Al Qaeda Seizes Control of Iraq's Second-Largest City

Don't worry. Plastic Obamas in intimidating poses, hollow reassurances, and State Department selfies will keep America and her allies safe.

But I thought Obama said that al Qaeda was on the run and all that? Oh well, I'm sure the Obama Administration is trying to find out what obscure YouTube video caused this to happen...

From The Wall Street Journal (via Drudge):

Al Qaeda-inspired militants seized control of Iraq's second-largest city on Tuesday in a brazen military operation that underscored the weakness of the Baghdad government across vast swaths of the country.  

Hours after government forces fled Mosul in disarray following four days of fighting, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a nationwide "state of maximum preparedness" but didn't indicate whether government forces were mobilizing to retake the Iraqi city, 220 miles north of the capital Baghdad.  

The capture of Mosul by rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, is the latest evidence of the weakness and disorganization that have beset Iraq's security forces since the U.S. forces withdrew from the country in December 2011. 

It also underlines the group's determination to establish an Islamic emirate encompassing the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, weaken the already fragile Iraqi state and expand the theater of the three-year-old civil war in neighboring Syria.  

[...]  

The U.S.-trained and equipped Iraqi security forces, which have floundered since the U.S. pullout, haven't succeeded in thwarting ISIS's emergence as a formidable paramilitary force. Its fighters regularly launch daytime attacks against government forces and have held the city of Fallujah, 36 miles east of the capital, since early January. 

Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, has been a longtime staging ground for al Qaeda-linked forces. Residents of the province have complained recently about stepped-up ISIS activities, including cash-for-protection demands to local businessmen and political officials—a major source of funding for the group's operations.

Obama: making the world safer for radical Islamists (and other thuggish political entities) since 2009.