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Kerry Warns Mideast to Stay Out of Iraq
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
May 25, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Warning Mideast countries to stay out of Iraq,
Secretary of State John Kerry sent a veiled threat to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad
who sent war planes to bomb Sunni targets in Iraq. Faced with a growing Saudi-backed
Sunni insurgency led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIS], Iraq’s
U.S.-backed Shiite government of Nour al-Maliki finds itself helpless to defend
most cities and towns from a Sunni takeover.
Since March 2011, al-Assad has defended his small Alawite Shiite sect
from a growing Sunni revolt that seeks to topple al-Assad’s Damascus regime. Finding Iraq’s Shiites kindred spirits, al-Assad tried to lend his hand allowing his air
force to attack ISIS strongholds in former Shiite territory. Since the U.S. toppled Saddam
Hussein April 12, 2003, Iraq has faced a destabilizing Sunni insurgency, leaving
Iraq in chaos, with or without U.S. forces to maintain order.
White House officials confirmed that Syrian warplanes bombed ISIS
positions near the Syrian border town of Qaim.
Al-Assad faces the same threat in Syria with ISIS working hard to topple
the al-Assad government. When
President Barack Obama approved over $5 billion in aid to the Supreme Military
Council of the Free Syrian Army led by Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) friend
57-year-old Gen. Salim Idris, the U.S. didn’t consider the weapons and cash
would fall into the wrong hands.
Obama was amply warned about the possibility of financial and military aid
falling into the enemies’ hands in Syria.
Like the chaos in Iraq caused by toppling Saddam, the same situation
could repeat itself in Syria if the White House isn’t careful. White House officials, like Obama
and Kerry, can’t rail against the destabilizing effect of the Iraq War, while
ignoring the same scenario in Syria.
If backing Syrian rebels opens the floodgates for more Islamic radicals,
Bashar al-Assad’s misdeeds—including using chemical weapons—will look like small
potatoes. Execution-like mass
killings, beheadings, torture and mayhem are commonplace for Sunni extremists
now flooding Iraq and Syria. Were
it no for Iran’s al-Quds force and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia
rescuing al-Assad, it’s possible Damacus would have already fallen to Sunni
Islamists. “We made it clear to everyone in the region that we don’t need anything that might
exacerbate sectarian divisions that are already at a heightened state of
tesnsion,” said Kerry, urging al-Maliki to form a power-sharing government with
Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. Meeting
with Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani in Irbil June 24, Kerry urged him to back
the central government while it progressively disintegrated.
Without beating Kerry over the head, Barzani told Kerry about a new Iraq
emerging from the ISIS onslaught that overran Iraq’s second largest city, the
oil-rich traditional Kurdish stronghold of Mosul. Barzani practically stood on his
head asking Kerry to back an independent Kurdistan. Not ready to throw in the towel on
Iraq, Kerry still sees the unlikely possibility of a power-sharing arrangement
among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds solving Iraq’s current civil war. “It’s already important that nothing
takes place that contributes to the extremism or could act as a flash point with
respect to the sectarian divide,” said Kerry, beating around the bush. Kerry hasn’t yet faced the music
like Barzani that Iraq has already split along ethnic lines, prompting the U.S.
to defend the Kurds by evicting ISIS from Mosul.
Barzani waited patiently for Kerry to commit to evicting ISIS from Mosul.
McCain’s May 27, 2013 trip behind enemy lines into thick of the Sunni
insurgency against al-Assad revealed his sympathies for Idris but also other
anti-Assad groups like ISIS. One
year later, ISIS has destabilized Iraq and threatens to turn Syria into the same
chaos that now threatens Baghdad.
Though reluctant grant al-Maliki’s request to bomb ISIS targets in Iraq, Kerry
expressed qualified U.S. backing for any counterinsurgency against ISIS, urging
Baghdad to form a power sharing government with Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. All three groups know they can’t get
along, nor do they choose to in today’s Iraq.
Kerry feebly admitted that Obama’s “focus and mine is on the issue of
government formation,” not re-litigating the Iraq War. Today’s White House policy in Iraq
and Syria only makes matter worse by backing the wrong rebel groups in each
country that cause more chaos.
Obama and Kerry need to meet urgently with officials from both parties on
Capitol Hill to get on the same page.
Supporting ISIS in Syria and opposing them in Iraq makes no sense. Adding more Sunnis or Kurds to al-Malki’s Shiite regime won’t discourage ISIS one bit
from overthrowing Baghdad. With ISIS getting dangerously close to Baghdad, Obama and Keery don’t have the luxury to
dither before figuring out what to do in Iraq.
If neither man can stomach the idea of reopening the Iraq War, adding 300
advisors won’t stop ISIS’s forward march on Baghdad. Coordinating anything coherent with
Iran to stop ISIS would only backfire.
U.S. officials have done everything to sabotage Iran’s efforts with
al-Quds and Hezbollah to prevent al-Assad from going down in Damascus. All indications point to utter chaos
at the White House, prompting more help from Congress.
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