This week, members of the extreme al Qaeda splinter group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams) took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city. And they wasted no time instituting Sharia law that requires women to stay inside and cover themselves from head to toe.
The background and rise of ISIS, like most Middle Eastern political clusterfucks, complicated and wrapped in multiple levels of ineptitude from the Iraqi government, American military, and the international intelligence community. CNN’s got a decent Explain To Me Like I’m Five-style rundown of the basics of the group that claims it wants to build an Islamic state, if you want to get caught up.
This obviously bodes poorly for the stability of Iraq, which we triumphantly paraded out of in recent years after triumphantly parading in and triumphantly dismantling their government and triumphantly realizing that oh shit we might actually be creating a failed state that could be a vacuum ripe for terrorist encroachment.
And encroach they did on a decade of “nationbuilding” work and on the lives of Iraqis of Mosul. Yesterday a social media account attributed to ISIS circulated a document outlining intentions to impose Sharia law. Among the guidelines, “For women, dress decently and wear wide clothes. Only go out if needed.”
The group also banned drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and public gatherings.
ISIS continues to move toward Baghdad, and it’s not clear what — if anything — is going to be done to stop them.
Image via Getty