The situation in Iraq took another troublesome turn Friday with the Islamic State inching closer to taking complete control of Ramadi, one of the country’s most crucial cities. According to The Wall Street Journal, insurgents “seized control of the government compound in the city of Ramadi and attacked hundreds of government forces nearby, threatening one of the last pockets of government control in Iraq’s largest province” of Anbar. In addition to complicating the overall fight to eradicate ISIL’s territorial gains, “The loss would also complicate the Shiite-led government’s relationship with the province’s powerful Sunni tribes as they cooperate to expel the militants,” the Journal reported. In other words, sectarian conflicts threaten to exacerbate an already fragile situation. Tom Rogan recently penned an article at National Review on what an ISIL victory would mean. “The simple fact is that if Ramadi collapses, the Islamic State will symbolically and physically crown itself the ruler of Anbar,” he wrote. “Propaganda being central to its strategic narrative — that which it uses to gain resources and recruits — the seizure of Ramadi would be an extraordinary victory. … But there’s also an American moral issue at stake here. A better future for Ramadi — that which it had before the Islamic State’s rise — was built with American sweat and blood. It was in Anbar that Marines fought so valiantly and so successfully to win the Sunni tribes to their side, and together crush al-Qaeda in Iraq.” Was it all for naught? We’re dangerously close to finding out.