Phyllis Bennis said we couldn't take MOSUL without Troops on Ground so we should just let them sort it out...leaving Sunni's in place to make agreements with ISIL who are Sunni. And, work it out with representation in Baghdad...over time.
But, Gen. Dempsey said to today to Congress that we would join with the Iraqi Army to take Mosul which would require "Boots on the Ground" cooperation. That means in the city with hand to hand combat? Not good.
I think Bennis' idea sounds better....
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Six Steps Short of War to Beat ISIS
by Phyllis Bennis
http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/09/187851/six-steps-short-war-beat-isis
(FIRST, IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM which Bennis shows why neither Air Strikes or Boots on the Ground will solve the occupation in Mosul. Her six steps for solution are worth the rest of a read at the link. If only this could get attention in the places that matter.)
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We have to start by understanding just why ISIS is so powerful.
First, ISIS has good weapons (mostly U.S. and Saudi weapons that have flooded the region for more than 15 years). So we need to start thinking about the need for an arms embargo on all sides.
Second, ISIS has good military leadership, some of it provided by Sunni Iraqi generals who were kicked out of their positions in the military when the U.S. invaded and who are now providing training, strategy and military leadership to ISIS-allied militias and ISIS itself. These guys are a very secular bunch. They drink and smoke, and they will be unlikely to stick around ISIS if they believe they have any chance of recovering their lost jobs, prestige, and dignity. That could happen over time, but only if a really new government takes hold in Iraq, but it’s not going to be enough to simply choose a new prime minister and announce a new government made up of too many of the same old sectarian faces.
Third, ISIS has support from Sunni tribal leaders – the very people President Obama says he wants to "persuade" to break with ISIS. But these are people who have suffered grievously – first during the U.S. invasion, and especially in the years of the US-backed Shi’a-controlled sectarian government of Nuri al-Maliki. They were demonized, attacked, and dispossessed by the government in Baghdad, and many of them thus see ISIS at the moment as the only force they can ally with to challenge that government. And many of them control large and powerful militias now fighting alongside ISIS against the government in Baghdad.
Fourth, ISIS has support from ordinary Iraqi Sunnis, who (also largely secular) may hate what ISIS stands for, its extremism and violence, but who have suffered terribly under Maliki's sectarian Shi’a-controlled government from arrests, torture, extra-judicial executions, and more. As a result they also are willing to ally with ISIS against Baghdad, at least for now.
So, weakening ISIS requires ending the support it relies on from tribal leaders, military figures, and ordinary Iraqi Sunnis. The key question is how do we do that?
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Read More for the "Six Steps Solutions" at:
http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/09/187851/six-steps-short-war-beat-isis
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