re: Insurgents seize Iraqi city of Mosul as troops flee

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I cannot stress what a big deal this is. Mosul was so safe that people went there on vacation to visit Iraq. They had self rule and working democracy there. The Kurds had been the ones who had formed the Northern Alliance, and helped American forces drive out Saddam as they had also been the victems of genocide and gas attacks under his regime. This was a stable, vibrant, culturally important, and economically thriving city that has just fallen into the hands of insurgents. If there has ever been a red flag that there will never be a stable, unified, democratic Iraq, it's this. The Iraqi military must retake this city immediately or the entire country will fall apart.

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Let's not go overboard here. Mosul was the last major Iraqi city to be pacified following the Sahwa Awakening. We were still dropping JDAMS there well into 2009/2010.

Erbil and Sulayminiyah? Yea, I knew of a unit from 10th Mountain that would go there occasionally and walk around like they were on a FOB.

It is a big deal because it's the second-largest city in Iraq and the major economic, political, and cultural nexus of the northern Iraq/eastern Syria/northwestern Iran/southeastern Turkey region, but it's been a rathole pretty much non-stop since Petraeus' 101st Division left in late 2003.