June 25, 2017
This poor town has been mired in Hell for quite-some-time-now. Whether it was from the American invasion — or the recent tug-of-war with Iraqi forces and ISIL or ISIS or Whomever\’s occupation — I\’m pretty sure that the civilian casualties have been astronomical over the years…
What prompted me to write this article was a recent news story (not fake because people have \’really\’ been dying) that suggested the remaining inhabitants of \”old\” Mosul were being evacuated — as ISIL or ISIS or Whomever is about to mount a last ditch offensive to regain this all-but-destroyed town (I\’m surprised that people could even eke out a living amidst this carnage).
The other side of Mosul still seems to have some greenery…I wonder if this is where these folks are being evacuated to?
And this begs the question of why poor Mosul has had to endure this relentless pounding since the American invasion?! There is nothing left to fight over! Unless…unless…unless…unless Mosul does still have strategic importance to-the-powers-that-be and keeping attention focused on the Mosul playground facilitates other maneuverings.
Most war books I\’ve ever read — and the theme of plenty of war movies — was the stratagem of cutting the enemy\’s supply lines — thereby weakening them (I finally heard this \’novel\’ idea mentioned on a fake news report last night).
As I look at Mosul on the map — it seems to be surrounded by nothing but desert. With all the American military hardware in the area — you\’d think that we\’d easily disrupt the enemy\’s supply lines (even at night). These ISIS or ISIL or Whomever combatants would have given up a long time ago if they weren\’t getting supplies!
A quick look at a map of the Middle East shows US that Mosul IS strategically located in Northern Iraq — not too far from Syria, Turkey or Iran. Since Syria is currently immersed in their own quagmire — supplies are NOT coming to Mosul through them. Turkey is also supposed to be an enemy of ISIS or ISIL or Whomever. Which leaves Iran as the only potential supplier of (you know whom) as IT sits on the northeastern border of Iraq. But this seems like an exceedingly easy area to monitor.
So what is really going on with this town?
Well, as noted above, Mosul could be serving as a diversion to draw attention away from Syria and the corridor that allows movement between Syria and Iran. If eyes are focused on Mosul — which is shaping up to be the latest OK Corral — then all sorts nonsense might be accomplished to the West, North and East of the town. I can\’t think of any other reason of turning rubble into gravel?!
I don\’t know what Old Town Mosul looked like under Saddam Hussein\’s regime — but I\’m sure it was a damned site (a pun) better-looking than it is now.
So Mosul\’s Hell is the result of its location, location, location — and all those civilian casualties, all those women and children dead, just collateral damage in the playing fields of the Big Oil Boys.
P.S.
I\’ve just learned that ISIS is now allegedly causing strife in the Philippines or Malaysia or thereabouts. Do all of the ISIS cells speak Arabic — or, does ISIS, ISIL or Whomever feature language classes in Spanish and or Tagalog??