Middle East Zugzwang

... matter how handy the capture of the capital of the self-proclaimed Caliphate might have been amidst the presidential election in the United States, given the blame pinned on the Obama administration for the flash-like capture of Mosul by IS militants in June 2014. At that time the Iraqi army, shaped according to Americans’ wishes, armed and trained by Americans, fled ignominiously, leaving their arms and ammunition. The rapid downfall of this second largest in terms of population city of Iraq is due, among other things, to ...