Patrick Cockburn has covered the Middle East, often unembedded, since 1979. In his latest post from Baghdad (18 June 2014) he reveals the cost of a bullet for an AK47 has tripled to 3,000 Iraqi dinars or about $2, Kalashinikovs "are almost impossible to buy from arms dealers though pistols can still be obtained at three times the price of a week ago."
The Iraqi government also "closed down the internet at 9am" after previously closing YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Cockburn's article is brief and worth a read:
"Iraq is breaking up, with Shia and ethnic minorities fleeing massacres as a general Sunni revolt, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) sweeps through northern Iraq.
"The Isis assault is still gaining victories, capturing the Shia Turkoman town of Tal Afar west of Mosul after heavy fighting against one of the Iraqi armys more effective units.
"Iraq could soon see sectarian slaughter similar to that which took place at the time of the partition of India in 1947.
"Pictures and evidence from eye witnesses confirm that Isis massacred some 1,700 Shia captives, many of them air force cadets, at the air force academy outside Tikrit, which proves that Isis intends to cleanse its new conquests of Shia.
"Sunni cadets were told to go home.
"If the battle moves to Baghdad, then the Shia majority in the capital might see the Sunni enclaves, particularly those in west Baghdad, such as Amiriya and Khadra, as weak points in their defences, and drive out the inhabitants..."
One Iraqi general had a one word answer when asked about the cause of the government's collapse:
"'Corruption! Corruption! Corruption!'
"He said it started when the Americans told the Iraqi army to outsource food and other supplies in about 2005. A battalion commander was paid for a unit of 600 soldiers, but had only 200 men under arms and pocketed the difference which meant enormous profits.
"The army became a money-making machine for senior officers and often an extortion racket for ordinary soldiers who manned the checkpoints."
The Baghdad Fear Index » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
The Iraqi government also "closed down the internet at 9am" after previously closing YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Cockburn's article is brief and worth a read:
"Iraq is breaking up, with Shia and ethnic minorities fleeing massacres as a general Sunni revolt, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) sweeps through northern Iraq.
"The Isis assault is still gaining victories, capturing the Shia Turkoman town of Tal Afar west of Mosul after heavy fighting against one of the Iraqi armys more effective units.
"Iraq could soon see sectarian slaughter similar to that which took place at the time of the partition of India in 1947.
"Pictures and evidence from eye witnesses confirm that Isis massacred some 1,700 Shia captives, many of them air force cadets, at the air force academy outside Tikrit, which proves that Isis intends to cleanse its new conquests of Shia.
"Sunni cadets were told to go home.
"If the battle moves to Baghdad, then the Shia majority in the capital might see the Sunni enclaves, particularly those in west Baghdad, such as Amiriya and Khadra, as weak points in their defences, and drive out the inhabitants..."
One Iraqi general had a one word answer when asked about the cause of the government's collapse:
"'Corruption! Corruption! Corruption!'
"He said it started when the Americans told the Iraqi army to outsource food and other supplies in about 2005. A battalion commander was paid for a unit of 600 soldiers, but had only 200 men under arms and pocketed the difference which meant enormous profits.
"The army became a money-making machine for senior officers and often an extortion racket for ordinary soldiers who manned the checkpoints."
The Baghdad Fear Index » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names