By December 2011, when the US military forces withdrew from Iraq, I wrote in my column that the Obama administration made a big mistake for which the region and the international community would pay a price today.
Amid doubts over the effectiveness of the US plan to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS, President Barack Obama remained firm on his decision to keep American troops away from the battlefield in Iraq.
But how will the anti-ISIS coalition completely destroy the terrorist group, given a perceived lack of US troops on the ground?
The answer is military contractors.
The new war will technically be between local forces and ISIS fighters, but both sides will get assistance from their respective allies. In the case of the Iraqi government and the Free Syrian Army, they will be supported by the international community.
Obama made it clear in his recent speech the role the US will play in the war – they will arm and train Iraqi security forces and Syrian rebels, and provide humanitarian aid to affected people.
He won the backing of the US Congress and their allies for this high-profile initiative, although some were still sceptical about it.
Even Iranian President Hassan Rowhani wondered how Obama will annihilate ISIS without any US ground troops in Iraq. It will look like the US is just watching a chess match where the players are shedding blood to wipe out the pieces of their opponents.
With Obama’s statement, it is clear that there will be another contractors’ war in Iraq more than a decade after the US invaded the Middle Eastern country in 2003, deploying hundreds of thousands of American and Iraqi soldiers, as well as those from private military and security companies. Maybe, we will see more contractors such as “Blackwater” in Iraq to fight ISIS.
Obama’s strategy — “No Strategy” — may be the best for Americans since there will be fewer casualties on their side.
But will it really bring stability, if not peace, in Iraq and Syria?
I agree Americans “cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves”. But this war is totally different from the one in the past because we are now dealing with more complex problems.
At the end, America does not want to experience another September 11.
The Peninsula
