Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is asking parliament to declare a state of emergency after Sunni militants from al Qaeda and the dreaded Islamic State In Iraq and Syria (ISIS) effectively took control of Mosul and much of the surrounding province.

By Iraqi standards, Iraq’s second-largest city is wealthy and sophisticated.  But 150,000 people are now fleeing and have, for now, abandoned the city to the jihadists.  The internal refugees complained that the Iraqi military’s US-trained officers fled first, leaving the troops on their own.  Soon the troops and police fled, leaving burning hardware in their wake.  The people packed up and ran.

Al-Maliki announced a “general mobilization” of the country’s security forces and asked parliament to declare a state of emergency.  He said the government would not allow Mosul to fall “under the shadow of terror and terrorists.”

But Iraqi forces still haven’t retaken Fallujah, right outside the capital Baghdad’s western gates.  That suggests that it would be even more difficult for them to regain control of Mosul, almost 400 kilometers north.  What’s worse is that the ISIS fighters seized all sorts of military hardware from the retreating Iraqis – guns, explosives, vehicles – which will now be deployed against Baghdad.