The U.S. Is Stuck In Iraq Again

Peshmerga soldiers rehearse urban tactical movement at a training base near Irbil, Iraq, Jan. 26, 2016. Peshmerga soldiers attend a six-week infantry basic course that will help improve their tactical knowledge to aid in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. There are six Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve training locations: four building partner capacity sites and two building specialized training sites. Army photo by Spc. Jessica Hurst

Kevin Reagan, Scout/The National Interest: Essay: US Military is Stuck in Iraq Again

The United States thus finds itself trapped in the middle of messy combat politics without much leverage and no exit strategy, the author writes.

Around one month ago, I chronicled the exasperating reality of the U.S. military’s relegation to operational hand-holding in Iraq. Sure enough, as more time passes, the magnitude of the challenges therein is becoming clearer. Recent events like the (mostly peaceful and brief) occupation of the Iraqi parliament by followers of prominent Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are illustrative of the political disarray gripping Baghdad. This disorganization has been an utter albatross in the campaign to clear the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) from the north and west of the country, particularly their stronghold of Mosul.

Unfortunately, the U.S. military is now being reluctantly dragged into sectarian squabbles as various regional leaders (i.e., those with tangible power in the area, unlike the government in Baghdad) jockey for control of specific territories. The United States thus finds itself trapped in the middle of messy combat politics without much leverage

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WNU editor: There is no exit strategy .... a sad fact that the next U.S. president is going to find out.

Pundits Are 'Ganging-Up' On President Obama's Iraq Policy

US President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks to the media on the situation in Iraq on the South Lawn of the White House, before his departure for vacation at Martha's Vineyard, in Washington August 9, 2014. — Reuters

Miami Herald: Obama is trapped on Iraq as his term runs out

* Prime Minister Haider al Abadi’s grasp on the country is tenuous
* Navy SEAL killed in combat was among 5,000 U.S. forces back in Iraq
* U.S. goal is to keep country together until Obama is out of office, analysts say

WASHINGTON : When Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi took office in 2014, the Obama administration hoped he would prove to be a Mr. Fix-It, a relatively moderate Shiite Muslim leader who would manage spoilers in his own sect, make long-overdue overtures to the country’s Sunni minority and work closely with the U.S. to reclaim territory captured by the Islamic State.

Two years later, however, Abadi’s administration is teetering amid political turmoil, and the country is careering toward bankruptcy, all while the Islamic State still controls large swaths of territory. How much Abadi is to be blamed is up for debate, but it’s clear that even the modest U.S. goal of a good-enough government in Baghdad hasn’t been realized. Now, analysts say, the Obama administration is just trying to keep the nation from collapse without dragging the United States deeper into Iraq’s no-win scenarios.

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Update #1: The White House’s Iraq delusion (Washington Post editorial)
Update #2: 166,000 troops didn't fix Iraq. 250 won't fix Syria: Column (Armand V. Cucciniello III, USA Today)

WNU Editor: I wholeheartedly agree with this analyst's remark ....

.... U.S. goal is to keep country together until Obama is out of office, analysts say.

But it appears that even this goal is unravelling as the war expands .... Carter says fight against Islamic State 'far from over' (FOX News).

The Next U.S. Administration Will Be Facing The Same Iraqi Quagmire That Has Plagued The 4 Previous Administrations

Perry Cammack, National Interest: America’s Twenty-Five-Year Fiasco in Iraq

A problem that has confounded four presidents, and perhaps soon a fifth

Twenty-five years ago this week, on February 24, 1991, the first United States ground invasion of Iraq began. The first Bush administration had clear UN and congressional mandates to liberate Kuwait. More than thirty countries contributed ground forces, and the Soviet Union was a critical diplomatic partner. After a punishing six-week air campaign, the ground battle seemed to be over almost as soon as it had started, displaying the American military’s tremendous tactical and technological superiority. But amid talk of a new world order, the hundred-hour ground invasion was only the opening chapter in America’s tragic twenty-five-year Iraq story.

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WNU Editor: If it was not for the oil .... the U.S. would have abandoned Iraq a long time ago.