The Obama administration has made a striking choice in Iraq
The US is stepping up its assistance to the Iraq, with plans to send 175 M1 Abrams tanks and scores of armored vehicles to an army that's hasn't been a trustworthy recipient of American aid. And now Bloomberg is reporting that Iranian-backed Shi'ite sectarian militias are receiving equipment intended for the Iraqi military's sole use, with […]Armin Rosen and and Michael B. Kelley write for Business Insider:
The US is stepping up its assistance to the Iraq, with plans to send 175 M1 Abrams tanks and scores of armored vehicles to an army that's hasn't been a trustworthy recipient of American aid. And now Bloomberg is reporting that Iranian-backed Shi'ite sectarian militias are receiving equipment intended for the Iraqi military's sole use, with the likely complicity of officials in Iraq's security apparatus.
According to Eli Lake and Josh Rogin, US weapons are "winding up in the possession of the country’s Shiite militias." American policymakers are aware of this but have decided that the moral hazard of supplying an Iraqi army that in turn supplies Shi'ite militias pales in comparison to the dangers of another ISIS blitz.
