ABSTRACT
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) overran Mosul and declared a caliphate with jurisdiction over Muslims worldwide. As the conflict in Syria and Iraq converged, ISIS created facts on the ground, all but annulling borders established by the Sykes-Picot Agreement and postwar mandates. ISIS fundamentally changed the political geography in Iraq. As a result of battlefield victories by ISIS, Iraqi Kurdistan shared a one-thousand-kilometer border with the so-called Islamic State. Iraqi Kurdistan expanded to include territory from the border with Syria in the West to its border with Iran in the East. Iraq experienced a steady erosion of its institutions during Maliki's eight-year rule. Increased suicide bombings and deteriorating security conditions undermined confidence among Iraqis in their government. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta attended the flag-lowering ceremony in Baghdad on December 15, 2011. The solemn occasion marked the formal withdrawal of US forces from Iraq after nearly nine years of war.
