A member of the Iraqi security forces fires artillery during clashes with Islamic State militants near Falluja, Iraq, May 29, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
Reuters: Exclusive: U.S. falters in campaign to revive Iraqi army, officials say
A 17-month U.S. effort to retrain and reunify Iraq's regular army has failed to create a large number of effective Iraqi combat units or limit the power of sectarian militias, according to current and former U.S. military and civilian officials.
Concern about the shortcomings of the American attempt to strengthen the Iraqi military comes as Iraqi government forces and Shi’ite militias have launched an offensive to retake the city of Falluja from Islamic State. Aid groups fear the campaign could spark a humanitarian catastrophe, as an estimated 50,000 Sunni civilians remain trapped in the besieged town.
The continued weakness of regular Iraqi army units and reliance on Shi’ite militias, current and former U.S. military officials said, could impede Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s broader effort to defeat Islamic State and win the long-term support of Iraqi Sunnis. The sectarian divide between the majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni communities threatens to split the country for good.
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WNU Editor: This is a discouraging admission .... years and billions spent .... ending with an Iraqi Army that is now deeply divided and sectarian in nature.
6 comments:
I shall now don my "shocked face" which I keep handy considering the heavy usage it is getting.
Lol
Real coward...
I think the best bet for the United States would have been to push for Iraq's breakup into Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish nations from the start rather than expending time, energy, and resources in trying to keep it unified. At the very least, they could have asked "how did Saddam Huessein manage to hold such a diverse country together as a unified whole?" Since keeping Iraq together at ANY and ALL costs seems to be America's goal, perhaps it'd be prudent to ask this question. Unfortunately prudence and America's leadership don't seem to be related.
It's SOP, protects the artillarist from back blast, powder burns, FOD, and provides a bit more sight and sound protection.
Also known as the Biden Plan,(2004), the PNAC "Clean Break", (2000), the PNAC "7 in 7 Plan, (2002) and the Yonin Plan, ( 1990) where by Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Egypt and Lybia were to be attacked with sanctions, foreign terrorist organizations, foreign funded, armed and trained terrorist forces, false flag attacks with chemical weapons, funded military coups and direct military intervention by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia,
To break those countries up into Caliphinates, Bantustans and MicroStates, perpetually at war with each other, a cesspool of terrorism, but ensuring that with mininal military effort, the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel could dominate the area securing their resources on the cheap.
While it got off to a great start, it's kinda bogged down in regional realities.
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