So while Obama’s Spartan 300 deploy to Iraq’s Thermopylae, it’s worth taking a look at why the new Sunni Islamist caliphate of Iraq should have come as no surprise to any of us.

Horror it may be. Shock it is not. Take Tel Afar, the Iraqi town close to Iraq’s border with Syria – when the border still existed, that is – which has just “fallen” to the rebels. The Americans were scrambling to hold on to this frontier way station almost 10 years ago and had to “recapture” it from Al-Qaeda-style insurgents at least once.

Indeed, Hassan Jamal Sulieman Oweydah, a Palestinian from the Mieh Mieh refugee camp in Lebanon, rammed his car into an American convoy at Tel Afar in December of 2004.

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He was the first Palestinian “martyr” in the war against the US occupation of Iraq – and came from the same “Levant” forming part of the title of the Iraqi-Syrian rebel group.

“The last time I saw Hassan, he was standing in the gateway you’ve just walked through,” his mother told me two years later. By then, 25 other Palestinians had been killed in Iraq.

“I thought he was going to go and I might not see him again and I said to ‘come back’. But he said, ‘Leaving is not like returning. It is not important for me to return.’ ”

Hassan’s Palestinian friend Ahmed al-Faran later blew himself up in a suicide bomb attack in Fallujah, another of the towns now invested by the Islamist Sunni rebels of Iraq. Twice, the Americans had to “capture” Mosul before they left Iraq. And for well over a year before its “capture” this month – although the country’s flag flew over official buildings – large parts of the city remained effectively outside government control.

And who can be surprised at the “capture” of Haditha, announced to the now-familiar consternation on Saturday night. As a centre of Sunni anti-Western resistance, was it not bound to fall to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) and its chums?

And has everyone forgotten – for not a soul mentioned this yesterday – that this was the scene of the most infamous US war crime in Iraq, the massacre by US marines of 24 unarmed men, women and children in November 2005, a slaughter supposedly carried out in revenge for the killing of a marine in the town.

Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Iraq crisis Show all 98 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Iraq crisis 1/98 Iraq Mourners burying 15 bodies in the village of Taza Khormato, near the northern city of Kirkuk AP 2/98 Iraq A Shiite Turkman fighter from the so-called Sahwa or "Awakening" force, manning a position on the front line with insurgents led by the Isis group which has overran swathes of five provinces north and west of Baghdad 3/98 Iraq Kurdish Peshmerga fighters on their military vehicles drive towards the front lines of Mosul villages where they fight against Isis, in the Khazer area between the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Kurdish city of Irbil 4/98 Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul 5/98 Iraq Shi'ite volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the Isis, take part in a military-style training in Basra, southeast of Baghdad 6/98 Iraq A Kurdish peshmerga fighter takes his position behind a wall on the front line with militants from the Isis group, in Tuz Khormato, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the oil rich province of Kirkuk 7/98 Iraq Iraqis who fled with families the violence in their home towns walk at a refugee camp near the city of Mosul 8/98 Iraq A member of the Jordanian Bedouin forces stands guard in front of the Jordanian Karameh border crossing at the Jordanian-Iraqi border, near Ruweished city 9/98 Iraq Iraqis gather at the site of a car bomb explosion in a Kurdish-majority neighbourhood of the ethnically mixed northern city of Kirkuk. The blast killed at least three people and also wounded 15 others in the northern part of the tinderbox oil hub, which lies at the centre of territory Iraq's Kurds want to incorporate into their autonomous region over the objections of Baghdad 10/98 Iraq Iraqi Kurdish forces take position near Taza Khormato AFP/Getty Images 11/98 Iraq Kurdistan regional government president Massud Barzani greets US Secretary of State John Kerry at the presidential palace in Arbil Getty Images 12/98 Iraq Iraqi men queue to for a medical check up as they volunteer to join the security forces at a recruitment centre in Baghdad Getty Images 13/98 Iraq Kurdish fighters believe they are ‘facing a new reality and a new Iraq’ AP 14/98 Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause 15/98 Iraq A member of the Kurdish security forces takes up position with his weapon while guarding an oil refinery, on the outskirts of Mosul 16/98 Iraq Iraqi Turkmen stand with their weapons as they ready to fight against militants led by the jihadist, in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk 17/98 Iraq Volunteers of the newly formed "Peace Brigades" participate in a parade in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Baghdad. Thousands of Shiite militiamen have paraded in Baghdad and several other cities in southern Iraq with heavy weaponry, signaling their readiness to take on Sunni militants who control a large chunk of the country's north 18/98 Iraq Iraqi security forces, loyal to Muslim Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take part in a military parade in the shrine city of Najaf, in central Iraq. International leaders and Iraq's Shiite religious elite have called on the country to unite to face off the insurgent threat, with US Secretary of State John Kerry this weekend heading to the Middle East and Europe in a diplomatic push to bring political stability to the country 19/98 Iraq Iraqi Shiite mourners carry the coffin of a Shiite militiaman killed in Muqdadiyah during his funeral procession, in the shrine city of Najaf. Militants attacked the town of Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad and a key approach to Diyala provincial capital Baquba, sparking clashes that killed 30 Shiite militiamen 20/98 Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis 21/98 Iraq Al-Qa’ida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said 22/98 Iraq Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces take their positions during clashes with the Isis group in the city of Ramadi 23/98 Iraq Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces shoot during the clashes with the Isis gruop in the city of Ramadi 24/98 Iraq A Peshmerga unit is ready and armed on the front lines outside Kirkuk 25/98 Iraq A U.S. Geological Survey satellite image shows smoke rising from the Baiji refinery near Tikrit 26/98 Iraq A column of smoke rises from an oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad 27/98 Iraq Iraqi men line up at the main army recruiting center to volunteer for military service in Baghdad, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents 28/98 Iraq Iraqi Shiite women hold their weapons as they gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities in the southern Shiite Muslim shrine city of Najaf 29/98 Iraq Kurdish Peshmerga fighters stand next to the bed of a comrade wounded in clashes with jihadists in Kirkuk at the emergency ward of a hospital in Arbil 30/98 Iraq A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter wounded in the legs in clashes with Isis in Kirkuk is watched by a family member as he lies on a bed in the emergency ward of a hospital in Arbil 31/98 Iraq Relatives stand vigil for a Kurdish peshmerga fighter wounded in fighting as he is treated in a hospital in Irbil. Kurdish security and hospital officials said that fighting has been raging since morning between Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga and militants who are trying to take the town of Jalula, in the restive Diyala province some 80 miles (125 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. Ethnic Kurds now control the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk, moving to fill a vacuum after the flight of Iraqi soldiers. They too are battling the Sunni extremist militants 32/98 Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said 33/98 Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province 34/98 Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers 35/98 Iraq Major General Jamil al-Shammari (C), police chief of Iraq's Diyala province north of Baghdad, inspects the Mafraq police station which includes a prison where the bodies of 44 prisoners were found. An attack by militants was pushed back by Iraqi security forces in Baquba, Diyala's provincial capital within only 60 kilometres (37 miles) of Baghdad, leaving 44 prisoners dead at the Mafraq police station. Accounts differed as to who was responsible for the prisoner killings, with the security spokesman of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki saying the prisoners were killed by insurgents carrying out the attack, and other officials saying they were killed by security forces as they tried to escape 36/98 Iraq Iraqi men mourn over the coffin of an Iraqi soldier who was killed in the clashes with militants in northern Iraq, during the funeral procession in Najaf. More than two million Iraqis have volunteered to fight against militants from the Isis group, Iraqi Energy Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said. The government had no capacity to process any more volunteers, he adds. Isis and other Sunni fighters, including groups linked to the former ruling Baath Party, were reported that they now control swathes of northern Iraq after a lightning advance recently 37/98 Iraq Iraqi displaced people, who have fled violence in Iraq's northern Nineveh province, walk past the wreckage of military vehicles upon their arrival in al-Hamdaniyah, 76 kms west of the Kurdish autonomous region's capital Arbil 38/98 Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qa’ida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work 39/98 Iraq Personnel from the Kurdish security forces detain a man suspected of being a militant belonging to the Isis group, in the outskirts of Kirkuk 40/98 Iraq Iraqi women walk at the site of a car bomb explosion in the mainly Shiite Sadr City district in Baghdad, which killed at least seven people and wounded 20. The blast came amid a week-long militant offensive in which insurgents have seized vast swathes of territory in northern Iraq 41/98 Iraq A member of the oil police force stands guard at Zubair oil field in Basra Reuters 42/98 Iraq An Iraqi man with a boy inspects the scene of a car bomb attack in Sadr city EPA 43/98 Iraq Iraqi Shiite tribesmen parade with their weapons in central Baghdad's Palestine Street as they show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities. Faced with a militant offensive sweeping south toward Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteer to fight, and thousands have signed up 44/98 Iraq Iraqi men queue at the entrance of a volunteer centre in Karbala city EPA 45/98 Iraq Members of the Shiite Muslim Mehdi Army militia, take part in training in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Iraqi Shiite volunteers, who had been fighting in neighbouring Syria, have been heading home to battle an offensive that has brought militants to near Baghdad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 46/98 Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq 47/98 Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq 48/98 Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq 49/98 Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq 50/98 Iraq Iraqi men flash victory signs as they leave the main recruiting center to join the Iraqi army in Baghdad AP 51/98 Iraq Refugees queue to register at a temporary camp in northern Iraq Getty Images 52/98 Iraq Newly-recruited Iraqi volunteers, wearing police forces uniforms, take part in a briefing at a training centre in Karbala Getty Images 53/98 Iraq Kurdish peshmerga forces keep guard around Tal Afar of Mosul Getty Images 54/98 Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News 55/98 Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News 56/98 Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News 57/98 Iraq Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and chant slogans against the Isis group in the northwest Baghdad's Shula neighborhood 58/98 Iraq Tribal fighters carry their weapons as they take part in an intensive security deployment in Dujail, north of Baghdad 59/98 Iraq Iraqi soldiers watch as armed tribesmen gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities in the southern city of Basra 60/98 Iraq Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and chant slogans against the Isis group in the northwest Baghdad's Shula neighborhood 61/98 Iraq Mehdi Army fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr march during a military-style training in the holy city of Najaf. The United States said it could launch air strikes and act jointly with its arch-enemy Iran to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq that has scrambled alliances in the Middle East 62/98 Iraq Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi Army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, gather with their weapons during a parade on the streets in Basra, southeast of Baghdad 63/98 Iraq An Iraqi young boy holds a weapon from the window of a car as people gather to show their readiness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities in the capital Baghdad 64/98 Iraq Tribal fighters from Ramadi hold up their weapons as they shout slogans in support of Iraqi security forces in Kerbala 65/98 Iraq Iraqi security forces fire artillery during clashes with Sunni militant group Isis in Jurf al-Sakhar 66/98 Iraq Iraqi security forces fire artillery during clashes with Sunni militant group Isis in Jurf al-Sakhar 67/98 Iraq Ammar al-Hakim, leader of Iraq's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, exercises a shooting drill in the main army recruiting center in Baghdad. Thousands of Shiites from Baghdad and across southern Iraq answered an urgent call to arms, joining security forces to fight the Islamic militants who have captured large swaths of territory north of the capital and now imperil a city with a much-revered religious shrine 68/98 Iraq An Iraqi security officer stands guard outside the Church of the Virgin Mary in the northern town of Bartala, east of the northern city of Mosul as some Iraqi security stayed in the town to protect the local churches and community 69/98 Iraq The insurgent offensive that has threatened to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the country, when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town close to the Syrian border, clashing with police and government forces 70/98 Iraq Volunteers walk with their weapons during a parade in the streets in Al-Fdhiliya district, eastern Baghdad 71/98 Iraq A volunteer, who has joined the Iraqi Army to fight against predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, holds a weapon during a parade in the streets in Al-Fdhiliya district, eastern Baghdad 72/98 Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport 73/98 Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them 74/98 Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others 75/98 Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province 76/98 Iraq A women and a girl wash at a tap at a temporary displacement camp set up next to a Kurdish checkpoint in Kalak. Thousands of people have fled Iraq's second city of Mosul after it was overrun by Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) militants. Many have been temporarily housed at various IDP (internally displaced persons) camps around the region including the area close to Erbil, as they hope to enter the safety of the nearby Kurdish region 77/98 Iraq Families arrive at a Kurdish checkpoint next to a temporary displacement camp in Kalak 78/98 Iraq An Iraqi refugee girl from Mosul stands outside her family's tent at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Days after Iraq's second-largest city fell to Isis fighters, some Iraqis are already returning to Mosul, lured back by insurgents offering cheap gas and food, restoring power and water and removing traffic barricades 79/98 Iraq Civilians escape from Mosul and come to a region that close to Erbil city and are placed to camp by United Nations and Kurd government in Iraq 80/98 Iraq Young men in Baghdad chant slogans against Isis outside the main army recruiting centre yesterday, where they are volunteering to fight the extremist group Karin Kadim/AP 81/98 Iraq Volunteers who have joined the Iraqi Army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants, who have taken over Mosul and other Northern provinces, board an army truck in Baghdad 82/98 Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah 83/98 Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images 84/98 Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images 85/98 Iraq A girl, who fled from the violence in Mosul, carries a case of water at a camp on the outskirts of Arbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region 86/98 Iraq A displaced Iraqi woman washes her family's laundry as the children shower outside their tent at a temporary camp set up to shelter civilians fleeing violence in Iraq's northern Nineveh province in Aski kalak, 40 kms west of the Kurdish autonomous region's capital Arbil 87/98 Iraq Iraqi refugees from Mosul arrive at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad AP 88/98 Iraq Refugees flee Mosul AP 89/98 Iraq Iraqi families fleeing violence in the northern Nineveh province gather at a Kurdish checkpoint in Aski kalak, 40 kms West of Arbil, in the autonomous Kurdistan region 90/98 Iraq Refugees fleeing from Mosul head to the self-ruled northern Kurdish region in Irbil, Iraq, 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of Baghdad AP 91/98 Iraq An Iraqi woman carries her property while fleeing from Mosul to Arbil and Duhok due to the clashes between security forces and militants of Isis in Arbil 92/98 Iraq Iraqi people receive water as they flee from Mosul to Arbil and Duhok 93/98 Iraq A woman carries a child as families fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul wait at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Radical Sunni Muslim insurgents seized control of most of Iraq's second largest city of Mosul, overrunning a military base and freeing hundreds of prisoners in a spectacular strike against the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government 94/98 Iraq An Iraqi man and his wife flee from Mosul to Arbil and Duhok 95/98 Iraq The residents gather at a security checkpoint between the provinces of Irbil and Duhok which is controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga troops 96/98 Iraq Uniforms reportedly belonging to Iraqi security forces scattered on the road AFP 97/98 Iraq An armoured vehicle belonging to Iraqi security forces in flames, after hundreds of militants from the Isis group launched a major assault on the security forces in Mosul, some 370 km north from the Iraqi capital Baghdad 98/98 Iraq Civilian children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and Isis group in the northern Iraq city of Mosul 1/98 Iraq Mourners burying 15 bodies in the village of Taza Khormato, near the northern city of Kirkuk AP 2/98 Iraq A Shiite Turkman fighter from the so-called Sahwa or "Awakening" force, manning a position on the front line with insurgents led by the Isis group which has overran swathes of five provinces north and west of Baghdad 3/98 Iraq Kurdish Peshmerga fighters on their military vehicles drive towards the front lines of Mosul villages where they fight against Isis, in the Khazer area between the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Kurdish city of Irbil 4/98 Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul 5/98 Iraq Shi'ite volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the Isis, take part in a military-style training in Basra, southeast of Baghdad 6/98 Iraq A Kurdish peshmerga fighter takes his position behind a wall on the front line with militants from the Isis group, in Tuz Khormato, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the oil rich province of Kirkuk 7/98 Iraq Iraqis who fled with families the violence in their home towns walk at a refugee camp near the city of Mosul 8/98 Iraq A member of the Jordanian Bedouin forces stands guard in front of the Jordanian Karameh border crossing at the Jordanian-Iraqi border, near Ruweished city 9/98 Iraq Iraqis gather at the site of a car bomb explosion in a Kurdish-majority neighbourhood of the ethnically mixed northern city of Kirkuk. The blast killed at least three people and also wounded 15 others in the northern part of the tinderbox oil hub, which lies at the centre of territory Iraq's Kurds want to incorporate into their autonomous region over the objections of Baghdad 10/98 Iraq Iraqi Kurdish forces take position near Taza Khormato AFP/Getty Images 11/98 Iraq Kurdistan regional government president Massud Barzani greets US Secretary of State John Kerry at the presidential palace in Arbil Getty Images 12/98 Iraq Iraqi men queue to for a medical check up as they volunteer to join the security forces at a recruitment centre in Baghdad Getty Images 13/98 Iraq Kurdish fighters believe they are ‘facing a new reality and a new Iraq’ AP 14/98 Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause 15/98 Iraq A member of the Kurdish security forces takes up position with his weapon while guarding an oil refinery, on the outskirts of Mosul 16/98 Iraq Iraqi Turkmen stand with their weapons as they ready to fight against militants led by the jihadist, in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk 17/98 Iraq Volunteers of the newly formed "Peace Brigades" participate in a parade in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Baghdad. Thousands of Shiite militiamen have paraded in Baghdad and several other cities in southern Iraq with heavy weaponry, signaling their readiness to take on Sunni militants who control a large chunk of the country's north 18/98 Iraq Iraqi security forces, loyal to Muslim Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take part in a military parade in the shrine city of Najaf, in central Iraq. International leaders and Iraq's Shiite religious elite have called on the country to unite to face off the insurgent threat, with US Secretary of State John Kerry this weekend heading to the Middle East and Europe in a diplomatic push to bring political stability to the country 19/98 Iraq Iraqi Shiite mourners carry the coffin of a Shiite militiaman killed in Muqdadiyah during his funeral procession, in the shrine city of Najaf. Militants attacked the town of Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad and a key approach to Diyala provincial capital Baquba, sparking clashes that killed 30 Shiite militiamen 20/98 Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis 21/98 Iraq Al-Qa’ida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said 22/98 Iraq Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces take their positions during clashes with the Isis group in the city of Ramadi 23/98 Iraq Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces shoot during the clashes with the Isis gruop in the city of Ramadi 24/98 Iraq A Peshmerga unit is ready and armed on the front lines outside Kirkuk 25/98 Iraq A U.S. Geological Survey satellite image shows smoke rising from the Baiji refinery near Tikrit 26/98 Iraq A column of smoke rises from an oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad 27/98 Iraq Iraqi men line up at the main army recruiting center to volunteer for military service in Baghdad, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents 28/98 Iraq Iraqi Shiite women hold their weapons as they gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities in the southern Shiite Muslim shrine city of Najaf 29/98 Iraq Kurdish Peshmerga fighters stand next to the bed of a comrade wounded in clashes with jihadists in Kirkuk at the emergency ward of a hospital in Arbil 30/98 Iraq A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter wounded in the legs in clashes with Isis in Kirkuk is watched by a family member as he lies on a bed in the emergency ward of a hospital in Arbil 31/98 Iraq Relatives stand vigil for a Kurdish peshmerga fighter wounded in fighting as he is treated in a hospital in Irbil. Kurdish security and hospital officials said that fighting has been raging since morning between Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga and militants who are trying to take the town of Jalula, in the restive Diyala province some 80 miles (125 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. Ethnic Kurds now control the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk, moving to fill a vacuum after the flight of Iraqi soldiers. They too are battling the Sunni extremist militants 32/98 Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said 33/98 Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province 34/98 Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers 35/98 Iraq Major General Jamil al-Shammari (C), police chief of Iraq's Diyala province north of Baghdad, inspects the Mafraq police station which includes a prison where the bodies of 44 prisoners were found. An attack by militants was pushed back by Iraqi security forces in Baquba, Diyala's provincial capital within only 60 kilometres (37 miles) of Baghdad, leaving 44 prisoners dead at the Mafraq police station. Accounts differed as to who was responsible for the prisoner killings, with the security spokesman of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki saying the prisoners were killed by insurgents carrying out the attack, and other officials saying they were killed by security forces as they tried to escape 36/98 Iraq Iraqi men mourn over the coffin of an Iraqi soldier who was killed in the clashes with militants in northern Iraq, during the funeral procession in Najaf. More than two million Iraqis have volunteered to fight against militants from the Isis group, Iraqi Energy Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said. The government had no capacity to process any more volunteers, he adds. Isis and other Sunni fighters, including groups linked to the former ruling Baath Party, were reported that they now control swathes of northern Iraq after a lightning advance recently 37/98 Iraq Iraqi displaced people, who have fled violence in Iraq's northern Nineveh province, walk past the wreckage of military vehicles upon their arrival in al-Hamdaniyah, 76 kms west of the Kurdish autonomous region's capital Arbil 38/98 Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qa’ida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work 39/98 Iraq Personnel from the Kurdish security forces detain a man suspected of being a militant belonging to the Isis group, in the outskirts of Kirkuk 40/98 Iraq Iraqi women walk at the site of a car bomb explosion in the mainly Shiite Sadr City district in Baghdad, which killed at least seven people and wounded 20. The blast came amid a week-long militant offensive in which insurgents have seized vast swathes of territory in northern Iraq 41/98 Iraq A member of the oil police force stands guard at Zubair oil field in Basra Reuters 42/98 Iraq An Iraqi man with a boy inspects the scene of a car bomb attack in Sadr city EPA 43/98 Iraq Iraqi Shiite tribesmen parade with their weapons in central Baghdad's Palestine Street as they show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities. Faced with a militant offensive sweeping south toward Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteer to fight, and thousands have signed up 44/98 Iraq Iraqi men queue at the entrance of a volunteer centre in Karbala city EPA 45/98 Iraq Members of the Shiite Muslim Mehdi Army militia, take part in training in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Iraqi Shiite volunteers, who had been fighting in neighbouring Syria, have been heading home to battle an offensive that has brought militants to near Baghdad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 46/98 Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq 47/98 Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq 48/98 Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq 49/98 Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq 50/98 Iraq Iraqi men flash victory signs as they leave the main recruiting center to join the Iraqi army in Baghdad AP 51/98 Iraq Refugees queue to register at a temporary camp in northern Iraq Getty Images 52/98 Iraq Newly-recruited Iraqi volunteers, wearing police forces uniforms, take part in a briefing at a training centre in Karbala Getty Images 53/98 Iraq Kurdish peshmerga forces keep guard around Tal Afar of Mosul Getty Images 54/98 Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News 55/98 Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News 56/98 Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News 57/98 Iraq Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and chant slogans against the Isis group in the northwest Baghdad's Shula neighborhood 58/98 Iraq Tribal fighters carry their weapons as they take part in an intensive security deployment in Dujail, north of Baghdad 59/98 Iraq Iraqi soldiers watch as armed tribesmen gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities in the southern city of Basra 60/98 Iraq Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and chant slogans against the Isis group in the northwest Baghdad's Shula neighborhood 61/98 Iraq Mehdi Army fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr march during a military-style training in the holy city of Najaf. The United States said it could launch air strikes and act jointly with its arch-enemy Iran to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq that has scrambled alliances in the Middle East 62/98 Iraq Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi Army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, gather with their weapons during a parade on the streets in Basra, southeast of Baghdad 63/98 Iraq An Iraqi young boy holds a weapon from the window of a car as people gather to show their readiness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities in the capital Baghdad 64/98 Iraq Tribal fighters from Ramadi hold up their weapons as they shout slogans in support of Iraqi security forces in Kerbala 65/98 Iraq Iraqi security forces fire artillery during clashes with Sunni militant group Isis in Jurf al-Sakhar 66/98 Iraq Iraqi security forces fire artillery during clashes with Sunni militant group Isis in Jurf al-Sakhar 67/98 Iraq Ammar al-Hakim, leader of Iraq's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, exercises a shooting drill in the main army recruiting center in Baghdad. Thousands of Shiites from Baghdad and across southern Iraq answered an urgent call to arms, joining security forces to fight the Islamic militants who have captured large swaths of territory north of the capital and now imperil a city with a much-revered religious shrine 68/98 Iraq An Iraqi security officer stands guard outside the Church of the Virgin Mary in the northern town of Bartala, east of the northern city of Mosul as some Iraqi security stayed in the town to protect the local churches and community 69/98 Iraq The insurgent offensive that has threatened to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the country, when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town close to the Syrian border, clashing with police and government forces 70/98 Iraq Volunteers walk with their weapons during a parade in the streets in Al-Fdhiliya district, eastern Baghdad 71/98 Iraq A volunteer, who has joined the Iraqi Army to fight against predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, holds a weapon during a parade in the streets in Al-Fdhiliya district, eastern Baghdad 72/98 Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport 73/98 Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them 74/98 Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others 75/98 Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province 76/98 Iraq A women and a girl wash at a tap at a temporary displacement camp set up next to a Kurdish checkpoint in Kalak. Thousands of people have fled Iraq's second city of Mosul after it was overrun by Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) militants. Many have been temporarily housed at various IDP (internally displaced persons) camps around the region including the area close to Erbil, as they hope to enter the safety of the nearby Kurdish region 77/98 Iraq Families arrive at a Kurdish checkpoint next to a temporary displacement camp in Kalak 78/98 Iraq An Iraqi refugee girl from Mosul stands outside her family's tent at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Days after Iraq's second-largest city fell to Isis fighters, some Iraqis are already returning to Mosul, lured back by insurgents offering cheap gas and food, restoring power and water and removing traffic barricades 79/98 Iraq Civilians escape from Mosul and come to a region that close to Erbil city and are placed to camp by United Nations and Kurd government in Iraq 80/98 Iraq Young men in Baghdad chant slogans against Isis outside the main army recruiting centre yesterday, where they are volunteering to fight the extremist group Karin Kadim/AP 81/98 Iraq Volunteers who have joined the Iraqi Army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants, who have taken over Mosul and other Northern provinces, board an army truck in Baghdad 82/98 Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah 83/98 Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images 84/98 Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images 85/98 Iraq A girl, who fled from the violence in Mosul, carries a case of water at a camp on the outskirts of Arbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region 86/98 Iraq A displaced Iraqi woman washes her family's laundry as the children shower outside their tent at a temporary camp set up to shelter civilians fleeing violence in Iraq's northern Nineveh province in Aski kalak, 40 kms west of the Kurdish autonomous region's capital Arbil 87/98 Iraq Iraqi refugees from Mosul arrive at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad AP 88/98 Iraq Refugees flee Mosul AP 89/98 Iraq Iraqi families fleeing violence in the northern Nineveh province gather at a Kurdish checkpoint in Aski kalak, 40 kms West of Arbil, in the autonomous Kurdistan region 90/98 Iraq Refugees fleeing from Mosul head to the self-ruled northern Kurdish region in Irbil, Iraq, 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of Baghdad AP 91/98 Iraq An Iraqi woman carries her property while fleeing from Mosul to Arbil and Duhok due to the clashes between security forces and militants of Isis in Arbil 92/98 Iraq Iraqi people receive water as they flee from Mosul to Arbil and Duhok 93/98 Iraq A woman carries a child as families fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul wait at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Radical Sunni Muslim insurgents seized control of most of Iraq's second largest city of Mosul, overrunning a military base and freeing hundreds of prisoners in a spectacular strike against the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government 94/98 Iraq An Iraqi man and his wife flee from Mosul to Arbil and Duhok 95/98 Iraq The residents gather at a security checkpoint between the provinces of Irbil and Duhok which is controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga troops 96/98 Iraq Uniforms reportedly belonging to Iraqi security forces scattered on the road AFP 97/98 Iraq An armoured vehicle belonging to Iraqi security forces in flames, after hundreds of militants from the Isis group launched a major assault on the security forces in Mosul, some 370 km north from the Iraqi capital Baghdad 98/98 Iraq Civilian children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and Isis group in the northern Iraq city of Mosul

Compared to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, Haditha was an obvious choice for conquest. Who in Haditha would die for Nouri al-Maliki, America’s own favourite as Iraqi leader (at least he was, until last week)?

Of course, we may rage to our hearts’ content at the destruction of our whole absurd Iraqi project. The New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, normally the calmest of fellows, was in historical wrath mode only last week. “Iraq and Syria ... were rotten to the core, as ripe for dismemberment as the Ottoman Empire a century ago, sickened by the personality cults of brutal rulers, cracking at the internal lines of fracture colonial overseers chose to disregard,” Cohen roared. “They were in a state of postponed decomposition.”

Well, not really. Outrageous though the Sykes-Picot agreement was, it did at least leave Ottoman Mesopotamia in one piece (although France wanted Mosul for itself). The problem was that the Brits foisted a Sunni king from Arabia on to the country and thus ensured that the people would never exercise real freedom, and never learn the benefits of such dignity.

It was, as we know, about oil — the same reason for the 2003 Anglo-American invasion and the strike north by US forces to capture Mosul. If the city’s major export was – let us say – asparagus, does anyone believe the 82nd Airborne would have been sent there?

And oil still remains – weirdly — an unspoken reason for this new war. Sure, it’s a blow to the Iraqi government to lose the oil facilities of Baiji. But it’s much more of a victory for Saudi Arabia – which funds the bearded Islamists swarming across Iraq – since the capture of Mosul has cut the city’s oil supplies to the outside world and closed down output from Baiji itself.

Saudi Arabia’s claim to be the greatest oil producer in the world is no longer threatened by Shia Iraq’s output, nor the undiscovered reserves which might turn Iraq into the greatest oil producer and which lie, quite literally, under the boots of the al-Qa’ida-inspired Salafists who now threaten Maliki.

The tomb-desecration apparently already under way in Mosul is not unlike the destruction of images in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which the very same Islamists long ago included in the caliphate. It’s just what the Wahabi-style Taliban did to the Buddhas of Bamian in Afghanistan in 2001. And the Taliban – let us remember, oh please, let’s not forget – were funded by the very same Saudi Arabia.

Iraq’s tragedy is terrifying enough – for the Christians of the country, for the new cities of refugees moving across its borders, for the sectarianisation of the whole Middle East – without stubbornly refusing to accept that this whole revolt has been going on for years, that hatred of America plays a foundation role and that our Saudi mates are lock, stock and barrel behind it. Officially, they deny this. Unofficially, they have been boasting for years of their support for the Syrian Islamists who fight the Alawite (Shia) Bashar al-Assad – who are exactly the same as those now threatening Baghdad.

One Middle East newspaper last week wrote scathingly of the failure of Arab “unity”. The Arabs had failed to unite over “Palestine”. They had failed to unite through nationalism or Baathism. The only true unity evident of late was that of refugees. Refugees from Palestine, from Syria, from Iraq, from Somalia and Sudan and South Sudan. It might be time, the paper concluded, for the Arab League to offer refugees their own seat in time for the next Arab Summit.

And, of course, today let’s remember Lebanon and Hassan Oweydah who killed himself in Tel Afar all those years ago. He even arranged for his mother to receive a videotape – she showed it to me – of him cheerfully waving goodbye as he drove off to “martyrdom” in his bomb-rigged car.

The Salafists of Syria and Iraq have received arms and money via their Sunni militant allies in Lebanon – part of the frontier town of Ersal has for months been a virtual Islamist enclave inside Lebanon.

The “Levant” means Lebanon as well as Syria. And if they’re victorious in destroying Iraq and Assad of Syria, many of these young men will return “home” to Lebanon. In their thousands. Perhaps that should be our “thought for the day” as we gasp, breathless, at the news from Baghdad.

* In a number of articles in June we made reference to funding for the terrorist organisation Isis having been channelled to the group from Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Embassy has asked us to make clear that the position of the Saudi Arabian government is unequivocal condemnation of the actions of Isis and its members and that the Kingdom has taken positive action to discourage any private funding or support for Isis or other extremists by Saudi citizens for ISIS. Since March 2014 the Saudi government has blacklisted religious extremist groups in the Kingdom, criminalising affiliation to, or participation in the activities of, organisations such as Isis. (Statement added 23/9/14)