Mosul—Iraq's third-largest city, urbane center of the nation's northern regions, built on the remains of the once-great Assyrian empire, made free through the sacrifices of thousands of Iraqis, Kurds, and Americans—fell to a gang of Islamist insurgents Monday.

An Iraqi airline employee worked closely with the 9/11 hijackers. Neocons used him to justify the war in Iraq—not realizing that the CIA had attempted to recruit him as a turncoat, perhaps because they knew he was gay.