President Obama Iraq Startegy Now Involves Forming Alliances With Extremist Shiite Militias

Iraqi Shia paramilitary forces ride towards Ramadi, May 27, 2015. Photo: Reuters

Michael Crowley, Politico: To fight the Islamic State, Obama joins hands with Iran's proxies

U.S. officials, stunned by the Islamic State’s gains, are making a risky bet on Shiite militias in Iraq.

For weeks, the Obama administration insisted it was winning the war against the Islamic State, telling reporters that its pinpoint airstrikes and military advice were rolling back the terrorist group’s stunning territorial gains in Iraq.

But now, Obama’s foreign policy team finds itself relying on Iran-backed Shiite militias in a high-stakes bid to retake Ramadi, a provincial capital where dozens of American soldiers once died battling hordes of Sunni insurgents.

Victory in Ramadi, if it comes, could undermine the very thing President Barack Obama is trying to achieve: a unified, stable Iraq where Iran doesn’t call the shots.

WNU Editor: This is not going to end well. And while I understand why President Obama decided to pursue a minimalist policy in this conflict, siding with one side in a sectarian religious conflict is going to produce blow-back for years to come. In hindsight .... starting with U.S. military and intelligence officials warning in 2009 - 2010 that a complete U.S. withdrawal would produce this sectarian mess .... President Obama's Iraq policy .... exemplified by his administration now reaching out to extremist Shiite militias .... has all but collapsed.