http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/madness-in-mesopotamia?f=must_reads
President Obama’s order for air strikes that are to last “several months” against the northern and eastern edges of the Islamic State In the Levant (ISIL) is a small part of a political effort to promote a “more inclusive” Iraqi government in Baghdad. This undercuts the missions that American air power could accomplish in short order – namely strengthening Kurdistan, America’s only ally in the region beside Israel, and saving the masses of refugees now fleeing ISIL. Nor is it part of any strategy for dealing with ISIL.
Obama’s objective is neither more nor less than that of George W. Bush: birthing “a united, democratic Iraq.” U.S. aid is meant to stimulate the forming of a new Iraqi government “that represents the legitimate interest of all Iraqis.” In short, Obama is using the air strikes as bait with which to influence intra-Iraqi political bargaining. The only change from the Bush administration is the diminution of the bait.
But settling the quarrels of Mesopotamia’s Shia, Sunni, and Kurds is a fool’s errand. Since these peoples dislike one another and wish to live in (at least) three separate states, a united Iraq is possible only if one of them lords it over the others. America killed Iraq by introducing democracy, which has ensured separation of these three groups. Nothing that Obama might do can revive Iraq. Expecting new attempts to yield results different from those of previous ones is as good a definition of madness as any.
The insincerity of Obama’s August 7 official declaration of purpose – protecting Americans in Erbil, Kurdistan’s capital, and rescuing uncounted thousands of Yezidi and Christian refugees from ISIL – was clear from the conditionality of his commitment: to strike ISIL forces ranged against Kurdistan (“should they move toward the city”) and to help the refugees (“if necessary, to help forces in Iraq as they fight to break the siege…”). Obama knows very well that the Kurdish army is not going to allow ISIL inside Kurdistan’s borders, and that no Iraqi forces are fighting to rescue the refugees. U.S. strikes in these areas have been token gestures at best. Obama is not worried that Kurdistan will fall any more than he is concerned for the lives of the refugees.
Obama’s commitment to “the only lasting solution…reconciliation among Iraqi communities,” however, was unconditional and central to his order. On Sunday, August 10 Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)explained the President’s position on Face the Nation: “we have to begin at the fundamental core, which is leadership in Baghdad, Iraqi leadership, which will work together in a unified way to defend and protect their country and defeat ISIS.”