The Iraqi government is pleading with its citizens in Fallujah to help them expel a force of al-Qaeda fighters who have taken control of large parts of the city. Sunni tribesmen opposed to the terrorists are assisting the army in a military operation to kick AQ out of western Iraq. But the problem for Iraq - and Lebanon, Syria, and the rest of the Middle East - is that AQ is on the rise everywhere. Recruits have bee filling its ranks to help this AQ offshoot, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, overthrow President Assad in next door Syria. For a while, the ISIS were allies with the American backed Free Syrian Army. But then, the ISIS turned on the FSA and other rebels and are fighting them just as fiercely as they battle Assad's forces. And to make matters worse, the ISIS is apparently trying to carve out an Islamic state by taking control of western Iraq and eastern Syria and setting up a government run according to Sharia law. Wall Street Journal: The rise of...(Read Full Post)