The Best Solution to Save Iraq

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer Iraq’s security and volunteer forces have been making progress in both Ramadi and Baiji and it’s not surprising.

Date: 31 May 2015 - 22:04

News ID: ۱۴۵۱۵

The united forces have launched large-scale operations aimed at severing the supply lines of the ISIL militants who control most of Anbar, a vast Sunni province in western Iraq of which Ramadi is the capital.

The security forces are also tightening their stranglehold on Ramadi, while ordnance disposal teams are busy removing roadside bombs and checking buildings for booby traps in re-conquered positions on the outskirts of Ramadi.

In the absence of U.S. aerial support, the yellow-and-green flags that line the sides of the newly secured roads and flutter from rooftops leave no doubt as to who is leading the fighting here: Shia-Sunni volunteer forces AND the Iraqi army.

However, as claimed by the Western media, this isn’t about Iran vying for influence over Iraq’s battle to retake ground from terrorists. This is about helping a neighbor as required under international law. Iran is doing the same in Syria.

With the fall of Ramadi, the province’s capital, the Shia-Sunni paramilitary forces are also taking the upper hand. Sunni tribal forces in the area are being armed, with thousands of fighters attending enrollment ceremonies. The idea is to help the liberated Sunni tribal areas hold the ground while the forces prepare themselves for the next push: Liberation of Mosul.

And this isn’t about sectarianism at all. Washington is free to claim otherwise, but the fact remains that U.S. credibility had fallen in Iraq when ISIL terrorists were driven from the city of Tikrit earlier this year, thanks in large part to the help from volunteer forces – Sunni and Shia.

Later the fall of Ramadi damaged Iraqis’ confidence in the United States even further. And this was completed when Shia forces played a key role in retaking the strategic city at the expense of Washington’s.

Disillusionment with the U.S. government is clearly understandable. The people of Iraq have no confidence in an administration that played a key role in creating the monster of ISIL in the first place. They have also come to the conclusion that only Iraqis can liberate their country and not foreign forces and terror-mongers.

Little wonder Sunni and Shia volunteer forces have now come together under the same banner to save their country. Expect more good news from Iraq, because it’s the best solution to the U.S.-created crisis.