Thanks to Obama, the US Military Is Fighting the Iraq War Twice

On Monday, Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, facing mass protests over delays in halting corruption, said he hopes Iraq's parliament can vote "in the next few days" on a cabinet of non-party technocrats. Hanging over al-Abadi's head is last Saturday's threat by powerful Iran-backed shiite Moslem cleric Moqtada al-Sadr of major street protests if Iraq MPs failed by Tuesday afternoon to name a technocrat cabinet ready to weed out graft and mismanagement. There was no vote on Tuesday. Voting has been postponed several times as al-Abadi's February announcement -- made under coercion by al-Sadr and his shiite clerics -- of an overhaul of the government has been delayed by disputes and protests. Al-Abadi says political turmoil could jeopardize the armed forces' campaign against ISIS militants who still control large areas in Iraq's north and west, including Mosul, where Iraqi forces, backed by the US, are making gains against ISIS. ~~~~~ On Monday, thousands of al-Sadr's shiite followers held a sit-in near the heavily fortified Green Zone, where parliament and government offices are located, to support al-Sadr's warning to MPs, calling on them "to convene immediately in order to overcome the obstacles." The "obstacle" is a dispute among MPs about the future of Speaker Salim al-Jabouri. A large group of MPs refuses to meet under Jabouri's speakership, supposedly because he won't let them question al-Abadi on his proposed cabinet. ~~~~~ The Washington Post reported Wednesday that al-Sadr has now spoken, asking the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to help find a solution to Iraq’s political crisis “even through holding early elections.” Al-Sadr’s message came after MPs failed to convene to vote on Speaker al-Jabouri. Al-Sadr ordered Sadrist MPs to halt their parliament sit-in, so as to make a quorum possible. But he told his followers to continue rallying in Bagdad’s Tahrir Square, calling for : "continuing peaceful protests in the same intensity and even more in order to pressure the politicians and the lovers of corruption. Nobody has the right to stop it, otherwise the revolution will take another turn," referring to al-Abadi's decision to restrict protests in Baghdad to central Tahrir Square. Al-Sadr also asked MPs loyal to him not to attend any session except to vote on the cabinet. ~~~~~ On Monday, the New York Times reported that President Obama will send US military advisors closer to the front lines of the war against ISIS, part of an escalation of the US military campaign in Iraq. The advisors -- who had assisted Iraqi military divisions of 10,000 troops -- will now assist units of 2,000 soldiers directly involved in frontline fighting. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, making the announcement to American troops at the Baghdad airport, said the Pentagon will deploy Apache attack helicopters, long-range artillery and increased logistical support for the Iraqi military. The Kurdish regional government, with the most successful anti-ISIS military campaign in Iraq and Syria, will receive more than $415 million, disbursed monthly to pay and feed Kurdish soldiers. DoD officials had said the Iraqis would recapture Mosul last year. Now, they say the earliest will be later this year. And, Obama said in an interview with CBS News Monday he expects “that by the end of the year, we will have created the conditions whereby Mosul will eventually fall.” ~~~~~ Dear readers, it has been two years since Obama ordered operations against ISIS, which still has 10,000 fighters in Iraq and controls large parts of the country. Ending the US military presence in Iraq was a key Obama campaign promise in 2008. He took out the last troops in December, 2011. Since the rise of ISIS, he has pledged that no “combat” troops will be deployed, making White House and DoD descriptions of Obama's Iraq war hard to decipher. But, one thing is clear. The US is in a second war in Iraq. We won the first one before Obama lost it. I wonder how the US military feels about fighting the same war twice, necessary as it is.