Kagan formed a foundation called Project For a New American Century PNAC. One of the core beliefs of PNAC was that through regime change in Iraq, the removal of Saddam Hussein from power Iraq would be transformed into a western style democracy. From a country created French diplomat François Georges-Picot and Briton Sir Mark Sykes by drawing lines on a map of Asia Minor creating sphere's of influence for their perspective governments following the collapse of the Ottoman empire at the end of World War I. The agreement is known as Sykes–Picot Agreement . They drew straight lines which are recognised as the borders of Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Jordan giving little consideration to the ethnic and religious differences which existed in the territories they now controlled. Iraq is divided in three parts, Shite's in the south, Sunni's in the west and Kurds in the north all with competing interests. Fast forward to March 2003 and the American invasion of Iraq which the Bush administration confidently predicted would be a cake walk and that Iraq's citizens would welcome the Americans with open arms and flowers which they did for all of 5 metaphorical minutes before the insurgency began. On May 23, 2003 L Paul Bremer issued Coalition Provisional Authority Order 2 which disbanded the Iraqi army perhaps the one institution that could have helped prevent the insurgency to come. That bit of hubris was followed by the De-Baathification of Iraqi civil service. Anyone who worked for Saddam's as a civil servant had to be a recognized member of the Baath party. Of course never believing that one might need these people to help stabilize the country you just invaded they were all fired.
These policy decisions helped propel Iraq into the chaos you see today along with the U.S 's backing of Nouri al-Maliki the current Prime Minister of Iraq whose ruled the country like he was a dictator marginalizing, imprisoning or forcing into exile leaders of Iraq's Sunni community.
William Kristol along with a Robert Kagan formed a foundation called Project For a New American Century PNAC. One of the core beliefs of PNAC was that through regime change in Iraq, the removal of Saddam Hussein from power Iraq would be transformed into a western style democracy. From a country created French diplomat François Georges-Picot and Briton Sir Mark Sykes by drawing lines on a map of Asia Minor creating sphere's of influence for their perspective governments following the collapse of the Ottoman empire at the end of World War I. The agreement is known as Sykes–Picot Agreement . They drew straight lines which are recognised as the borders of Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Jordan giving little consideration to the ethnic and religious differences which existed in the territories they now controlled. Iraq is divided in three parts, Shite's in the south, Sunni's in the west and Kurds in the north all with competing interests. Fast forward to March 2003 and the American invasion of Iraq which the Bush administration confidently predicted would be a cake walk and that Iraq's citizens would welcome the Americans with open arms and flowers which they did for all of 5 metaphorical minutes before the insurgency began. On May 23, 2003 L Paul Bremer issued Coalition Provisional Authority Order 2 which disbanded the Iraqi army perhaps the one institution that could have helped prevent the insurgency to come. That bit of hubris was followed by the De-Baathification of Iraqi civil service. Anyone who worked for Saddam's as a civil servant had to be a recognized member of the Baath party. Of course never believing that one might need these people to help stabilize the country you just invaded they were all fired.
These policy decisions helped propel Iraq into the chaos you see today along with the U.S 's backing of Nouri al-Maliki the current Prime Minister of Iraq whose ruled the country like he was a dictator marginalizing, imprisoning or forcing into exile leaders of Iraq's Sunni community.
So, what happened?
Monday night into Tuesday, militants seized Mosul's airport, its TV stations and the governor's office. They freed up to 1,000 prisoners.
Police and soldiers ran from their posts rather than put up a fight, abandoning their weapons as they went. The militants took their place in the city's boulevards and buildings.
"There was no presence of any government forces on the streets, the majority of their posts destroyed and manned by (Islamist militants)," resident Firas al-Maslawi told CNN.
Why is this significant?
Mosul is the nation's second-largest city. What's happening here doesn't bode well for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's administration. It calls into question whether he has a handle on the country.
The devastating militant advance, which had been building for some time, is proving an object lesson of much that is wrong in Iraq and the region -- growing sectarian tensions at home and a festering civil war over the border in Syria.
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