what happened to the 50 million that was set aside in 2006 for the wall under obama
What's happened so far
The unrest in Iraq escalated dramatically on June tenth, when a violent radical grouping known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also sometimes called ISIL) seized Mosul, Republic of iraq's second-largest city. They proceeded to motility south, taking control of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, and the northern metropolis of Tal Afar. In several days they marched well-nigh 200 miles — virtually to Baghdad — and accept launched attacks on Iraq's largest oil refinery.
Photo from a militant Twitter account dated June 14th, 2014, allegedly showing fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syrian arab republic (ISIS) overtaking an Iraqi military base in the Ninevah province. (The Associated Press)
The insurgents, who identify as Sunni Muslims, say they want to overthrow Maliki's pro-Shiite government and establish an Islamist state that would span parts of neighboring Syria and northern Iraq. They're far smaller than the Iraqi ground forces, numbering merely about 7,000 compared to 250,000, though they've gained support from other Sunni militant groups and Baathist nationals in Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraq's Kurds, who have long sought statehood, have used chaos to their reward, taking control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and expanding their autonomous territory.
ISIS rose out of the ashes of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), an extremist grouping that the U.s.a. military machine defeated in 2006, though information technology later broke with al-Qaeda — in part because ISIS' tactics were likewise brutal. Over the past twelvemonth, ISIS has taken control of several strategically important cities in war-torn Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad has been contesting diverse rebel groups for more than 3 years.
"Soon nosotros volition face yous, and we are waiting for this day."
Syria has proven to be a critical base for ISIS recruiting and operations; tanks and other weapons destined for more moderate rebel groups take ended up in ISIS' hands, and the group reportedly finances its operations past selling Syrian oil and electricity to the Assad government. According to The New York Times, ISIS earns extra revenue by taxing Christians and Muslim adversaries in areas it controls, underscoring the group'south economic sophistication and its aims to establish a cocky-sustaining state. ISIS is a surprisingly effective propagandist as well, using pop social networks including Instagram, YouTube and Facebook to communicate with followers, create its own timely memes, and drum upwardly back up for its aims.
Now that information technology has surged into Republic of iraq, ISIS has effectively merged two conflicts into one, further complicating any US intervention. ISIS is expecting a confrontation with the U.s. at some betoken, as the grouping's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, fabricated articulate in a statement issued after claiming to have massacred ane,700 Iraqi military recruits in Tikrit: "Soon we will confront y'all, and we are waiting for this 24-hour interval."
Photo posted to a militant website June 14th, 2014, allegedly showing fighters with the Islamic Country of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) aiming at captured Iraqi soldiers (The Associated Press).
The function of the Usa
The US sees ISIS as a threat to both regional stability and long-term American security, but Obama'south options for intervention are limited by conflicting objectives: the US spent hundreds of billions of dollars and lost thousands of lives on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and public support for overseas engagement remains at historically low levels. Since withdrawing in 2011, the US has tried to stabilize the state from afar, through artillery shipments, government aid, and diplomatic pressure, but those efforts have so far failed to quell the sectarian tensions that have long plagued Republic of iraq.
All signs betoken toward Obama's reluctance to re-engage militarily in Iraq. Ending the Iraq War has been a cornerstone of his administration. When he was running for part, Obama campaigned on the need to wind downwards the war, and the president formally appear the end of U.s. combat operations in Iraq in 2011, saying: "Iraqis have taken full responsibility for their land's security." Truthful to his discussion, all but the concluding US combat troops left the country in December, with only a few hundred embassy guards staying behind at the Usa embassy in Baghdad.
Since the United states of america withdrawal, the democratically elected Iraqi authorities has struggled with internal divisions and a surge of terrorist violence in the course of shootings and bombings. Terminal twelvemonth, nearly vii,818 Iraqis were killed in violent attacks across the state, the most violent year since 2008, according to the United Nations.
Experts lay much of the arraign on the divisive policies of Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki, who ascended to office in 2006 with US support. In contempo years, he has purged his authorities of Sunnis — who dominated the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein — and has conducted mass arrests of Sunnis nether terrorism laws. Republic of iraq's minority Sunni population feels mistreated by Maliki'south Shiite-dominated administration, which has fabricated it easier for ISIS to recruit soldiers and garner support from other Sunni militias, despite its brutally violent ethos.
"Iraqi politics are poisonous."
This hostile political climate has also made it more difficult for regime forces to repel ISIS, says Emma Sky, a senior boyfriend at Yale Academy who spent four years as an adviser to the US military machine in Baghdad. "Iraqi politics are poisonous," Heaven said in an email, adding that "poor leadership" and depression troop morale have hampered Iraqi forces. "Despite the threat to the country posed past ISIS, the politicians seem incapable of pulling together and agreeing [on] a response."
Meanwhile, the large US war machine presence that was seen in the country for a decade — over 170,000 at its summit in late 2007 — has been absent since the 2011 withdrawal. Individual The states contractors, however, remained behind in Republic of iraq in large numbers, at least until recently. At that place were over 5,000 contractors serving diverse roles in Iraq — security, military machine training, intelligence, cooks — every bit of February, according to The Wall Street Journal. Yet every bit multiple media outlets have reported, hundreds of these contractors have been evacuated from Iraq in the past 2 weeks of ISIS victories.
Costs of Republic of iraq State of war
four,490
US uniformed personnel killedone
32,241
US personnel wounded in actionone
one,156
United states of america personnel that suffered amputations1
three,455
Contractors killed2
12,096
Centrolineal Iraqi forces killed2
133,000 - 147,000
Iraqi civilians killed as direct result of war2
1.48 one thousand thousand
Refugees, as of Jan. 2014three
1.one meg
United states service members deployedone
$822 billion
Direct war appropriations4
$1.7 trillion
Financial price including health care and other war-related expensesfour
$8.5 - $200 billion
Initial CBO guess, Oct. 20035
1Department of Defence force; 2Cost of War Project, Watson Institute for International Studies; 3United nations Refugee Agency; 4Prof. Neta Crawford; vCongressional Budget Office
The United states of america government has likewise been supplying the Iraqi military with weapons and equipment since the withdrawal: 18 F-16 fighter jets costing $1.9 billion total take been purchased by Iraq since 2012, according to The Washington Post. Lockheed Martin, the company that makes the fighter jets, was gear up to deliver them in the midst of the recent ISIS violence. Last December, The New York Times reported that the Usa was "quietly" rushing "dozens" of surveillance drones and Hellfire missiles (which can exist shot from manned and unmanned shipping) to Republic of iraq to assistance fight back confronting insurgent violence. But so far these weapons have washed little to stop the ISIS advance.
The claiming facing the Us now, as ISIS conquers some of Republic of iraq's largest and most economically productive cities, is to assistance the Iraqi regime push button back the insurgency without returning a heavy US military presence to Republic of iraq. "The strategic question is: 'What tools do you have to shape the politics of Iraq?'" says Jon Alterman, director of the Heart East partitioning at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan retrieve-tank.
Obama's options
1. Armed forces intervention
President Obama has strongly and repeatedly committed not to send U.s. soldiers back into combat in Republic of iraq. "I think we e'er have to baby-sit against mission pitter-patter, so allow me repeat what I've said in the past: American gainsay troops are not going to exist fighting in Iraq once more," Obama said on Thursday.
Nevertheless, the US has been re-escalating its military machine presence in the region. On June 16th, Obama ordered 275 American troops to Iraq to help baby-sit the American diplomatic mission in Baghdad, and later announced that "up to 300" military machine advisors would besides be sent to "appraise how nosotros can best train, propose, and back up Iraqi security forces going forward."
"we volition be prepared to take targeted and precise military action."
The U.s. has besides sent an aircraft carrier into the Western farsi Gulf with four squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, also as other jamming planes and helicopters, co-ordinate to The Guardian. Alongside the carrier are 2 warships, the USS Truxtun and the USS Philippine Sea, both of which take an armament of Tomahawk missiles that could be launched at targets on the ground in Iraq, co-ordinate to the Associated Press. The USS Mesa Verde, another transport ship sent to the Farsi Gulf on June 16th, carries 550 Marines, two landing hovercraft, and five MV22-Osprey aircraft capable of vertical takeoffs and landings for transporting troops.
Surveillance drones and manned Navy P3 shipping have been reported flying over Republic of iraq to gather intelligence. The US has been tracking insurgent movements with unmanned surveillance drones over Iraq since last yr, every bit theWall Street Journal recently reported, and Obama stressed the importance of intelligence sharing in his speech Thursday.
"The ability of the Iraqi government to run into and runway what's going on is pretty limited," says Eric Thompson, managing director of strategic studies at CNA, a nonprofit analytic organisation in Virginia. "And that's a capacity that the US has on a scale that's second to none."
Obama is also considering armed drone strikes confronting ISIS, possibly even in Syria, where ISIS is also based. "Going forwards, we will be prepared to take targeted and precise armed services activity," the president said Thursday. The Iraqi authorities has requested air support, but and so far the administration has said but that all options are on the table. The problem with air strikes, still, is that ISIS militants have at present embedded themselves amongst civilians, raising the risk of civilian casualties. Further, the Obama administration has been criticized around the world for its apply of armed drone strikes and the over 2,000 estimated casualties, many of them civilians.
Given Obama's previous express responses to the conflicts in Ukraine, Libya and Syria (simply Great socialist people's libyan arab jamahiriya saw American air strikes in 2011) information technology's unlikely that the president would turn to whatever of these options lightly, if at all. "The administration'due south bias is toward caution," Alterman says. "Its general approach has been to air current downwardly wars, not escalate them."
Prior to the run of ISIS conquests in Republic of iraq, Obama outlined his administration's doctrine for dealing with foreign conflicts in a speech in May, saying: "U.S. military action cannot be the only — or even main — component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a boom." If the US is able to help the Iraqi government bulldoze back without resorting to using military force of its ain, that could show the value of Obama's cautionary approach. It could also provide a template for dealing with hereafter conflicts overseas.
2. The Islamic republic of iran factor
The success of ISIS in Iraq has fifty-fifty raised the prospect of cooperation between longtime adversaries Iran and the U.s.. Iran'southward Shia government supports Maliki, and neither the Us nor Islamic republic of iran wants a big American military presence dorsum in the region. Iran has sent special forces across the border in support of the Iraqi army, and Iranian officials reportedly discussed the possibility of cooperation with their American counterparts during this calendar month's nuclear talks in Vienna.
US officials have been reluctant to talk over details of a possible collaboration with Iran, and the prospect has drawn mixed reactions from Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle. Relations between the 2 countries have remained frigid for decades, and distrust remains high in spite of the progress made in recent talks over Islamic republic of iran's nuclear programme. The ii are on opposing sides of the Syrian ceremonious war, with Iran supporting the Assad authorities and the United states backing some of the rebel groups looking to overthrow it, and working together could amerce Kingdom of saudi arabia and other US allies in the region.
"We are strongly opposed to United states and other intervention in Iraq."
Signs of discord have emerged since the possibility of cooperation was raised in early June. "Nosotros are strongly opposed to U.s.a. and other intervention in Iraq," Iran'south supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday. "We don't approve of it as we believe the Iraqi government, nation, and religious authorities are capable of catastrophe the sedition." He after accused the US of seeking regime change in Iraq for its ain benefit: "The US is seeking an Iraq under its hegemony and ruled by its stooges."
The White Business firm is likewise wary of Iranian involvement, fearing that intervention may only fan the flames of sectarianism, and the Pentagon last week said that military cooperation is off the table. "If Iran is coming in solely as an armed force on behalf of the Shia, and if it is framed in that fashion, then that probably worsens the situation," Obama said Th, "and the prospect for regime formation that would actually exist effective over the long term."
three. Class a stable Iraqi authorities
Long-term stability in Republic of iraq is going to require political reform. Since taking office, Maliki has been criticized for implementing anti-Sunni policies and limiting high-level positions to those from his own Shiite sect. The U.s.a. has long pushed Maliki to create a more than inclusive government, and his failure to do so, experts say, helped fuel this month's violence by making it easier for ISIS to garner back up amongst disillusioned Sunnis. "There's a sense that if Maliki lets the Sunnis in [to greater roles in government], all this goes away," Alterman says of ISIS. Whatsoever lasting solution for quelling violence, therefore, volition necessarily require some concessions from Maliki.
Earlier this month, Obama indicated that whatsoever American intervention would be contingent upon political reform from Maliki. "Whatsoever activity that nosotros may take to provide assistance to Iraqi security forces has to be joined past a serious and sincere effort past Iraq's leaders to ready aside sectarian differences." The Wall Street Journal reported that the Obama administration wants Republic of iraq to class a new government without Maliki — ane that would include Kurds and Sunnis, and, theoretically, curb support for ISIS. Maliki himself is clearly aware he'southward in as much of a political fight every bit a military one: on June 17th, he gave a televised address calling for Sunni critics to unite with his Shiia-led government confronting ISIS. Yesterday, Kerry announced that Maliki and other Iraqi leaders have pledged to grade a new government past July 1st, every bit mandated under the country's constitution. Maliki's coalition won a majority of parliamentary seats in elections held on April 30th, though really forming a authorities has proved arduous in the past.
"The The states is in a no-win situation at this betoken."
Notwithstanding some experts are skeptical that a more than inclusive government would solve the firsthand problem: pushing dorsum ISIS. "It seems to me that people are rushing the political piece of this, the desire to create a more inclusive and more autonomous regime in Republic of iraq every bit a way out of this crisis," Alterman says. "I'm not confident that'southward what has to happen right now." Instead, he thinks the Iraqi regime'south best grade of activeness is to pressure other sectarian leaders in Republic of iraq with a combination of "carrots and sticks," e.g. financial rewards for supporting the regime against ISIS and penalties for not doing and then.
Others see risks in supporting Maliki. Although the prospect of a radical Islamic state poses obvious concerns for the Us, engaging in a sectarian conflict may simply bolster back up for Sunni insurgents.
"The problem is that by providing support to Maliki in a situation where the population is very divided is going to be interpreted in Iraq as the states support for war confronting Sunnis," says Marina Ottaway, a senior scholar at the Wilson Center and an proficient on Middle East politics. "The U.s. is in a no-win state of affairs at this point."
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2014/6/24/5834730/the-us-cant-save-iraq
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