A pair of U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria, September 23, 2014. REUTERS/U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Matthew Bruch/Handout
Iraqis Prepare ISIS Offensive, With U.S. Help -- New York Times
WASHINGTON — Iraqi security forces, backed by American-led air power and hundreds of advisers, are planning to mount a major spring offensive against Islamic State fighters who have poured into the country from Syria, a campaign that is likely to face an array of logistical and political challenges.
The goal is to break the Islamic State’s occupation in northern and western Iraq, and establish the Iraqi government’s control over Mosul and other population centers, as well as the country’s major roads and its border with Syria by the end of 2015, according to American officials.
Iraqi and Kurdish forces have made inroads in recent weeks in securing territory threatened or captured by the Islamic State, including the Rabia border crossing with Syria, the oil refinery in Baiji north of Baghdad, the northern town of Zumar, and Jurf al-Sakhar southwest of Baghdad.
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My Comment: A lot can happen from now to next year .... in the meantime the slaughter continues .... Islamic State militants again massacre fellow Sunnis in Iraq (L.A. Times)
Let's say for discussion's sake that this planned offensive is wildly successful and pro government forces regain all lost territory. What makes anyone think that they can keep it? We would be back at the same place we were at the start of the ISIS offensive earlier this year in almost identical conditions. A Shia dominated army/police force occupying Sunni dominated areas. What makes the powers to be think they will do any better than the last time? About the only hope talked about is the "I don't like the guy my daughter brought home" argument, in other words the local Sunni population has seen the light under a distasteful ISIS control. The Shia will most likely erase that feeling in a hurry with their own behavior, at least reports from other areas of the country indicate that the Shia will be out for blood if they ever come back.
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