IRAQ - Sunni Insurgent Takeover

My partial answer, Syria spillover.  Also a banner example for NOT having religion in politics.

"How did Sunni insurgents gain momentum in Iraq?" PBS NewsHour 6/10/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  For more on what this takeover means for Iraq, for the region and beyond, I’m joined by Laith Kubba.  He’s senior director for the Middle East and North Africa at the National Endowment for Democracy.  And Kimberly Kagan, she’s president of the Institute for the Study of War.

And we welcome you both.

So, Kimberly Kagan, let me start with you.

We know these insurgents have been creating havoc for some time, launching attacks. How important is this particular attack, taking over the city of Mosul?

KIMBERLY KAGAN, Institute for the Study of War:  This attack that the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham, or the Levant, has launched on Muslims is incredibly important, because it is the beginning of a campaign and a push beyond Mosul into the areas toward Baghdad that the Islamic State of Iraq wants to govern.

It seeks to establish an emirate or a state and govern terrain inside Iraq, as well as governing the terrain inside of Syria, in Raqqa, where it has announced the beginning of its emirate.  I believe Mosul will be its new capital.