Obama’s Options on Iraq

Instead of sending U.S. troops back to Iraq to fight a resurgent Sunni jihadist insurgency, the Obama administration should put the squeeze on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to stop pouring billions of dollars into these radical groups, says Adil E. Shamoo.

By Adil E. Shamoo

The headlines and pundits alike are spouting the traditional clichés about Iraq: Baghdad is falling; Iraq is splitting into three parts; Shias and Sunnis have been fighting for a thousand years.

We heard many of the same claims during the heightened sectarian conflict in Iraq from 2005 to 2007. But it’s useful to remember that Iraq has been around in one form or another for 7,000 years. Much of what’s happened recently is a direct result of U.S. policy and regional tumult, not ancient history.

Coffins of dead U.S. soldiers arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware in 2006. (U.S. government photo)

Coffins of dead U.S. soldiers arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware in 2006. (U.S. government photo)

The U.S. invasion of Iraq, intentionally or not, exacerbated the country’s sectarian divide by installing a Shiite government little interested in sectarian reconciliation with the previously dominant minority Sunnis or the increasingly autonomous Iraqi Kurds. But that’s not all.

Shortly after toppling Saddam Hussein’s government, the United States dismantled the professional Iraqi Army, leaving many Sunnis to conclude that they had no place in the emerging political order. During the so-called “Anbar Awakening,” U.S. forces armed and paid Sunni tribes to stop supporting al-Qaeda, thereby ensuring their financial and military dependency but failing to ingratiate them to Iraq’s Shiite government.

Above all, the United States richly supplied the Iraqi security forces with equipment and training, but failed to secure a political arrangement in which they would serve the whole nation of Iraq. When they melted away under assault from ISIS, they left millions of dollars worth of U.S.-supplied equipment in terrorist hands.

The current situation in Iraq has been exacerbated by the war in Syria, which many of us warned would happen. The initially nonviolent revolution was hijacked by the Saudis and their Gulf State allies, who have shelled out billions of dollars for weapons for Islamic jihadists.

Al-Qaeda and like-minded groups became larger and better equipped than the true revolutionaries, who were non-sectarian, inclusive, and democratic. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which originated in Iraq during the U.S. occupation, was one of these groups. The ranks of ISIS have swelled from an influx of discontented Middle Easterners and several thousand Westerners.

ISIS is a murderous and merciless group. Its forces have summarily executed hundreds if not thousands of people and committed countless terrorist acts against civilians,especially Shiites, Christians, and Kurds. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have already fled their towns out of fear of ISIS, as well as concern about an indiscriminate response from the Iraqi government.

Allied with ISIS are former Baathists and military leaders under Saddam Hussein, tribal leaders, and other disaffected Sunnis. Each component of this group has legitimate complaints against the government. The Maliki government openly favors Shiites, provides little or no assistance to Anbar province, and has brutally suppressed dissent in Sunni regions.

Both ISIS and the secular Baathists are using this widespread discontent for their own purposes, ISIS to build a new extremist “caliphate” and the former Baathists to recreate a Saddam-style, pro-Sunni regime complete with mass graves.

The current problem of Iraq will not be resolved by sending more U.S. troops, drones, or jets to Iraq. A U.S. military presence would only bring back the same problems associated with the invasion and occupation of the country.

The United States can do something, however. It can stop the Saudis and the Gulf states from bankrolling the terrorists in Iraq and Syria. It can independently disrupt ISIS’s communications and supply of weapons. It can provide humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq. It can continue to pressure Nouri al-Maliki or his replacement to bring together the people of Iraq through an inclusive government. It can insist that any future government of Iraq root out corruption and nepotism.

Iraq has been around for a long time. And despite the current unrest, splitting the country into sectarian regions would be a disaster.

The United States has played the sectarian card in the past. It should resist playing that card now by providing money or arms or boots on the ground in service of a fundamentally compromised Iraqi government.

Adil E. Shamoo is an associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, a senior analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus, and the author of Equal Worth When Humanity Will Have Peace. His email is [email protected]

4 comments for “Obama’s Options on Iraq

  1. July 6, 2014 at 10:52

    IRAQ: WHY illuminati not sendig ground troops REAL REASON is AFGHANISTAN: 110,000 mercenaries increasingly trapped
    Freedom fighters increasingly cutting NATO merecenaries supply routes.
    Pakistan puppet government now bombing civilians around the clock as last resort to terrorize the growing armed revolt.

    Notes
    One among dozens of examples of the day (it surfaced in some illuminati media because it was at the Pakistan border).
    37 vehicles torched in attack on NATO terminal
    Jun 19, 2014 JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Three armed insurgents were killed and two drivers during an attack on a truck terminal of foreign troops in the Torkham border town of eastern Nangarhar province
    http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2014/06/19/rebels-strike-nato-vehicle-parking-torkham

    BASICS
    Afghanistan same as Iraq. What Illuminati media serves to the audience is the opposite of reality.
    Mujaheddin (not the illuminati creation Taliban, that ceased to exist in 2001) in Afghanistan and Free Iraqi Army (not illuminati creation ISIS), led by Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, are fighting the puppets installed by NATO.
    http://iraq-war-film.blogspot.com/

  2. July 5, 2014 at 17:55

    ISIS gets significant support from CIA and Mossad. Mossad is quite busy in Kurdistan, but is quite happy to assist all sides in fomenting chaos.

    The Oded Yinon plan and progeny…. A Clean Break, Rebuilding America’s Defenses… the concerted lies about Syria and Iran…

    The Jewish/Zionist aspect of US policy is as major now as it was under Bush. Pity that it the topic must be avoided so meticulously…. its as though the anti-globalist Left prefers a million more dead than being called an ‘anti-Semite’ by people whose racism and hate approach Nazi zeal, and Bolshevik bloodlust.

    • Lewis
      July 5, 2014 at 23:41

      CIA spooks surely walk around with copies of an Israeli socialist’s diary in their pockets.

  3. July 5, 2014 at 17:54

    ISIS gets significant support from CIA and Mossad. Mossad is quite busy in Kurdistan, but is quite happy to assist all sides in fomenting chaos.

    The Oded Yinon plan and progeny…. A Clean Break, Rebuilding America’s Defenses… the concerted lies about Syria and Iran…

    The Jewish/Zionist aspect of US policy is as major now as it was under Bush. Pity that it the topic must be avoided so meticulously…. its as though the anti-globalist Left prefers a million more dead than being called an ‘anti-Semite’ by people whose racism and hate approach Nazi zeal, and Bolshevik bloodlust.

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