MESOP : THE RAMADI DESASTER / RELEVANT ANALYSTS
“Where does all this leave Washington? In the first place, its long-standing hope that ISIS could somehow be defeated without western, and particularly American, boots on the ground has been proved once and for all to be a quixotic pipedream,” argues Dov Zakheim in National Interest.
“What accounts for the Iraqi military’s failure? Many problems stem from the Bush Administration decision to disband the existing Iraq military in 2003 and build a new one from scratch. Intended to rid the institution of officers linked to Saddam Hussein, the move instead left thousands of armed men unemployed and embittered,” writes Matt Schiavenza in the Atlantic.
“The stories of two men from Anbar provide a glimpse into why efforts to stop the Islamic State’s advance in the province have so far failed, and also into how local Sunni leaders might react to the influx of Iran-backed Shiite militiamen that will likely follow Ramadi’s fall, ” writes David Kenner for Foreign Policy