Military deserters have painted a devastating picture of the inability of the Iraqi army to stand and fight, telling The Telegraph how entire divisions surrendered Mosul, Iraq's second city, without firing a single shot.
Speaking from the Kurdish city of Erbil, the defectors accused their officers of cowardice and betrayal, saying generals in Mosul "handed over" the city over to Sunni insurgents, with whom they shared sectarian and historical ties.
With Sunni insurgents now threatening the capital Baghdad the eyewitness accounts from the deserters' reveal how sectarian enmity has, in the space of mere weeks, destroyed the Iraqi national army, which the US government spent billions of dollars to build. (+ video) » | Ruth Sherlock, and Carol Malouf in Erbil, Lauren Williams in Doha | Friday, June 13, 2014
