The Common Ills: Operation Inherent Failure

Tuesday, October 06, 2015

Operation Inherent Failure

It's getting harder and harder for even the press to pretend Barack Obama's efforts in Iraq might succeed.

Today's truth teller?

Alice Fordham reporting for NPR's Morning Edition (link is text and audio -- transcript should show up by 2:00 pm EST)..

Fordham sketches out an Iraq plagued by shortage of supplies -- not just guns for recruits but also boots -- and funds.

Sunni tribes ready to fight but forced to the sidelines.

Ramadi still held by the Islamic State.

She quotes Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi expressing his disappointment over what the US has offered -- he thought it would be more.

A key section of her report is this:

One Iraqi soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity because he's afraid of his commanders, says the coalition, while taking some action, is not doing enough, given how weak Iraq's forces are.
He says he's received U.S. weapons and "very good" training from American and other instructors. He saved a man's life with the first aid he was taught. When he was deployed just south of Ramadi last month, other soldiers were able to call in airstrikes, allowing his unit to take and hold land on the outskirts of the city.
"We surrounded ISIS in Ramadi," he says. "But I don't think we will achieve any progress in future." He gestures to a TV tuned to the state channel, proclaiming victories, and calls it lies and propaganda.

He says that his commanders are corrupt, taking bribes to let people go on leave, and that they abandon troops when the battle heats up — and that there's scarce food and water. ISIS is better armed, more numerous and uses car bombs and similar tactics.

Haider can claim he was shoved into the arms of Russia by the US failing to do more for him but the reality is he claimed he was addressing corruption in the military and, a year in office, and the problem remains.

It's not a minor problem when you invested everything into a military solution.

Operation Inherent Failure was doomed to fail when the political aspect was ignored, when the root causes were avoided.

A year later and nothing to show for the efforts.

The following community sites -- plus Black Agenda Report, Latino USA and Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox -- updated: