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bigtree

(85,919 posts)
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 12:36 PM Jun 2014

Iraqi government has more than enough troops and weapons to defend Maliki

Last edited Thu Jun 12, 2014, 06:48 PM - Edit history (1)


Problem for the Iraqi regime is, a sizable number of their government forces are Sunni and have refused (at least initially) to fight the ISIS militants - who are also Sunni - in defense of the Maliki government we propped up in power which is mostly Shia.

Read this account of the fight for Mosul where government troops fled, not out of fear or because they were overwhelmed by the rebel forces, but because they were reluctant to fight.

from the Guardian:

Iraqi officials told the Guardian that two divisions of Iraqi soldiers – roughly 30,000 men – simply turned and ran in the face of the assault by an insurgent force of just 800 fighters.

from Vox:

First, the Iraqi army has serious training and discipline problems. Despite the United States spending billions of dollars training the Iraqi army before the American withdrawal at the end of 2011, the Iraqi army is chronically unable to fight like a professional military.

Soldiers have been deserting in large numbers for some time. In Mosul, soldiers didn't run because they were doomed to defeat at the hands of a much smaller ISIS force. They ran because they didn't want to fight.

Second, sectarianism is a huge problem even inside the professional Iraqi military. The Iraqi government, and a majority of Iraqis, are Shia Muslims. ISIS is Sunni. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has treated the Sunni minority very badly, which is one of the most important reasons ISIS has grown as powerful as it has. The Iraqi army has both Sunni and Shia soldiers.

"The Iraqi Army massively outnumbers ISIS"

And it looks like sectarianism is severely hampering the army's response to the crisis. "It appears that the Iraqi Army is cleaving along sectarian lines," Jason Lyall, a Yale University expert on insurgency, told me. "The willingness of Sunni soldiers to fight to retake Mosul appears limited." This makes some sense out of the Mosul rout: some Sunni Muslims don't really want to fight other Sunnis in the name of a government that oppresses them.


read more: http://www.vox.com/2014/6/12/5803416/isis-one-sentence-iraqi-army

related:

euronews ?@euronews
26m
Iraqi Kurdish forces take Kirkuk, repel Islamic militants http://dlvr.it/5ysP2X

Mark Knoller ?@markknoller 8m
Pres Obama also laments lack of cooperation in Iraq between Shi'a and Sunni in Iraq, and Kurds too to work against Jihadists.
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Iraqi government has more than enough troops and weapons to defend Maliki (Original Post) bigtree Jun 2014 OP
Yep, a political/tribal issue more than a capability issue. TwilightGardener Jun 2014 #1
right. This is being framed wrong bigtree Jun 2014 #2
its is obvious that people in Iraq need more religion nt msongs Jun 2014 #3
Wasn't it Joe Biden who long ago asserted... JaneQPublic Jun 2014 #4
good recall bigtree Jun 2014 #5
kick bigtree Jun 2014 #6

JaneQPublic

(7,113 posts)
4. Wasn't it Joe Biden who long ago asserted...
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 02:59 PM
Jun 2014

...that Iraq should be split into three separate states, one each for the Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish factions?

However, his idea was ridiculed (mainly by the GOP), because the surge at that time seemed to be solving all our problems in Iraq.

bigtree

(85,919 posts)
5. good recall
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 03:10 PM
Jun 2014

. . . not sure the U.S. was in any position to make that happen. Leaving was the best thing we could do for them.

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