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U.S. Sees Risks in Assisting a Compromised Iraqi Force
Keywords:
One military expert says even if half of the Iraqi army can be put in shape it could turn the tide against the ISIS. Advice from U.S. military experts is for the Iraqi army to focus only on the ISIS and avoid hurting relations with the Sunni population. Advisers are seen as making a difference and needed also for the tribal forces. A major difficulty is that Shiite militias and advisors from Iran play a role in the forces loyal to prime minister Maliki. Following the U.S. training of the Iraqi Army at a cost of over $25 billion there was a period under prime minister Maliki when he appointed officers more for loyalty than for military skills and training. With the U.S. withdrawal the Iraqi Army languished in this situation. Reporters from NYT and WSJ have documented extensively the weakness of the Iraqi Army in commanding officers, in training and in equipment.
The Iraqi army's effort to take back territory from ISIS wih the help of U.S. advisors in July 2014
06/28/2014
Grouped Articles
Iraqi Army, in New Show of Force, Drives Back Insurgents in Major City
New York Times 06/28/2014
Washington Post 07/12/2014
U.S. Sees Risks in Assisting a Compromised Iraqi Force
New York Times 07/13/2014
U.S. Approves More Hellfire Missiles for Iraq
Wall Street Journal 07/30/2014
With Maliki Out of the Picture, U.S. Prepares to Boost Iraq Aid
Wall Street Journal 08/16/2014
U.S. Widens Air Campaign in Northern Iraq
Wall Street Journal 08/18/2014
A weak military in Iraq in 2014-2015, split by sectarian divisions and poorly equipped and trained- in the period following U.S. withdrawal
04/28/2014
The failure of Nouri Maliki to bring together Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. Sunnis see the Maliki government's anti-terrorist effort as ethnic cleanising, the U.S. is wary of the Maliki government and has refrained from supplying the military, the college setup by the U.S. to train officers remains vacant after the U.S. withdrawal at Maliki's insistence. The militants ISIS organization draws from trained officers in the old Iraqi military before the invasion and Sunni militants in Syria. This threatens the ability of the government to maintain peace in the country and creates risks for Iraqi oil supplies and revenues.
Grouped Articles
Fledgling Iraqi Military Is Outmatched on Battlefield
Wall Street Journal 04/28/2014
Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul
New York Times 06/10/2014
Iraqi, U.S. Forces Trade Barbs Over Failures
Wall Street Journal 06/12/2014
Mosul Falls to ISIS, Endangering Iraq’s Democracy
New York Times 06/11/2014
U.S. Said to Rebuff Iraqi Request to Strike Militants
New York Times 06/11/2014
Sunni Fighters Gain as They Battle 2 Governments, and Other Rebels
New York Times 06/11/2014
The insurgency in Iraq in 2014 against the Maliki government's sectarian policies- the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria
06/10/2014
Mosul on the border with Syria is taken by the insurgents ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) who operate on the Syrian side against Assad. Mosul is Iraq's second largest city with different ethnic groups. Foreign fighters operating in Syria have joined the ISIS. Maliki had lost support in Mosul with his increasingly sectarian policies favoring Shiites and marginalizing Sunnis. The Iraqi forces lack training and are poorly organized compared to the insurgents fighting the Assad regime in Syria. The U.S. lost any chance of maintaining peace in the region with policies of the Obama administration distancing itself in Iraq, Syria and towards Iran's non-sectarian democracy movement. With moderates left in the cold in the region, sectarian influences are taking control and undoing the hard work of previous administrations. The hopes of the heavily young demographic oriented Middle East region in 2011-2012 for economic progress are now fading first into religious extremism and then into sectarian religious conflict, with Putin's government in Russia allowed by the Obama administration to pursue reckless policies in Syria against the interests of people in the region. A no fly zone or action of the kind taken in Libya at very small cost to the U.S. was not taken by U.S. president Obama. The failed reelection bid of Sarkozy in France left Britain's prime minister Cameron with no allies to pursue prudent policies in Syria that would have advanced democracy and economic development in the entire region.
Grouped Articles
Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul
New York Times 06/10/2014
Wall Street Journal 06/11/2014
Iraqi, U.S. Forces Trade Barbs Over Failures
Wall Street Journal 06/12/2014
Mosul Falls to ISIS, Endangering Iraq’s Democracy
New York Times 06/11/2014
U.S. Said to Rebuff Iraqi Request to Strike Militants
New York Times 06/11/2014
Sunni Fighters Gain as They Battle 2 Governments, and Other Rebels
New York Times 06/11/2014
The Obama administration's decision to ask Congress for $500 million in June 2014 to aid moderate forces in Syria including the Free Syria Army
06/27/2014
The decision follows gains by the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) extremist Sunni militants over large areas in Sunni parts of Iraq. Sunnis alienated by the Maliki government's policies favoring Shiites have supported Sunni militants. The move comes late in the conflict after the Sunnis are left to fend for themselves in Syria and Iraq, and continues a policy of no active engagement of U.S. airpower in the region- increases aid that is already being sent, and serves the purpose of checking the gains of the ISIS, making no significant change to the situation in the region of a refugee crisis and expanded conflict. The move may be intended also to show a balance of support to Sunni and Shia, as the Obama administration is supporting the Maliki government against ISIS. The same support of moderates with a "no fly zone" could have kept U.S. combat forces out of the region and achieved what was achieved in Libya of freeing the region of the Assad regime, not emboldening Russia's Putin, stood up for America's support for democracy and freedom and condemnation of the use of chemical weapons, been consistent with American public opinion's desire for no large interventions overseas, continued focus on the domestic economy, and not compromised severely the hard won gains of America's military and servicemen in the last decade. So weak has been the Republican response and so partisan the politics, that few Democrats voices have been heard to questions the policies, so that a muddled policy based on the president's inclinations has been allowed to look sensible. It has made the U.S. look weak in Europe and Asia, as Russia and China have been emboldened in each region. Democrats have only to look to Truman in 1947-1950 when Berlin, Greece, South Korea, were not left to fall into chaos with millions of refugees and Russian Communist influence, to see the difference with the current policies, without a knee jerk reaction to the Bush era.
Grouped Articles
Obama's Foreign-Policy Failures Go Far Beyond Iraq
Wall Street Journal 06/27/2014
Syria Is Breeding Western Terrorists, U.S. Warns
Wall Street Journal 07/09/2014
Washington Post 07/12/2014
U.S. Sees Risks in Assisting a Compromised Iraqi Force
New York Times 07/13/2014
U.S. Approves More Hellfire Missiles for Iraq
Wall Street Journal 07/30/2014
Leaving U.S. Allies Adrift as Chaos Rises
Wall Street Journal 08/01/2014
Shiite defense of Baghdad and southern Iraq from Sunni insurgents and the ISIS in Syria- 2014
06/20/2014
Grouped Articles
In Shiite Heartland of Iraq, Volunteers Get Set for a ‘Defensive Jihad’
New York Times 06/21/2014
Answering a Cleric’s Call, Iraqi Shiites Take Up Arms
New York Times 06/21/2014
Iraq Insurgents Reaping Wealth as They Advance
New York Times 06/20/2014
Washington Post 07/12/2014
U.S. Sees Risks in Assisting a Compromised Iraqi Force
New York Times 07/13/2014
Iraq Crisis: Effort to Aid Kurdish Forces Puts Iran, U.S. on Same Side
Wall Street Journal 08/14/2014
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