Whether by NATO or the Arab League, ISIS must be destroyed to restore Iraq and for the sake of humanity.
Apical dominance is the term used in botany to describe the control of the shoot tip over axillary buds outgrowth, so no branch can outgrow the tip.
Naturally, it saves the plant from wasting resources on untoward growth but it could dwarf it if gone too heavy.
Since 1990 the US officially holds on this top position and hence should take the blame for any compromise in the well-being of the world.
It is understood now that President Obama is the most hesitant leader when it comes to using military force, which comes with the job, even though when necessary to save lives and peace in many parts of the globe.
That was unlucky for Iraq and very encouraging to all criminal and savage gangs like ISIS to prepare to overtake control and infest massive regions. Mr. Obama bizarrely and cravenly licked his clear military intervention threat over using chemical weapons in Syria in 2013. That was the signal ISIS exploited to suddenly expand and wreak havoc.
Australia, Spain, Denmark, UK, France and most other Western countries—besides Iraq’s regional neighboring countries—are more than willing to assume their duties in confronting this terrorist tsunami that may eventually burst in their own homelands.
Even parliaments in some of them approved or enacted this deployment of troops and jet fighters in an unprecedented but welcome move. With the head of the coalition still undecided and unchallenged, it remains a virtual war launched on paper with no tangible results on the ground after two months.
Last September the Coalition of 50 plus elite armies managed 41,00 air missions over war zones mainly in Iraq killing only 300 ISIS fighters and wounding 450. This figure is much less than what the Islamic State can mobilize in a single week. Is that a serious fight against ISIS or just a waste of time and opportunities?
Figures from the Iraqi government are unreliable as leaders are dominated by traditional religious confusions with lazy nostalgic reliance on heaven as the ultimate planner and savior. Iraqis have not taken serious measures in mobilizing or investing in the international coalition or internal capabilities to defeat ISIS.
Taking over two months just to appoint a defense minister in the new government underscores how awkward and disorganized Baghdad operates. It is again the duty of the Coalition, or part of it, to convince or even force the Iraqi government to accept the military help intensely needed to overcome ISIS. Not just Iraq and Syria are endangered, as the threat will eventually disseminate to impinge all.
Persistent air strikes can bring a whole country to its knees, as we all witnessed with Iraq previously. However, they alone cannot eliminate dangerously small and swiftly moving targets spread over vast territories. Foreign ground forces with bases and helicopters and an advanced intelligence system are needed to win this battle.
On top of all that it needs the sheer will and determination to be fully involved, which the Americans have not yet demonstrated. The other allied forces are apparently more eager and sincere in their resolve. Unfortunately, Iraqi forces are currently incapable of driving ISIS out and need months to build up after the disintegrating defeat last June in Mosul.
Alternative options must be deliberated as long as the apex is not yet determined. Whether under NATO or the Arab League, the flag needs to be passed so a decisive victory can be claimed to wipe out the brutal ISIS beasts and restore Iraqi integrity for the sake of humanity.
Yousif Y. Eshaiker, Ph.D., is an Iraqi author, writer, academic, researcher, activist and politician based in London, Amman & Baghdad. Yousif is the General Secretariat of the Iraqi Liberal Party and founding member of the Civil Democratic Alliance of Iraq.
