The U.S.’s Show of Power Against the Islamic State by David Ignatius, Washington Post
… If more Sunni sheiks are working with the United States (and an Iraqi government they despise), it’s for a cynical reason: They think the American side is winning. U.S. commanders name seven Sunni tribes that are now contributing fighters against the Islamic State. What’s intriguing is that some of these tribes are said to be split, with part still backing the Islamic State and others defecting. The U.S. strategy is to treat the so-called caliphate as a weak state — and turn the tables by mounting an insurgency against it from the inside.
America’s military strength remains overwhelming, even after the tests of the past decade, and the emerging campaign almost surely will gradually disable the Islamic State. The problem, as nearly every commander here will acknowledge, is that U.S. military might cannot make a broken Iraq work as a nation.
Comments
Fact,
President Obama deemed the situation stable when he withdrew US Forces from Iraq.
Fact Maliki was prepared to meet the concessions required by President Obama to negotiate a new troop agreement. President Obama decided to withdraw American troops unilaterally.
The Iraq Army was left in limbo unable and prepared to deploy as an effective Army and could perform little better than as a police constabulary or border guards, DOD records of the period show multiple requests by Maliki for real support needed to field the Iraqi army, but the DOD list of weapons and other military support was in line with developing a police force and border guard.
The Islamic State invaded Iraq and quickly defeated Iraqi troops who could not operate M-1 tanks for lack of training, the Islamic state had that capability.
Al-Jazeera reported the arrival of 30,000 Al-Quds, and Russian contingents to assist Iraq. Their presence if fact did little to prevent the collapse of the Iraq "Army".
Fact we are providing support now that the Maliki government had requested numerous times during Obama's first term, and we arrived back in Iraq 6 years into Obama's term starting over where we were before he took office.
There are groups that claim a DIA report proves Obama's administration intentionally encouraged the creation of an Islamic State, not "The" Islamic State but another entity they claim became the Islamic State.
Maybe that's why Obama to this day insists on referring to the Islamic State as ISIS or ISIL?
Iraq today is getting minimal support from the USA, and the American public is getting only a few peeks at the goings on in Iraq today.
Conjecture, Obama is said to grudgingly support the current Sunni lead government but believes the government will fall and a more pro-Iranian Iraqi government will emerge next year. One can not know if that will happen but I am marking it on my calendar for future reference. Like leaving American intelligence unprepared to stop 9-11 and then abetting the lies of the Truther movement to further obfuscate DNC failures, will an Iranian Iraq be the Obama legacy? Status unknown.
Iggy's comment is little more than a white wash it doesn't attempt to rewrite history just ignore it entirely.