A Grim Assessment On The Iraqi Army's Ability To Defeat The Islamic State

Members of Iraqi security forces and Shiite militia fighters make their way from Samarra to the outskirts of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, on February 28. Stringer/Reuters

Jonathan Broder, Newsweek: A Bloody Disaster: The Iraqi Army’s Fight Against ISIS

Take it from a man who knows: The Iraqi army’s first big attempt to roll back the Islamic State is going to be a violent mess.

Several months after thousands of American advisers showed up for training sessions, Iraqi troops still aren't ready for combat. Iranian-backed Shiite militias will do most of the fighting against the Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Tikrit and other largely Sunni towns and cities in Iraq, raising the chances of more sectarian slaughter. And even if the militias do manage to drive out ISIS, Baghdad doesn't have a viable plan to rebuild what’s likely to be a region reduced to rubble.

That's the grim assessment of a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, James Dubik, who oversaw the training of Iraqi soldiers in the final months of the eight-year U.S. occupation. Those troops fled when ISIS showed up last summer, stripping off their uniforms and abandoning millions of dollars' worth of American weapons.

WNU Editor: A grim assessment .... but the battle for Tikrit is underway right now, and the next few weeks will tell us if this assessment is right .... or wrong.