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U.S. Widens Air Campaign in Northern Iraq
Keywords:
Iraq's Kurdistan region and the invasion by ISIS in August 2014, the Kurdish U.S. backed response in 2015
08/14/2014
Iran and the U.S. aid the Peshmerga forces to push the ISIS Islamic state militants out of Kurdistan. Maliki steps down as prime minister and a new prime minister who would appeal to both Shia and Sunnis takes over. The failure of Maliki to bring national reconciliation and build a strong national military comprised of Shia and Sunni with the help of the U.S. leads to the collapse of Mosul. The situation with a badly trained and poorly organized Iraqi military and poorly equiped Peshmerga leads to the general collapse as Sunni ISIS militants in Syria push into Iraq in 2014. U.S. airstrikes help prevent the fall of Erbil, capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region. France moves to aid Kurdistan as the EU fails to come up with a response. By 2015 the situation changed, with U.S. led airstrikes the Kurds had taken Sinjar from ISIS. an agreement.
Grouped Articles
Iraq Crisis: Effort to Aid Kurdish Forces Puts Iran, U.S. on Same Side
Wall Street Journal 08/14/2014
With Maliki Out of the Picture, U.S. Prepares to Boost Iraq Aid
Wall Street Journal 08/16/2014
How to Save Iraq and Honor American Sacrifice
Wall Street Journal 08/15/2014
U.S. Widens Air Campaign in Northern Iraq
Wall Street Journal 08/18/2014
Islamic State Fills Coffers From Illicit Economy in Syria, Iraq
Wall Street Journal 08/28/2014
How Kurds Came to Play Key Role in U.S. Plans to Combat Islamic State
Wall Street Journal 09/09/2014
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 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
Michael Gordon and Lt. Gen. Trainor on the Endgame in Iraq and how the U.S. has fallen short of its objectives
09/04/2012
President Obama's overriding objective was winding down the war in Iraq. The Iraq the U.S. leaves behind falls short of other objectives such as maintaining a cooperation arrangement with the government and a presence in the region. Gordon and Trainor describe this in their new book.
Grouped Articles
Sectarian Attacks Return With a Roar to Iraq, Rattling a Capital Already on Edge
New York Times 08/17/2013
Surge in Iraqi Violence Reunites Maliki and Obama
New York Times 11/01/2013
Gates Faults Obama Over Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2014
Fledgling Iraqi Military Is Outmatched on Battlefield
Wall Street Journal 04/28/2014
U.S. Said to Rebuff Iraqi Request to Strike Militants
New York Times 06/11/2014
Veterans Watch as Gains Their Friends Died for Are Erased by Insurgents
New York Times 06/13/2014
Nordland and Rubin's indepth NYT account of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq, as a Sunni organization based on money raising capabilities
06/20/2014
The ISIS raises money through various activities including taxes it imposes and collects in territories under its control. This extends to taxes on Christians in Mosul. Other activities include smuggling and money raised from taking oil refineries in Iraq and Syria. Some of the oil in Syria is sold to the Assad regime. Money is also raised from bank vaults such as in Mosul. It also has wealthy backers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf kingdoms as a result of the Sunni-Shiite conflict.
Grouped Articles
Iraq Insurgents Reaping Wealth as They Advance
New York Times 06/20/2014
Washington Post 07/12/2014
Iraq Crisis: Effort to Aid Kurdish Forces Puts Iran, U.S. on Same Side
Wall Street Journal 08/14/2014
Want to Defeat ISIS? Help the Syrian Opposition
Wall Street Journal 08/14/2014
U.S. Widens Air Campaign in Northern Iraq
Wall Street Journal 08/18/2014
Assad Policies Aided Rise of Islamic State Militant Group
Wall Street Journal 08/22/2014
U.S. arms supplies to Iraq in 2014 following the fall of Mosul to ISIS
07/30/2014
Grouped Articles
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
U.S. Embracing a New Approach on Battling ISIS in Iraq
New York Times 06/10/2015
Ex-premier Maliki on hot seat in Iraq over fall of Mosul to Islamic State - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/17/2015
Wall Street Journal 03/25/2016
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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