Here Americans go again... confusing an Intel Director’s willingness to go after Sunnis under the umbrella of the ISIS campaign with the willingness to go after QF militias.

Those of us paying attention warned the Iraqi Security Forces are built to take on Sunnis and Kurds ...

...They are not built to take on militias by design.

Badr’s saturation of key positions throughout the Iraqi Security Foces coupled with militia primacy over the ISF inhibits this force from taking on the militias.

The order won’t come, & if one if is in the planning stages...

...the participants will be outed and pressured not to proceed or else... The militias will be warned ahead of any plan to conduct offensive operations against them.

The US alone will have to target them, and by design, the militias outnumber the US presence 20 to 1.

By design?

Yes, by design.

Let me take you back to 2014. The US under the Obama Administration - in the midst of JCPOA negotiations - agreed not to build a Sunni Force to fight ISIS at the request of Iran, and to minimize its footprint to 5k, & to train the force the Iraqis sent to be...

...trained. Any attempt or recommendation to build a Sunni force was squashed by the Administration in Iraq and even in Syria.

The ISIS campaign grew Iran’s influence in Iraq through its proxies achieving primacy in and out of the ranks of the militias & Iraqi Security Forces.

We get hope through the Iraqi Playbook of saying “Of course we are against the militias and Iran but we need more equipment, money, and time before we can take them on.” The same playbook for the last 17 years.

It’s easy to fool a hopeful American - we want to believe them...

An Iraqi Politician or Iraqi Officer will tell us - behind close doors - how much they want to take on the militias and Iran - the same individuals in public that proclaim they will bypass US sanctions & shed praise on the militias. What’s said in public is all that matters...

The politicians & officers that tell us behind closed doors they are against the militias & Iran, condemned the US for attacking KH on 27 Dec & for killing Soleimani & Mohandes on 2 Jan.

What’s said in public & what actions you take against the militias are all that matter...

It’s time for our new Americans dealing with Iraq in 2020 to understand the playbook and the game, and tell Iraqi decision-makers to “do something out there, or we are out of here.”

17 years of cheerleading temporary successes has only benefited Tehran, AQ, and ISIS...

...We are not helping Iraqis and hurting Tehran, AQ, and ISIS if we continue to be fooled by The Playbook. These 2 year shifts in strategy and personnel only benefit the enemy. We don’t even know that we have a playbook - a very bad one.

All an enemy needs to do is wait...

...One to 2 years for the next “good idea fairy”, or the next “Lawrence wannabe” to come along to start the cycle of “they win we lose” all over again. Get some f-ing talent with institutional knowledge in the game or get the F out of Iraq.

The window to wreck havoc on the...

Militias is still open. They are scattered and looking to the skies in fear. The two men that kept them together and made them feel invincible are gone. Soleimani and more important Mohandes, are no longer there to show them a US designation means nothing. Time to target...

...If the entity is designated, and target the IRGC in Iran and the entity that carries out a strike against the US mission in Iraq.

And if the GOI condemns it - then let’s punish it with designations and sanctions - we’ll have the support of 70% of the country.

And if...

... we decide to continue to prop up a failed GOI and ignore 70% of the Iraqi people, we will see an armed protest movement fighting against the ISF and the IRGC-QF militias while ISIS exploits the security situation.

Khalas.