The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - the terrorist group that has seized the Iraqi city of Mosul and is now driving toward Baghdad - has now carved out a "nation sized" area that "stretches from the eastern edge of the Syrian city of Aleppo to Fallujah in western Iraq – and now also includes the northern Iraqi city of Mosul," says the Washington Post. Their goal is to establish a new Caliphate - and they're well on the way of doing so. The fall of Mosul to the extremists on Tuesday, after the apparent collapse of Iraqi security forces there, offers only the latest example of the extraordinary resurgence of the militant organization in the past 2½ years, aided to a large extent by the vacuum of authority in neighboring Syria. The al-Qaeda in Iraq organization that confronted U.S. troops has since renamed itself to reflect its expanded activities in Syria, and it has fallen out with the al-Qaeda leadership. It has also become a far more...(Read Full Post)