Iraq Crisis: "Ancient Hatreds Turning Into Modern Realities"
A Middle East expert and former policy adviser explains the dangers ahead as ISIS militants press onward to Baghdad.
What is known in the history books as the Fertile Crescent and the Cradle of Civilization is now the world's most precarious battleground. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al Qaeda-inspired Sunni Arab militia, are seizing resources and executing opponents in a dramatic push south deeper into Iraq and toward Baghdad.
Many fear that what is unfolding in Iraq could be the first salvos in a wider war that could engulf the Middle East and even redraw borders. Territory that lies between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers is already falling to the fighters, and Shiite militias in the capital and south are gearing up for battle as ISIS closes in.
The advance of ISIS (also
