Let’s just say that the Iraq army isn’t exactly anchoring a democratic awakening in the Middle East.

Earlier this week, Iraq’s armed forces in Mosul – trained and supplied by the United States to secure the well-being of its people and institutions – reportedly dropped their guns, shed their uniforms and surrendered to black-flag-waving Sunni insurgents in a mere four days. No Thermopylae here. And about a half-million civilians have left the second-largest city in Iraq to flee what is surely going to become a hotbed of beheadings and other assorted acts of jihad. And now, according to CNN, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria also has almost complete control of Tikrit. Al Qaeda (or something very much like it) is definitely on the run – right toward our allies.