After steamrolling Iraq and Syria in 2014 capturing some 30% of sovereign land, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria captured the capital city of Ramadi in the Sunni-controlled Anbar Province. Massacring some 500 civilians before driving 8,000 to flee for their lives, ISIS continues its mission to return Iraq to the late Saddam Hussein’s Baathist rule. While ISIS propagandists sell the group as a new Islamic caliphate, the military is led by Saddam’s old Baathist general, 72-year-old red-haired Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. Formerly Vice President of Saddam’s Revolutionary Council before the U.S. invasion March 20, 2003, al-Douri leads the Iraqi Baath Party since 2007, hoping to restore Baathist rule in Iraq. Today’s Iraqi government, led by 63-year-old Haider al-Abadi, presides over a beleaguered military, lacking the resources and political will to maintain power.
Inheriting the post from the U.S.-backed former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Sept 8, 2014, al-Abadi no longer commands a coherent military, besieged with personnel problems trying balance Shiite sectarian interests with the reality of an ongoing Sunni insurgency getting dangerously close to Baghdad. When President Barack Obama pulled the plug on U.S. combat involvement in Iraq Dec. 15, 2011, it was after al-Maliki refused to grant an immunity agreement to U.S. forces after the official end to U.S. combat operations. Al-Maliki was so arrogant, so misguided and so deluded, he really believed the vaunted U.S.-trained-and-equipped military was capable of defending Iraq. What al-Maliki, a Shiite, miscalculated was the degree of Baathist and Sunni infiltration in the Iraqi military. Waiting patiently until the U.S. pullout, Saddam’s former Baathists sabotaged al-Maliki’s rule.
Unable to come to grips with al-Maliki’s betrayal of U.S. military sacrifices in Iraq—including a $1 trillion price tag and 4.491 deaths—Obama’s critics on Capitol Hill blame him for the ISIS takeover of Iraq and Syria. Given al-Malki’s phony nationalistic rejection of U.S. occupation, Obama did the right thing, despite obvious setbacks with the two-year-old ISIS takeover. U.S. State Department officials admonished al-Maliki for not including enough Sunnis into his Shiite-dominated government. While Saddam ruled Iraq as a Sunni with an iron first, the restive Shiite population waited patiently to take over Iraq. Against U.S. advice and backing, al-Maliki turned over much of Baghdad’s sovereignty to Tehran, with the eventual intent of returning Iraq control back to Persian Empire. With some of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites in Iraq, it was just a matter of time before Iran took over.
Taking over Ramadi shows that Obama’s bombing campaign isn’t enough to stop ISIS advance toward Baghdad. “It’s a pretty significant setback,” Steve Bucci of the Heritage Foundation told Yahoo News, blaming the failure on reduced U.S. aid to Baghdad since the war ended Dec. 15, 2011. What Bucci doesn’t admit is the dilapidated state of the Iraq military under al-Maliki and now al-Abadi. With the 2016 presidential race heating up, especially with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) throwing his hat into the ring, Obama’s under pressure to do more in Iraq and Syria. Whether admitted to or not, there’s no fight left in the Iraqi military, equipment or not, to challenge ISIS. Many of Iraqi’s Sunni recruits have more sympathy for ISIS than the Baghdad government that favors Shiites over Sunnis. Graham agrees with Armed Services Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that more must be done.
When U.S. Special Ops killed ISIS commando Abu Sayyaf in Syria May 16, capturing his wife, its more obvious that the U.S. has presence on the ground. Taking out one leader isn’t enough to bolster the Iraq military enough to re-take key Iraqi cities, especially oil-rich Mosul seized by ISIS June 10, 2014. With ISIS digging in, there’s little chance the Iraqi military with U.S. Special Ops can retake Mosul anytime soon. “As important as taking out one leader is, that doesn’t win a battle,” said Bucci, doubting whether the current U.S. strategy can succeed in reclaiming Iraq’s sovereign territory from ISIS. ISIS has shown it has more boots-on-the-ground and armaments to continue its march toward Baghdad. Graham’s presence on the campaign trail will open up a new dialogue of what must be done to end ISIS’s bloody reign of terror. Whether there’s backing in the U.S. is anyone’s guess.
Expected to hinge on U.S. foreign policy, Graham said it best announcing his 2016 run for president: “I am running for president because the world is falling apart.” However one views Obama’s presidency, there’s no question that there’s more chaos in the Middle East than ever. While GOP candidates are forced to weigh in the advisability of the Iraq War, the real question isn’t what happened after Saddam was toppled April 10, 2003. Today’s answer has to do with what to do now. Blaming “W” for the mess in Iraq and Syria doesn’t answer the question of what’s the next step. Obama’s approach hasn’t restored stability to keep U.S. interests secure. “Taking terrain, capturing cities—that pretty significant . . “ said Bucci, highlighting Obama’s Mideast failures. Democratic and GOP presidential candidates must deal with reality and find fixes in the Mideast now, not fixate on the past.
