ISIS ON THE MARCH – AT 8:06 A.M. ET:  Do you remember when Field Marshal of the United States Barack Obama proclaimed ISIS the "junior varsity"?  Amazing what some good coaching can do.  From Fox: 

Islamic State militants reportedly captured the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra Wednesday as Syrian officials evacuated citizens and scrambled to keep priceless antiquities from falling into terrorist hands.

The Syrian Observatory for human rights told The Associated Press that government forces collapsed in the face of ISIS attacks and withdrew from the town late Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that before fleeing, the National Defense Forces evacuated civilians as militants took control of residential areas and established themselves in the city’s nearby ruins.

It was not immediately clear how close to Palmyra’s famed archeological site ISIS forces had come, but Syrian activists said that Syrian soldiers were seen fleeing the area.

Hundreds of statues have been moved from Palmyra to safe locations, Syria's antiquities chief told Reuters.

"Hundreds and hundreds of statues we were worried would be smashed and sold are all now in safe places," Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters, but voiced his concern about Palmyra’s museum and large monuments that cannot be moved. "This is the entire world's battle,” he added.

Palmyra dates back to the second millennium B.C. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the city was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world and has been home to Arabic, Aramaic, and Greco-Roman culture. Palmyra contains numerous monumental ruins, including the Temple of Ba'al, an ancient theater, and its famous colonnade.

"Given ISIS' past actions, moving the statues is a vital precaution," Christopher Jones, a graduate student in ancient Near Eastern history at Columbia University and author of the Gates of Nineveh blog, told FoxNews.com. "The ruins themselves are still under threat though even if there are no statues."

Should ISIS take full control of the town, it would be the group’s second major victory in a week, coming just days after militants in Iraq secured the key city of Ramadi, capital of the Anbar province, causing thousands of refugees to flee to neighboring Baghdad.

COMMENT:  We have been assured by our Supreme Leader that all is well, that he will address the military collapse in Iraq as soon as he addressed global warming. 

There is a bitterness here for Americans, especially for those who fought in Iraq, and the families of those who died there.  All our gains are being erased, in large measure because Obama botched our withdrawal by not leaving a residual force to maintain order.

He may make the same mistake in Afghanistan.

May 21,  2015