WASHINGTON—Despite what some experts say is the weakening status of the Islamic State; the militant organization continues to take control of cities in Iraq and Syria. The United States has conducted airstrikes on ISIS, but more must be done to sever the radical group’s presence in the region.
The U.S. military has piloted more than 1,000 airstrikes against the Islamic State, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The operations, which began last August, have cost $2.11 billion, averaging about $8.6 million daily.
According to the Pentagon, more than 6,000 ISIS members have been killed as a result of the airstrikes. According to Iraq’s Ministry of Defense, Abu Alaa al-Afari, the No. 2 ISIS leader, was killed in a U.S.-led airstrike in May. The Pentagon, however, cannot confirm his death.
The removal of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein essentially opened the door for anyone to influence the politics of the country, inside or outside Iraq. Some experts say that the political vacuum and lack of a U.S. prepared plan outlining who would govern Iraq lead to the creation of the Islamic State.
ISIS has united otherwise problematic Middle Eastern countries to fight against it: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have targeted the Islamic State with airstrikes. These nations, as well as other coalition members, should deploy troops as an international effort to terminate the radical organization. To simply engage in airstrikes is to do the minimum, as ISIS continues to expand its caliphate.
The U.S. should also do more to help the factions within Iraq’s multi-ethnic, multi-religious populace, which have taken it upon themselves to fight off DAESH, the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Yezidis, Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiites, the Kurdish Peshmerga and even the country’s indigenous Assyrians, who are Christian, have formed battalions to defend themselves from potential ISIS attacks, anticipating the inevitable battle for Mosul. These smaller armed forces, however, receive very little support from the Iraqi government, if any, and even less support from the United States.
Section 1236 of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act would give up to $1.6 billion to train and equip Kurdish and tribal security forces to combat ISIS in Iraq.
The question then remains whether and if the money will trickle down to support local forces.
The U.S. and Iraqi governments need to do more to assist local security forces.
The complete eradication of Christians from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, has caused doubt in the hearts and minds of Assyrians to trust Baghdad or Arbil with protection.
Some Yezidis are skeptical about the Peshmerga, accusing them of abandonment when Islamic State militants ambushed them in Sinjar, located in northwest Iraq. Yezidis became trapped on Sinjar mountain, while girls and women were sold as sex slaves.
Up to 400 girls still remain in ISIS captivity, according to Jacqueline Isaac, vice president of Roads of Success, a humanitarian organization that met with Yezidi girls who escaped from ISIS.
Ismael H. Alsodani, retired brigadier general of the Iraqi Army and a defense attaché for the Embassy of Iraq in Washington, D.C., would like to see the American military more involved in its combat against the Islamic State, but does not think it is logistically or politically possible. He said the U.S. administration is against getting too involved. Alsodani also said that the Iraqi government does not want foreign forces, like the U.S. or Iran, participating in the fight.
Ismael H. Alsodani at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event in Washington, D.C. hosting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in April. (Ramsen Shamon/MEDILL)
In an interview Alsodani questioned why smaller battalions, such as the Nineveh Plains Protection Unit, organized by Assyrians, is not being formally supported by the U.S. government: “I think those small entities have no lobbying inside [the] United States. Therefore they have been marginalized in the DOD budget for 2016. Or, they have been forgotten by Congress.”
He went on to say that to arm Iraq’s minorities would not please the Kurdish Regional Government, which identifies itself as home to many ethnicities and religious groups.
“[Assyrians and Yezidis] are minorities and they have been persecuted by ISIS. They have lost people, their females were sold as slaves and that’s really outrageous. They shouldn’t be forgotten by the international community, by the United States,” Alsodani said.
The president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, visited Washington in May asking for more military support to help his Peshmerga troops fight ISIS. Barzani said that the question of whether Kurds will declare independence from Iraq will be something the people of Kurdistan will need to decide in the future.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/204861232″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”80%” height=”150″ iframe=”true”/]
Several American soldiers that served in the Iraq War are finding themselves going back to Iraq because the enemy is explicitly defined.
Teaming up with local armed forces, soldiers from the U.S., U.K., Australia and Europe are returning to Iraq because they now have a cause to fight for, a cause that the U.S. administration is increasingly withdrawing from, no longer determined to be the world’s police.
