The Washington Examiner quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Ramzy Mardini on the implications of US military involvement in Iraq, in light of the Obama administration’s pending decision to send more troops overseas:
Ramzy Mardini, a fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, said sending more US military personnel to Iraq is the wrong approach.
“The White House continues to misdiagnose the problem — treating ISIS as the cause and not the symptom,” he said, arguing that the Iraqi government needs to do far more to reach out to Sunnis and unite the country. “If there is no serious engagement on the political side, you’re unlikely to see much sustained victories on the battlefield.”
The more the US sends personnel to Iraq, “the greater probability that they will end up being attacked by insurgents,” he said.