Are U.S. Interests in Iraq Any More Secure After Ramadi?

Daniel L. Davis

Security,

The problems are multiplying as the Iraqi army looks toward Fallujah and Mosul.

For the first time since entire divisions of its army disintegrated before Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in the summer of 2014, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have reportedly beaten ISIS in the battle for control of Ramadi, a major city in Anbar Province nearly seventy miles west of Baghdad. While an important battlefield success, the significance of this victory must to be viewed in a regional context. Overall, the situation is not looking very good for U.S. interests.

According to numerous reports, the ISF drove most of ISIS out of Ramadi, but the plan is for local Sunni tribes to hold the city and prevent a reemergence of ISIS. It was Sunni tribes in the Anbar province that originally drove out Al Qaeda, ISIS’s progenitor, with the help of the U.S. surge in 2008. But the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad did not fulfill their promises of political equality to the Sunnis, which led to anti-government protests in 2012 and made ISIS’s initial entry into Ramadi and other cities in Anbar relatively easy. Shia-dominated Baghdad is going to have to do a better job with the Sunni tribes for this tactical victory to have staying power.