Iraq in Turmoil: Can America Fight and Run?

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The nation of Iraq is on fire currently.  The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is capturing territories after territories in Iraq every day from both the Iraqi and Kurdish forces.   This has led to the death of many innocent civilians predominantly Christians and ethnic minorities and displacement of hundreds of thousands of survivors.   So far the Iraqi and Kurdish forces have failed to stop the ISIS from making further progress and the United States has resisted calls by Iraqi government for it to intervene militarily and help defeat ISIS.  
ISIS in Iraq
ISIS militants

The United States stated that it is not intervening in Iraq because the crisis in Iraq has been orchestrated by Iraqi politicians.  The current Iraqi Prime Minister Al Maliki and his Shiite party have usurped power and marginalized other ethnic groups especially the Sunnis.    The Sunnis feel they have no other options but to support ISIS in the current crisis.  Thus, the United States believes that the only way of resolving this crisis is for Iraqi politicians to put their differences aside and form an inclusive government that represents all Iraqis. 

While it is true that the Iraqi politicians led by the current Prime Minister are somewhat to blame for the current conflict in Iraq the United States cannot claim innocent of the Iraqi problems.   Iraq was calm and peaceful prior to the U.S led military invasion in 2003.  The Shiites, Sunnis and other ethnic minorities including Christians were living together in peace.  The citizens that had problems were those who tried to resist the iron fist of the former dictator, Saddam Hussein.
US forces in Iraq
US forces in Iraq

Following the invasion of Iraq by the allied forces and subsequent removal of Saddam Hussein the state of Iraq collapsed.  There was no central government to issue orders, and anarchy became the order of the day.  Although elections were organised by the United States to return Iraq to a democratic rule, most of the votes were won by Shiites. 
Saddam Hussein the former Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein

The Shiites suffered terribly at the hands of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni.   Now that they are in power the Shiites have decided to take revenge on the Sunnis for Saddam’s sins.  They have arrested a number of top Sunni politicians and charged them with insurrections, which is an attempt to bring down the government.  They have even issued an arrest warrant for the former Sunni deputy Prime Minister, Tariq al-Hashimi, for similar offences.
Shiites gassed by Saddam Hussein forces
Shiites gassed by Saddam Hussein forces
 

Left with the options of two devils, the Sunnis have decided to go for the lesser devil which is the ISIS.  They feel safer at the hands of this terrorist group than at the hands of the Iraqi government.  The ISIS being a very calculative terrorist group has been co-living with the Sunnis for now and has only been terrorizing non Sunnis.   It is not known how long this uneasy relationship can last before the terrorist group begin lashing out at their Sunni hosts.

For the fact that all of these problems would not arise had it not invaded Iraq in 2003 the United States must take full responsibility for the Iraqi crisis.  It should help the Kurds and Iraqi forces to defeat the ISIS.  These forces cannot do the job themselves as demonstrated by the recent gains made by the ISIS.   


Although it has conducted some air strikes against the ISIS positions around Irbil yesterday and the day before, the United States should do more than that by providing more military support to the forces trying to defeat the ISIS.    The United States should recognise that he that fights and runs away lives to fight another day.  It started the crisis in Iraq, the United States must help bring the problem to an end.  Running away from this crisis should not be an option for the United States.
US strikes against ISIS
US air strikes against ISIS

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