Tribal fighters deploy on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Baqouba northeast of Baghdad earlier this month. Reuters
U.S.-Backed Plan For Iraqi National Guard Falters -- Wall Street Journal
Lawmakers Say Rival Sects Can’t Agree on the Force
BAGHDAD—A U.S.-backed plan to bring Iraq’s fractured sectarian tribal forces fighting Islamic State under the supervision of the central government is in danger of being abandoned, lawmakers said.
Momentum has swung against the proposal to create a national guard that would encompass local forces in Iraq’s provinces as rival political blocs expressed reservations over who would be allowed into the new service and how funding would be allocated.
The Obama administration has pushed the national guard proposal as a way to bring minority Sunnis closer to the Shiite-dominated central government after years of policies espoused by former Prime Minister Iraqi Nouri al-Maliki that excluded them.
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My Comment: Iraq's sectarian groups no longer trust each other. Too many broken promises and too many deaths has killed any hope that they can reconcile amongst themselves. For Iraq to now survive as a unified nation .... the U.S. and it's allies must intervene in a massive manner to provide the necessary buffers and security forces to stabilize the situation .... but President Obama has already bluntly stated that such a level of commitment from the U.S. is not going to happen. In the meantime the Islamic State continues to encroach Baghdad .... ISIS Besieges Iraqi Town of Amiriyah Fallujah, 25 Miles From Baghdad (NBC).
1 comment:
They use to make artillery tubes (large calibre)in Amiriyah Fallujah, if I am not mistaken.
There is a square complex 1/2 a kilometer from the Euphrates. If the garrison there can send out patrols, maintain an OP or LP launch short range drones, they could keep track of river traffic.
Small barges might be a good way moving supplies in bulk due to an air threat. Would it be harder to hit a barge playing hide and seek among the foliage the river banks than an open road? If you move it during the day, it might be easier to tag an Apache with an FN-6 (those have been used in Iraq by ISIS at Baiji).
There was the Russian Manpads looted form Libya. Maybe ISIS is saving those for American air power and using the Chinese stuff for the Iraqi Air Force. Just because we have seen no 9K38 Igla used (as reported by the press) does not mean ISIS does not have them. Is a "Grinch" better than a FN-6?
Amiriyah Fallujah is 3/4 of kilometer from a bridge, which is important. Not sure if the bridge is intact.
Amiriyah Fallujah also sit astride some roads from Fallujah to Karbala.
Last taking Amiriyah Fallujah would help protect the southern flank of any advance to BIAP.
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