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The situation in Iraq is deeper than what is portrayed in the media. As we all know, Isis controls lots of land in Iraq and although they're losing ground, they are still a significant threat to the stability to Iraq. But how could America help bring stability to this war torn country?
First we must really understand how Iraq became a jumbled mess. The country holds a majority of Shias (primarily in the south) and a Sunni minority (primarily in the center and west) with a kurdish minority in the north. Sadaam hussein was a Sunni and under him, sunnis got privileges over shias. Then after the Iraqi invasion, the US placed Maliki in power. Maliki was the leader of a prominent Shia group which distrusted Sunnis. Many Sunnis hated the new Iraqi government and so this gave al queda an opportunity since they were sunni. And so began the period of blood, sweat, and tears that we all came to know and love. During this period were American soldiers taking insurgent-held cities such as Fallujah.
In 2011, the US pulled out and in 2014, Isis made an offensive which gained them a massive swath of land; the were right on Baghdad's doorstep. However, they lost Tikrit in the beginning of 2015 thanks to the Iraqi military and Shia militias backed by Iran; the latter did the majority of the fighting. The shia militias discriminate against the sunnis which would then cause them to support Isis over the government. Fortunately, Ramadi was retaken with the combined efforts of the Iraqi military and sunni tribal fighters with less shia militias. Sunni tribal fighters were a perfect addition to the war on Isis since they would gain local support. Fallujah was retaken about a month ago. Shia militias were involved but there were twice as many Iraqi soldiers. With the current progress, it seems like Isis is destined to lose Iraq no later than the beginning of 2020.
After the war, the Iraqi government will need to nationalize the military and place heavy taxes on the shia militias. This may lead to an attempted coup but the Iraqi army will be stationed at the green zone to prevent such. Iraqi parliment will also have to pass an act which guerantees equal rights to both sunnis and shias.
Unfortunately, this may not be achieved if Donald trump goes through with his proposal to tear through Isis with the US military. This will make Iraq more stable in the short term but it won't fix the secretarianism between the sunnis and shias and as long as that's still there, a radical group will gain prominence in the region. In short, Trump will have achieved nothing.
As you can see, the Iraqi government controls the majority of the country. Isis isn't as close to winning as trump would lead you to believe.
First we must really understand how Iraq became a jumbled mess. The country holds a majority of Shias (primarily in the south) and a Sunni minority (primarily in the center and west) with a kurdish minority in the north. Sadaam hussein was a Sunni and under him, sunnis got privileges over shias. Then after the Iraqi invasion, the US placed Maliki in power. Maliki was the leader of a prominent Shia group which distrusted Sunnis. Many Sunnis hated the new Iraqi government and so this gave al queda an opportunity since they were sunni. And so began the period of blood, sweat, and tears that we all came to know and love. During this period were American soldiers taking insurgent-held cities such as Fallujah.
In 2011, the US pulled out and in 2014, Isis made an offensive which gained them a massive swath of land; the were right on Baghdad's doorstep. However, they lost Tikrit in the beginning of 2015 thanks to the Iraqi military and Shia militias backed by Iran; the latter did the majority of the fighting. The shia militias discriminate against the sunnis which would then cause them to support Isis over the government. Fortunately, Ramadi was retaken with the combined efforts of the Iraqi military and sunni tribal fighters with less shia militias. Sunni tribal fighters were a perfect addition to the war on Isis since they would gain local support. Fallujah was retaken about a month ago. Shia militias were involved but there were twice as many Iraqi soldiers. With the current progress, it seems like Isis is destined to lose Iraq no later than the beginning of 2020.
After the war, the Iraqi government will need to nationalize the military and place heavy taxes on the shia militias. This may lead to an attempted coup but the Iraqi army will be stationed at the green zone to prevent such. Iraqi parliment will also have to pass an act which guerantees equal rights to both sunnis and shias.
Unfortunately, this may not be achieved if Donald trump goes through with his proposal to tear through Isis with the US military. This will make Iraq more stable in the short term but it won't fix the secretarianism between the sunnis and shias and as long as that's still there, a radical group will gain prominence in the region. In short, Trump will have achieved nothing.
As you can see, the Iraqi government controls the majority of the country. Isis isn't as close to winning as trump would lead you to believe.