The corporate media went gaga about the "new" jihadi militia group ISIS a few months ago, largely because they had overrun the Sunni Triangle part of Iraq that had been the main battleground of the Bush/Cheney war.
And also because ISIS provided lots of gruesome video.
So ISIS became the new Islamic boogeyman, and we're back in Iraq bombing, for now.
Who are these guys?
The War Nerd knows, far more than anyone you'll read/view/hear in the corporate media.
Here'e the lede from his comprehensive post at Pando back in June:
As the Scriptures remind us, “Do not believe the hype.” The hype of the moment is ISIS, the Sunni militia that just drove the so-called Iraqi Army out of Mosul, Tikrit, and other Iraqi cities.This is one of those dramatic military reverses that mean a lot less than meets the eye. The “Iraqi Army” routed by ISIS wasn’t really a national army, and ISIS isn’t really a dominant military force. It was able to occupy those cities because they were vacuums, abandoned by a weak, sectarian force. Moving into vacuums like this is what ISIS is good at. And that’s the only thing ISIS is good at.
More, below.