"Tal Afar Stormed. Threat of Ethnic Cleansing Grows in Iraq"

Headline and analysis courtesy of Juan Cole He links to Nameer Nouradeen, in Reuters There is no way that Tal Afar is "strategic." I can't remember whether the adjective Cole used in a previous piece was "flyblown" or "godforsaken" or some other indicator of the absolute irrelevance of Tal Afar to controlling Iraq. The only point of this operation seems to be to rattle Syria. Here is a picture of Fort Tal Afar, courtesy of Grandpa Po's Nutra Nuts: