The meaning of ‘win’ this time in Iraq
Let’s be honest. The United States has crossed the threshold on Iraq. Americans are in it to salvage the country — again — using their military might. But the mission has also, very quickly, grown much bigger in less than two weeks. US warplanes are no longer simply helping create escape routes for the Yazidis […]Robin Wright reports for Gulf News:
Let’s be honest. The United States has crossed the threshold on Iraq. Americans are in it to salvage the country — again — using their military might.
But the mission has also, very quickly, grown much bigger in less than two weeks. US warplanes are no longer simply helping create escape routes for the Yazidis or protecting American personnel in Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. The US is now directly taking on the world’s most militant extremist group, bombing its positions at the Mosul dam and beyond. And it’s probably only the beginning.
President Barack Obama implied as much last week. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), is “a savage group that seems willing to slaughter people for no rhyme or reason other than they have not kowtowed,” he told reporters. The United States has a national security interest in making sure “that a group like that is contained, because ultimately they can pose a threat to us.”
