But:
Taliban militants disguised as security forces stormed into Pakistan's busiest airport on Sunday night, triggering an all-night battle in which at least 27 people were killed.
The assault on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan's sprawling commercial hub of 18 million people, all but destroys prospects for peace talks between the Pakistani Taliban and the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
And:
Insurgents overran the headquarters of the provincial government in Iraq's northern city of Mosul late on Monday, making further gains in a fourth day of fighting in the country's second-largest city.
Governor Atheel Nujaifi was trapped inside the building but managed to escape while police held back an assault by hundreds of militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles and heavy machine guns mounted on vehicles.
And here I thought the war against jihadis in Iraq was ended long ago; and the war on the Taliban that we fight in Afghanistan is scheduled to end in just a couple years.
Somebody is obviously unclear on the concepts of fighting and ending wars.
UPDATE: Seriously, send a memo to somebody about whether the war is on or off.
Iraq:
Militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and their allies overran a military base and freed hundreds of prisoners early on Tuesday in a spectacular strike against the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government.
And Pakistan:
Pakistan's Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for an attack on a security academy at Karachi's airport on Tuesday, less than 48 hours after an all-night siege by Taliban gunmen at Pakistan's busiest airport that killed more than 30 people.
The Iraq situation is particularly disturbing in that the enemy is able to mass large numbers of fighters to actually overrun a base.
That did not happen when we fought in Iraq. We atomized the enemy to prevent large attacks. Attacks above platoon-sized were rare and the enemy relied on IEDs and indirect fire to make up for their inability to attack our bases.
Iraq really needs our firepower and targeting ability to go after the enemy to keep them from being able to mass troops to overrun a freaking base.
As for Pakistan, every year I hope that the Pakistani government will stop treating jihadis as an asset and go after them like the murderous scum they are. Every year I'm disappointed.
Lots of memos need to be written.
UPDATE: Well, we have one address for the memo:
White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said ... that Obama and Clinton succeeded in “ending the war in Iraq [and] responsibly winding down the war in Afghanistan.” He also cited ”the success of our efforts to dismantle and destroy al-Qaeda core.”Iraq is reeling under the recent al Qaeda seizure of Mosul, bolstered by the rise of al Qaeda in Syria which already aided them in seizing territory in Iraq's Anbar province.
And the Taliban in Pakistan are part of a broader Taliban jihadi movement (remember, that's where our forces killed Osama bin Laden) that spans the border with Afghanistan where our allies will still fight the jihadis when we are gone.
Yet apparently, after losing thousands of troops to defeat our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, an administration spokesman considers it a foreign policy achievement just to have left Iraq and to be getting ready to leave Afghanistan.
Our administration has no concept of victory in Iraq and Afghanistan, it seems.
But we'll get lovely "Participation" ribbons, I suppose.
