May 11, 2018
Peter Bergen wrote for CNN on the improving security and political situation in post-ISIS Iraq:
On Saturday, Iraqis go to the polls to elect their new Parliament and prime minister.
And the news here is that Iraq -- which only four years ago seemed on the brink of collapse as ISIS's army menaced the Iraqi capital Baghdad -- is in the best shape it has been for years.
In 2014, ISIS stormed onto the world stage seizing Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, declaring its self-styled "caliphate" there, while the Iraqi military fled in ignominious retreat.
Last year, ISIS lost Mosul and today its black flags no longer fly over any of Iraq's territory. The group exists now only as a rump terrorist organization, capable of mounting only sporadic attacks in Iraq.