Four years ago, al-Qaeda appeared to have been destroyed in Iraq. Last week, fighters from the group captured Fallujah, a city where hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded in the last decade fighting the jihadists. How did this stunning reversal of fortune happen?

David Ignatius: Iran’s fingerprints in Fallujah – The Washington Post – 1/8/2014.

Don’t think for a moment that the United States isn’t still involved in Iraq. At the moment, the government of Iraq is preparing for what might be called the Third Battle of Falluja.

The Third Battle of Falluja | The Nation – 2/6/2014.

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As long as the Iranian and Saudi Arabian sponsors continue to move around suitcases full of money, more or less, one might expect the tides to shift in the fashion established: extremist or deeply partisan combatants on the battle lines; noncombatant residents between those lines, conceptually, and likely to be punished in the path of whatever machinery might have the upper hand for a few hours, days, weeks, or months.

As in Syria, there seems nothing like an armed central and moderate force in place of opposed tribal alliances, and creating that central-moderate force seems ever as difficult or more difficult than setting the usual hotheads at each other’s throats.

Perhaps that accounts for this week’s slouching toward the “Third Battle of Fallujah” where ends desired in common, such as they may be, may seem doubtful to those who must achieve them.

Related: Fighting continues in Iraq’s Anbar Province as civilians flee, 1 February 2014; IRIN Middle East | As fighting continues in Anbar, displaced numbers soar | Iraq | Conflict | Refugees/IDPs | Security – 2/5/2014.

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