This very brief message immediately drew attention to the forthcoming US policy in the region and prompted experts voice to many different thoughts. First of all, why the unannounced visit which was incidentally reported Reuters, but not by the Iraqi media, although it eventually did mention the visit, but again with reference to the agency. Unannounced visits usually occur when the parties do not want them to be widely known or discussed by the global media. During such visits, the parties try negotiate in silence many delicate and sensitive issues that are “not for prying ears”.
If all this is taken into account, then it is obviously about changing the official policy of Washington and planning the next steps for the American army. Meanwhile, as Obama only recently publicly declared, “Our goal is clear: we will completely destroy the IS through a comprehensive and lasting strategy to fight terrorism.” The American president assured that US troops will not enter Iraq to fight the militants. “I want the American people to know how this work will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soi,” stated Obama. He stressed that the fight against the IS will be conducted with the “use of our air force and through support of our partners’ forces on the ground.” Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel also confirmed that the United States does not plan to send ground troops to Iraq to participate in ground operations
But as they say, time goes by, and with it the plans of Washington change. By the way, even Mr. Dempsey did not rule out that the US soldiers sent to Iraq as advisers to deal with Islamic State will participate in combat missions alongside Iraqi troops. The General then said that for a successful response to the IS militant groups air strikes are not enough, and ground operations in the territory of Iraq and Syria were necessary. According to Mr. Dempsey, despite the fact that the airstrikes launched by the Air Forces of member of the international anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States proved to be effective and have already begun to destroy the infrastructure of the Islamists, this is still not enough. In his opinion, it is necessary to adopt a “political solution”, and ground operations need to be conducted in Syria and Iraq.
And now, President Barack Obama sent a request to Congress to allocate an additional 5.6 billion USD in 2015 to fight the terrorist group Islamic State. In addition, he ordered the deployment of 1,500 soldiers to Iraq, which doubled the number of US troops there. It is believed that the anti-terrorist operation will require about 80,000 trained local forces. Basically, the US media say this means that the US involvement will be much larger and longer than anticipated.
But this corresponds to the already known Pentagon’s plans reported by the New York Times. According to its data from a number of senior US politicians, the US military campaign to destroy Islamic State will consist of three phases. The first phase is to inflict airstrikes on the terrorist forces. The second phase will focus on the training and supply of equipment to the Iraqi and Kurdish forces, and possibly representatives of Sunni tribes. The third phase involves the destruction of the army of insurgents in their refuge in Syria; with high probability it will be implemented by the administration following Obama’s.
Recent events only confirm the accuracy of American newspapers, and the unannounced visit of Mr. Dempsey is exactly in line with this policy. The second phase is now underway, in which the US military will train newly recruited soldiers of the Iraqi army. However, how long it will last, and whether IS militants will wait until the end of this training, no one knows. And, moreover, the wisdom of training and equipping the representatives of Sunni tribes has been called in serious doubt. After all, it is well known that the basis of the IS are Sunnis, as well as former soldiers and officers that are members of the Baath Party under the leadership of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. According to some, after the death of Saddam Hussein he was elected General Secretary of the regional leadership of the Baath Party and vowed not only to expel American invaders from Iraq, but once again to lead the Sunnis to power.
The fact that Al-Douri has still not been found and arrested by the American authorities invokes great surprise. Nevertheless the information about him and his movements abound. Since the late 90s Al-Douri has been in treatment for leukaemia and is forced every 6 months to fully replace his blood, mostly abroad, and the CIA should have no difficulty arresting him. But, apparently, Washington holds that with the Sunni card up its sleeve, which it always can, under certain conditions, play in the Iraqi field. And, obviously, on the Sunni groups, which are now being trained by American instructors, Washington has high hopes. Or the American politicians are hoping that the Sunnis will move to Syria and will fight against the official army of Damascus.
Many political analysts openly accuse the US of complicity in the actual creation of an Islamic State and its hidden financing of terrorist activities, as well as double standards in relation to Russia. It is understandable that the IS was not born by itself – it is the result of conscious purposeful activity of a number of Gulf States, US allies, and the United States itself, which for a long time, being obsessed with the task of overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad, has “funded anyone available.” In relation to the IS, “amazing permissiveness has been observed” in the trade and economic issues from the United States and its allies in the North Atlantic block. The IS freely trades oil on all oil markets. How can this be? The terrorist organization, which in front of the whole world cuts off the heads of citizens of Western States, enjoys the rights of an oil trader. And no one applies any penalties. At the same time, sanctions have been imposed against Russia, but no sanctions have been introduced against the Islamic State.
However, the constant statements by officials in Washington are surprising, who stubbornly argue about replacing the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the very man who is actively fighting not only against IS militants but also the other terrorist organizations, “Al Qaeda” and “Jabhat al-Nusra”. For example, Chuck Hagel said that Syrian President Bashar Assad “has lost legitimacy,” but “the conflict in Syria cannot be solved solely by military means.” In this regard, the Pentagon chief announced its intention to strengthen the “moderate” Syrian opposition forces in order to be able to control the territory it has occupied, as well as to reclaim from militants the areas they have already seized and then create the conditions for a political solution in Syria.
In these circumstances, the State Duma of the Russian Federation calls on Western partners to finally learn to see the real threat, and not invent imaginary and illusory ones on its own. In their statement, “On the gross and massive violations of the rights of religious and ethnic minorities due to the worsening situation in Syria and Iraq”, MPs urged the international community to block all external sources of financing terrorism in the Middle East.
“The militants of the ‘Islamic State’ terrorist group and other armed extremist groups carry out bloody terror and mass public executions of civilians in their occupied territories. Thousands of people are oppressed just because they want to preserve their religion and customs. Christians are subjected to persecution, Christian churches are closed, priests of ancient monasteries and churches in the homeland of Christianity, the Middle East, are expelled,” they stated in the statement.
In this case, the State Duma points to the obvious “foreign financial and material support” for the emergence of major terrorist groups and their conduct of large-scale terrorist activities. “The destabilization of the situation in the Middle East is largely a result of the current foreign policy of the West,” the document says. All this, according to the deputies, leads to irreparable tragedy and numerous victims among the civilian population. Simultaneously, the deputies expressed the need to develop common approaches to combating terrorism in the Middle East and the world at large.
Victor Mikhin, member correspondent of RANS, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
