Sunni insurgents in Iraq are stretched thin and trying to hold onto the towns and targets they first laid claim to a month ago, U.S. defense officials said Thursday. Iraqi security forces are capable of defending the Iraqi capital of Baghdad despite losing Mosul and other towns last month to insurgents. “They’re stretched — stretched to control what they’ve gained,” said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the Sunni militants.
