Right now, there a lot of claims like this:
Iraq state TV announces Mosul liberation, ISIL fall
So the Iraqi government's forces now control Mosul?
No.
ALJAZEERA reports, "Iraqi authorities expect the battle to end in the coming days as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has been bottled up in a handful of neighbourhoods of the Old City."
That reality doesn't interfere with some.
Self-styled fortune teller Liz Sly takes the time to Tweet:
Reuters: Iraqi forces have captured the Nuri Mosque where Baghdadi declared the ISIS caliphate. The battle for Mosul is as good as over.
You really have to marvel over that nonsense.
Liz Sly is paid to report what is.
She clearly doesn't grasp the job.
She'd rather offer pleasing words.
Grown ups don't need fairy tales, they need the truth.
The truth is the battle continues.
But the truth is tossed to the side by the immature.
That would include those who lap at the crotches of military men (they themselves haven't usually served ever).
Those are the heroes?
I would think the people of Mosul who managed to survive three years of being occupied by the Islamic State would be the heroes.
You know, the people the Iraqi government abandoned for over two years?
The ones the Iraqi government made no effort to assist or help?
Reality: It's day 249 of The Mosul Slog.
It could end today.
It might not.
But as of right now, it continues.
ALJAZEERA offers this map:
As the Iraq army seizes ruins of Mosul's al-Nuri mosque from ISIL, we look at who controls what in the city http://aje.io/v4p3
More reality: once the Islamic State no longer controls any of Mosul, the focus returns to the failures of the Iraqi state which are many.
Harlan Ullman and Arnaud de Borchgrave (UPI) note that "the Sunni-Shia schism has not been reconciled. Nor have relations between Baghdad and Kurdistan been resolved."
The Islamic State has allowed many to ignore the problems with the government.
Here's another reality:
- 500,000 people used to live in Ramadi, #Iraq. Fighting left 80% of the city destroyed. Inside war in cities: http://bit.ly/2sjX1bD
Maybe Liz Sly could take a break from palm reading and report on what passes for post-liberation in Iraq?
The following community sites -- plus PACIFICA EVENING NEWS and GORILLA RADIO -- updated:
The Goody Whore
10 hours ago
The honest truth
10 hours ago
Awful Susan Rice
10 hours ago
corn nuts
10 hours ago
Let it go already
10 hours ago
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