Het Iraakse leger kan niet vechten

Zo meldt de Los Angeles Times:

American commanders say the Iraqi army won’t be ready to mount operations to retake Islamic State-controlled cities such as Mosul for many months. Meanwhile, Iraq’s government has turned to Shiite Muslim militias and Sunni Muslim tribesmen as it scrambles to keep the Sunni militants from advancing on Baghdad and its airport.

The U.S. military has not explained how a few more months of “advise and assist” will create a functional army after years of training was followed by wholesale desertions in Mosul and in Anbar province to the west of Baghdad.

Bovendien is het Iraakse leger inmiddels een instrument van sektarische sjiieten:

Security force members acknowledge that many Sunnis and other minorities see the Shiite-led army as a brutal occupying force. Under former Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite, Sunnis were driven out of the security forces and replaced by Shiites.

En ondertussen leiden ‘gematigde’ Syrische rebellen nederlagen tegen extremistische strijdgroepen of lopen massaal over.

De enige potentiële, effectieve bondgenoten, de Koerden, zijn alleen geïnteresseerd in hun thuisland.

Kortom: de hele westerse strategie om IS te verslaan, is gebaseerd op drijfzand. Want met luchtaanvallen alleen – daar is iedereen het over eens – zal het niet lukken.

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