Fallujah is not yet secured. The Iraqi military should not be leaving the combined forces with a successful campaign to save the lives of Iraqi citizens in Fallujah. The USA advisers seem to be causing weakness in the resolve and not a combined strength. The Iraqis need to work together, not divide into factions.
The one problem Iraqi forces faced while the USA occupied Iraq was the inability to HOLD the land once insurgents were removed. I think McCain called it "Wack a Mole." This is happening all over again and it isn't the Iraqi forces that is the problem; it is the American advisers.
June 6, 2016
By Ahmed Rasheed, Saif Hameed and Isabel Coles
An Iraqi Shi'ite militia leader (click here) accused government forces of "betrayal" as a split emerged between the Iranian-backed paramilitaries and the army over tactics for fighting Islamic State.
The head of the largest militia, Hadi al-Amiri, criticized the army for moving an armored brigade to the Makhmour area near Mosul - Islamic State's capital in northern Iraq - while the battle to dislodge the militants from Falluja, their stronghold near Baghdad, is still underway.
"Unfortunately there is an absence of precise planning for the military operations," said Amiri, who leads the Badr Organisation. "I believe that sending a large number of armored vehicles and assets to Makhmour, under the pretext of the Mosul battle, is a betrayal of the battle for Falluja," he told Al-Sumaria TV on Sunday.
Badr Organisation is the largest component of the Popular Mobilisation, a militia grouping which has been fighting alongside the Iraqi army at Falluja, with government units also receiving air support from the U.S.-led coalition.
Amiri also accused the Iraqi authorities of deciding to move the forces to Makhmour, which lies around 60 km (40 miles) south of Mosul, under pressure from the United States....
The one problem Iraqi forces faced while the USA occupied Iraq was the inability to HOLD the land once insurgents were removed. I think McCain called it "Wack a Mole." This is happening all over again and it isn't the Iraqi forces that is the problem; it is the American advisers.
June 6, 2016
By Ahmed Rasheed, Saif Hameed and Isabel Coles
An Iraqi Shi'ite militia leader (click here) accused government forces of "betrayal" as a split emerged between the Iranian-backed paramilitaries and the army over tactics for fighting Islamic State.
The head of the largest militia, Hadi al-Amiri, criticized the army for moving an armored brigade to the Makhmour area near Mosul - Islamic State's capital in northern Iraq - while the battle to dislodge the militants from Falluja, their stronghold near Baghdad, is still underway.
"Unfortunately there is an absence of precise planning for the military operations," said Amiri, who leads the Badr Organisation. "I believe that sending a large number of armored vehicles and assets to Makhmour, under the pretext of the Mosul battle, is a betrayal of the battle for Falluja," he told Al-Sumaria TV on Sunday.
Badr Organisation is the largest component of the Popular Mobilisation, a militia grouping which has been fighting alongside the Iraqi army at Falluja, with government units also receiving air support from the U.S.-led coalition.
Amiri also accused the Iraqi authorities of deciding to move the forces to Makhmour, which lies around 60 km (40 miles) south of Mosul, under pressure from the United States....
