Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Ramzy Mardini writes for the New York Times‘s Room for Debate on why the United States military will be unable to fix the current crisis in Iraq:
The bold Sunni militant offensive is the latest inflection point in the long-term unraveling of post-Saddam Iraq. Nevertheless, despite all the international concern it has produced, Iraq’s revived insurgency isn’t a problem with a clear and corresponding solution. Indeed, while President Obama says “I don’t rule out anything,” Washington is in no position to change facts on the ground and alter the conditions that are driving the country’s renewed insurgency.
The reality is that violence and asymmetric warfare will remain a symptom of the new Iraq for the foreseeable future. This isn’t due to an alleged shortage of military capabilities, but rather a reflection of what Iraq essentially is: an unreconciled, broken state, plagued by deep ethno-sectarian cleavages, weak institutions and a political system prone to relapse toward an authoritarian order.