Iraqi PM declares "State of Emergency" as ISIS occupy Mosul

[Volnotova]

Live updates from BBC

Bahrain has asked its citizens to leave the country immediately.

"Baghdad has fallen into an economic breakdown, citizens are withdrawing their money from banks, US dollar is pulled from the market, people are buying all kinds of back-up food and water leading to a rise in prices. For example. one kilo of tomatoes used to cost 500 dinars, now it's 2000 dinar. Gas prices are still under control by the government but people are expecting a shortage of gas in the coming days."

Also,

Iraq's army helicopters have fired rockets on a mosque in Tikrit, a local official and witnesses are quoted as saying by Reuters.

[Allet Klar Chefs]

Iraq's army helicopters have fired rockets on a mosque in Tikrit, a local official and witnesses are quoted as saying by Reuters.

You hide in a mosque and it gets shelled, sorry chaps that's just how it works. I think everyone understands that.

[Al-Faisal]

Iraq's army helicopters have fired rockets on a mosque in Tikrit, a local official and witnesses are quoted as saying by Reuters.

You hide in a mosque and it gets shelled, sorry chaps that's just how it works. I think everyone understands that.

Precisely.

Treating Islam like its too special to touch or insult (like so many leftist Westerners do) only encourages the superiority attitude of extremists.

Saddam's Iraq and Assad's Syria know how you scatter the vermin.

[Volnotova]

Guardian live feed

ISIL claims to have executed 1700 Shia soldiers.

[Volnotova]

Iraq's army helicopters have fired rockets on a mosque in Tikrit, a local official and witnesses are quoted as saying by Reuters.

You hide in a mosque and it gets shelled, sorry chaps that's just how it works. I think everyone understands that.

I was more referring to how ISIL will be able to use this against Malik's government.

[The New Sea Territory]

It's a bit more than a "state of emergency". It is a civil war. Thank you, Bush, Cheney and McCain for telling us to go in there and fuck up the whole place.

[The New Sea Territory]

Personally, I think it would be rational to separate it into "Kurdistan" (or whatever the Kurds want to name it), the Sunni Iraq and Shia Iraq.

[Valaran]

Personally, I think it would be rational to separate it into "Kurdistan" (or whatever the Kurds want to name it), the Sunni Iraq and Shia Iraq.

Definitely to Kurdistan, and probably to the Shia and Sunni divisions. But their are overlaps certain areas (like Baghdad) so any split of the latter would be tough to say the least.

[The New Sea Territory]

Personally, I think it would be rational to separate it into "Kurdistan" (or whatever the Kurds want to name it), the Sunni Iraq and Shia Iraq.

Definitely to Kurdistan, and probably to the Shia and Sunni divisions. But their are overlaps certain areas (like Baghdad) so any split of the latter would be tough to say the least.

Well....duh. The whole country is fucked and never should have existed in the first place. No wonder we have problems.

[Valaran]

Definitely to Kurdistan, and probably to the Shia and Sunni divisions. But their are overlaps certain areas (like Baghdad) so any split of the latter would be tough to say the least.

Well....duh. The whole country is fucked and never should have existed in the first place. No wonder we have problems.

I meant the splitting up the latter 2 groups.

Yeah, but splits and overlaps could lead to violence (Yugoslavia) and tensions later on down the line, so it would have to be done very carefully to prevent this.

Sunnis under Saddam also used to rule all of Iraq so they may not like the split as well (less of a problem but still)

[Blakk Metal]

Yet another cycle of the US creating an enemy worse than the one its military-industrial complex wanted to fight.

Yet another? This was the first.

[Keyboard Warriors]

The Saudis themselves are quite capable of tackling ISIS and surely, if Al Qaeda aren't extreme enough for ISIS, the Saudis would have reason to do so.

The Saudi military is utterly incompetent, their training and leadership is abysmal.

They are a paper tiger with nice toys, but little else.

Uhhh, no. The Saudi military is the best in the gulf by a long way. It's a small but very efficient force modelled around Western European structures.

[Napkiraly]

Guardian live feed

ISIL claims to have executed 1700 Shia soldiers.

I'm still hoping that the West decides to offer some assistance or at least push some of the more moderate Islamic countries in the region (such as Jordan) into intervening.

And despite my misgivings, I think it's time to lay off of the Assad regime. These guys are far, far worse.

[Keyboard Warriors]

Guardian live feed

ISIL claims to have executed 1700 Shia soldiers.

I'm still hoping that the West decides to offer some assistance or at least push some of the more moderate Islamic countries in the region (such as Jordan) into intervening.

And despite my misgivings, I think it's time to lay off of the Assad regime. These guys are far, far worse.

I agree. Assad isn't exactly my first choice of leader but if this is the alternative...

[Keyboard Warriors]

You know what, this is Obama's fault. If Obama had have invaded Syria back in 2012 and established democracy and freedom, none of this would have happened. Thanks a lot Obama.

[Estado Paulista]

Obama said Iraq needs help. Frankly, I don't know how he reached that conclusion, but if he did it by himself, the 22th Amendment needs to be repealed and the Senate should declare him dictator-for-life of the United States. Though, whether Obama will or not help Iraq is a totally different story.

[Valaran]

Obama said Iraq needs help. Frankly, I don't know how he reached that conclusion, but if he did it by himself, the 22th Amendment needs to be repealed and the Senate should declare him dictator-for-life of the United States. Though, whether Obama will or not help Iraq is a totally different story.

uh what? So you think Iraq is fine by itself, given the current situation? I'm not saying the US should intervene, but the view that Iraq is teetering on the edge of disintegration is pretty obvious.

[Valaran]

Guardian live feed

ISIL claims to have executed 1700 Shia soldiers.

I'm still hoping that the West decides to offer some assistance or at least push some of the more moderate Islamic countries in the region (such as Jordan) into intervening.

And despite my misgivings, I think it's time to lay off of the Assad regime. These guys are far, far worse.

Yeah, though perhaps Turkey (they are relatively moderate) is a better choice, being vastly more powerful than Jordan. To be honest though, Iran could do some help here (no one in either the West or Iran like ISIS at all)

[Volnotova]

The Saudi military is utterly incompetent, their training and leadership is abysmal.

They are a paper tiger with nice toys, but little else.

Uhhh, no. The Saudi military is the best in the gulf by a long way. It's a small but very efficient force modelled around Western European structures.

It looks good on the outside, but the reality is quite different. I have yet to find any military analyst willing to label Saudi training and its command structure as adequate or competent.

In fact 'poor' is more often used to describe those aspects of the Saudi military.

As the recent offensive has shown: You might possess sophisticated equipment, but without adequate training and leadership you will still end up being overrun.

Guardian live feed

ISIL claims to have executed 1700 Shia soldiers.

I'm still hoping that the West decides to offer some assistance or at least push some of the more moderate Islamic countries in the region (such as Jordan) into intervening.

And despite my misgivings, I think it's time to lay off of the Assad regime. These guys are far, far worse.

Possible airstrikes are being taken into consideration.

[Keyboard Warriors]

Uhhh, no. The Saudi military is the best in the gulf by a long way. It's a small but very efficient force modelled around Western European structures.

It looks good on the outside, but the reality is quite different. I have yet to find any military analyst willing to label Saudi training and its command structure as adequate or competent.

In fact 'poor' is more often used to describe those aspects of the Saudi military.

As the recent offensive has shown: You might possess sophisticated equipment, but without adequate training and leadership you will still end up being overrun.

Do you have sources for this or is this just "in my opinion, they actually suck"? Why don't you start by quoting these military analysts you speak of?

It's no secret that the Saudis have spent billions contracting the US to train their troops, since the 50's.

[Napkiraly]

I'm still hoping that the West decides to offer some assistance or at least push some of the more moderate Islamic countries in the region (such as Jordan) into intervening.

And despite my misgivings, I think it's time to lay off of the Assad regime. These guys are far, far worse.

Possible airstrikes are being taken into consideration.

Excellent.

[Senkaku]

Crude oil, according to the Wall Street Journal Report, has already jumped 33 cents to $106 a barrel.

[The Gaelic Kingdoms of Britain]

I've read a lot about this, and it really gets me worried for all the Christians in Iraq and Syria...Well, worried more than before.

[Deusaeuri]

I've read a lot about this, and it really gets me worried for all the Christians in Iraq and Syria...Well, worried more than before.

Why only Christians? There are millions of Sunnis and Shi'a in danger concerning sectarian violence.

[Estado Paulista]

Obama said Iraq needs help. Frankly, I don't know how he reached that conclusion, but if he did it by himself, the 22th Amendment needs to be repealed and the Senate should declare him dictator-for-life of the United States. Though, whether Obama will or not help Iraq is a totally different story.

uh what? So you think Iraq is fine by itself, given the current situation? I'm not saying the US should intervene, but the view that Iraq is teetering on the edge of disintegration is pretty obvious.

It should have been obvious that I was being sarcastic.