He claims that he will not accept any ground troops other than those from Iraqi. He says he is "restructuring" the army toensure the protection of the Iraqi public. He asked The UK to help with the training of his troops, intelligence and technology. He states that there is no need for foreign troops.
Do you think that he should allow foreign troops to help or do you think that they can really defeat ISIS without help from ground troops as he stated?
I don't believe foreign troops should be sent in to clean up the situation in Iraq. Sending in troops will alienate civilians and current armed forces within Iraq. When those foreign forces leave, they have done nothing to help ensure that the government and maintain the peace they created. I agree with the prime minister. I do believe they need to fend for themselves in this particular situation.
Dylan makes really good points. The Iraqi public would inevitably be unsure of foreign troops taking control of the situation. Having the government use their own army would ensure a better relationship between the people and the gov't in that the public is actually protected by their own government rather than outsiders who don't share the same culture/beliefs as they do.
I as well don't believe we need foreign troops, especially when Iraqi prime minister has said he doesn't want any. I strongly believe that the United states and other should help but it should be under terms of those who we are helping. I also think that if the general Iraqi and Syrian public see their own people fighting back, it will increase the peoples desire to promote and fight for change.
I believe that the only thing foreign troops should do is help insure the safety of the civilians. This way, the Iraqi army can fight their battle, and the citizens are not being put into jeopardy. They need to learn to fend for them selves and not let it get to this point in future instances.
Let's try to see this from the Iraqi point of view, for 8 years the Iraqi's found themselves in a war they didn't ask for. They lost over 100,000 civilians so its only reasonable that they fear having any international soldiers on the ground as they fear it will escalate the conflict. Al-Abadi's request seems reasonable to me. Also, Abadi is a Shia Muslim, he is probably weary of having Arab Sunni soldiers in Iraq as there is still much mistrust in Iraq between the communities. The Shia majority in Iraq's worst fear is having another Sunni dominated government like that of Saddam Hussein's.
-- Edited by Sami_THECREATOR on Friday 3rd of October 2014 05:45:41 PM
I understand where he is coming from if he is only referring to other Arab ground forces and the tension that Sami was talking about. However if the debate comes down to US ground troops, then I feel that it is inevitable. At least having Special Forces units in operation would 1. increase air strike effectiveness, 2. Reduce risk of civilian casualties in some instances, and 3. perhaps provide their forces the opportunity to have even better training.
Last note: Regardless of what the Obama administration does or doesn't say, this is war. War involves risks to everyone and kills soldiers and civilians. We can get better, but we will never elliminate the civilian from the list of casualties. We can not be naive or timid about this. We live in an imperfect world. What needs to happen is the Military leaders need to meet, and discuss what the best way of winning the war is. No politics, no ROE's (Rules of engagement). We can only do our best and our best is more than we know.
I honestly think that the only way to stop ISIS is when all countries are working together. As we can see, ISIS keeps doing it's thing by capturing one country after another, the Iraqi troop couldn't fight it. It's time to appreciate the help of foreign troops and start working together against ISIS.
