Iraq militants seize Mosul

[Niiro]

I've been saying for years that we need to stop making arms deals with Hobby Lobby.

[Andalusian girls]

Hobby Lobby buys artifacts from unknown dealer years before ISIS exists = Hobby Lobby presently funding ISIS

[archibaldcrane]

Hobby Lobby buys artifacts from unknown dealer years before ISIS exists = Hobby Lobby presently funding ISIS

These were looted before 1999? Weird.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islami...and_the_Levant

[tyven]

Hobby Lobby buys artifacts from unknown dealer years before ISIS exists = Hobby Lobby presently funding ISIS

I'm thrilled that the money they saved on birth control was able to go toward beheading journos and aid workers

[Andalusian girls]

These were looted before 1999? Weird.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islami...and_the_Levant

they changed their name in 2013 silly, there was no al-Sham to constitute a second S in 2010.

but more seriously i would argue the present iteration of ISIS, one that under al-Baghdadi broke with al-Queda's leadership and became truly transnational rather than operating as a Sunni insurgency against Baghdad's government, is fundamentally different than the AQI predecessor from which it (and many other terrorist groups such as al-Nusra) spawned.

etymological pedantry aside the most germane point is the dealer is unknown and there is no evidence the artifacts came from a terrorist organization of any stripe.

[Andalusian girls]

after a slightly premature declaration of victory last week it appears as though the last pockets of Daesh resistance have been snuffed out and Mosul is truly a liberated city. after nine months of fighting it is also a hollowed out and decimated city, and the internal divisions and weaknesses that allowed ISIS to rise remain, naturally, unresolved. still, a bad day for the bad guys and one worth celebrating.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fea...103412004.html

[archibaldcrane]

https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/statu...73351844454400

[tyven]

the pic on the right actually looks better than i ever pictured any part of that country so congrats to iraq

[Cail]

https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status...30612147490820

https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status...51589409849360

https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status...62808518639617

[Zealot]

Islamist fundamentalist takeover of a volatile Middle Eastern nation with reason to despise America? Well this is certainly new and unprecedented.

[Cail]

that vid is crazy...its all gunfire and you can see the tracers whizzing past the camera-person lol

[Byrthnoth]

So wait, are they Iran-aligned?

[Andalusian girls]

Muqtada al-Sadr has worked closely with the Ayatollahs of Iran in the past, particularly during the war, but he has always been most interested in his own acquisition of power. it is my evaluation he is not made to play the puppet, to anyone, and he is clearly exploiting and exacerbating the present political crisis in an attempt to form a new national government dominated by no one but himself. to wit, his recent actions have sought to marginalize the parties in Iraq which are directly backed by Iran as much as the Sunni nationalist and Kurdish parties. he very likely could have formed a coalition government with the Iranian-dominated parties after the 2021 election returns, but instead told one and all to get fucked and decided to pursue this present course.

[Koyangi]

Does this mean we're going back?

[Byrthnoth]

Nah, as long as the Shiites hate each other our mission remains accomplished.

If he successfully replaced the Taliban, in a sense it reduces our smolbrain ethical liability because future atrocities wouldn't be perpetrated by the government we effectively ceded the country to.

[Xno Kappa]

Does this mean we're going back?

I could use a couple of stacks for a few months of work. Lets go! Daddy needs to replace the HVAC system in his house.

[thetruepandagod]

same honestly, my dryer be spitting dust all over or someshit. my filters getting dirty within a week