Why are the ISF incapable of reclaiming territory seized by ISIS? And how long will it be before they can stand on their own feet?
The answers go back to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003; Iraq's military is starting over -- for the second or third time in a decade...
The campaign to retake the city of Tikrit from ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, involves a curious mixture of Iraqi forces -- the army and air force, federal police, powerful Shia militia as well as Sunni tribal fighters.
It's a cast of about 30,000 fighters with an opaque command structure. And that makes it tough to be precise about numbers -- but by several estimates only one-third of those fighters are from the regular army.
A CNN team that's seen the offensive at close quarters noted that Iraqi army commanders appeared to be taking a subordinate role to leaders of the Shia militia, notably Hadi al Ameri, leader of the Badr Organization. Iranian military advisers are on hand, and highly influential on the battlefield. As ISIS fighters in the area probably number in the low thousands, it might seem odd that the Iraqi army is unable to take them on alone.
After all, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) received $20 billion of U.S. money between 2005 and 2012 -- for equipment, bases and training. Please click on the following website to read/download this official report...
So just why are the ISF incapable of reclaiming territory seized by ISIS? And how long will it be before they can stand on their own feet? The answers go back to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003; Iraq's military is starting over -- for the second or third time in a decade. One of the most controversial acts of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq following the ouster of Saddam Hussein, was to disband the Iraqi army. The decision, taken in May 2003, "immediately created a large pool of unemployed and armed men who felt humiliated and hostile to the U.S. occupiers," as James P. Pfiffner put it in 2010. President George W. Bush told his biographer Robert Draper in 2006: "The policy had been to keep the [Iraqi] army intact; didn't happen." The reasons have been disputed ever since.
As then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki tightened his grip on power between 2006 and 2013, the high command of the Iraqi military became a political football -- with loyalty to al-Maliki prized above competence. He bypassed the defense and interior ministries and used elite units to pursue political enemies. The Institute for the Study of War reported in 2013, "the lack of oversight on military appointments has allowed al-Maliki to choose his preferred officers (nearly all Shia) to head the most significant command positions in Iraq." Al-Maliki also began integrating Shia militia into army units.
MY PS.-
THE REST IS HISTORY...IT IS ALL IN THE INTERNET...BUT THERE ARE EYES THAT HAVE SELECTIVE VISION AND BRAINS THAT ARE NOT THINKING CRITICALLY. AND THERE SEEMS TO BE A CERTAIN CROWD IN D.C. THAT LIVES IN CLOUD NINE ... AND KEEP ON WASTING OUR RESOURCES AS IF IT WERE NO TOMORROW.
ALL THE GRIEF TO THE AMERICAN MEN-IN-ARMS, THE DEATHS, THE INVALID, THE MENTALLY AFFECTED...ALL THOSE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS. AND FOR WHAT???
JUST THING WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE WITH U$20 BILLION DOLLARS?
SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, INFRASTRUCTURE, PENSIONS, SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE AND MEDICAID, MORTGAGES, VA ADMINISTRATION, ETC, ETC, ETC...
BUT TWO ADMINISTRATIONS BUSH-OBAMA WASTED THAT MONEY TAKING DOWN SADDAM. IF HE WERE STILL THERE, THERE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THE IRAQ WAR. IRAN WOULD HAVE BEEN IN CHECK. ISIS, PROBABLY WOULDN'T EXIST...AND SO ON.
SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FORGET THE LESSONS OF HISTORY?
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