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‘More than meets the eye’ in Iraq

Jun 14,2014 - Last updated at Jun 14,2014

The jury is still out on why and how a militia of about 3,000-4,000 terrorists that go by the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was able to overcome, conquer and occupy major Iraqi cities with lighting speed, facing no real resistance from the fleeing Iraqi arm. 

The cities of Mosul, Tikrit and Kirkuk fell one after another to the invading force literally in hours.

The conquerors were simply too well organised, too well armed and their military operation too well executed to be just an outlaw force bent on establishing an extremist Islamic regime in the country.

There might be more than meets the eye in the effort to determine the true identity of the invading force.

Many Sunnis in Iraq and elsewhere seem to welcome the military success of this aggression against their county, something that substantiates the fear that the schism between the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq has widened, taking its heavy toll on the unity of the country.

The Iraqi army not only offered little or no resistance to the invading militias, it also left all its military hardware for the invading force to use in its continuing military campaign.

Iran’s offer to intervene military in support of the Shiite-led government in Iraq complicates an already complicated situation in Iraq, and puts the US and other countries in a dilemma.

US President Barack Obama seems reluctant to interfere militarily, perhaps out of fear of being accused that he fights on Tehran’s side.

Obama’s initial reaction to the fast-unfolding events in Iraq seems to put part of the blame on the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki for failing to reach out to the Sunnis and form an inclusive political order.

Baghdad has been accused of marginalising the Sunnis; that may explain in part the support the invaders received from some Iraqi quarters.

The bottom line is that without a political solution in Iraq, no amount of military interventions by any side will be able to solve the growing conflict and prevent the country from falling apart.

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