CLIFF MAY: Latest Notes and Comments

CATASTROPHE: In recent days, a flood of almost biblical proportions eclipsed news of the global war against Militant Islamism. But battles continued to be fought.

The most dramatic was in northwestern Iraq where 5,000 American and Iraqi troops swept into Tall Afar -- the largest urban assault since the siege of Fallujah last November.

Tall Afar had been taken a year ago but after sweeping out foreign insurgents, U.S. troops withdrew. By so doing, they violated "the ink spot" strategy -- the idea that to defeat insurgent forces it is necessary to take and hold key areas and then spread out from those bases over time. [Read More]