If the USA stood by their promises to the Kurds after tha last debacle, ISIS would not exist. I say arm the Kurds and back them up to the hilt and watch how they do it. No prisoners. Protect your embassy with enough marines to either keep it going or withdraw in safety .
As things stand right now I see a bad moon rising. 300 advisors going in (fact) then another 600 (my guess ) followed by thousands more. These guys did not sign up to see their lives squandered by a bunch of stupid ragheads.
David, it's not just the Kurds we crapped on. We left the Sunnis that supported us in 2007 high and dry as well.
Consider the following:
-To your point- The Iranians are already advising the Iraqis, so why are we sending advisors? The Revolutionary Guards Force (Quds) and their Commanding General were reported there over a week ago.
- Also to your point- We now have mission creep: last week 275 Marines, this week 300 advisors. You cannot be successful with small commitment. That force really isn't enough to even protect itself and so more must follow or we admit failure - a lose-lose scenario. We are also asking for a kidnapping/hostage situation or another Benghazi but an order of magnitude higher.
-The Iraq we desired to create resides on Kurdish Iraq: pro-western, democratic (they were holding elections a decade before the Iraqis), from a geopolitical standpoint they are strategically located and they possess one of the largest oil reserves.
- Operationally, the wisest move we could make at this time is to arm the Kurds as we did the Iraqi Army ( they have extremely old equipment, both the US and Iraqi Governments refused to equip them). This would give us, if necessary, the option to have them attack ISIS from the north making ISIS fight a two-front war which they can't win.
-Insure the survival of the Kurdish Region and if necessary, declare them a protectorate, which takes the argument of a separate nation off of the table (we could even propose to do it jointly with Turkey which is even better).
- The Arab Iraq that we created became an ally and political instrument of Iran, not the United States. If we put it back together, it will be the same.
- Iran has only two Arab allies: Syria and Iraq (Assad and Malaki). Iran will go to any length to retain them.
-If you think about it, the ISIS crisis in Iraq is by an order of magnitude, a greater problem for Shia Iran than it is for the US.
- For once do some forward planning to ensure that we have enough support for Jordan to stop ISIS/Al Qaida. Because they will be the next target.
