Michael Knights believes ethnic and sectarian reconciliation are "emerging as a motif in Iraq’s next general elections," and as a result the U.S. should work diplomatically to keep the country unified.
- "Modern Iraqi governments have used two methods to hold the country together: buy the cooperation of the diverse population...and use military force and intelligence services (paid for by petrodollars) to coerce those who still resist."
- "The last remaining alternative is the exact vision that the United States sought to impose on Iraq in 2003: that of a representative democracy that would incentivize membership for all of Iraq’s components."
Michael Knights has worked in every Iraqi province and most of the hundred districts. He's currently the Lafer Fellow at the Washington Institute.
By Alex Grinberg
The reactions of Iraq’s ulama and some Arab clerics to the recent Kurdish referendum have been mostly negative, a clear reflection of their political sympathies. However--aside from Hizballah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s speech--the reactions have been nuanced. This has allowed for more fine-tuned gauging of political tendencies among the various religious communities of Iraq and the neighboring countries. Shi’i Ulama Ayatollah Ali Sistani strongly criticized the referendum. Sist ...
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The Fall of Kirkuk: An IRGC Production
By Jonathan Spyer
Iraqi forces took Kirkuk city from the Kurds this week with hardly a shot fired. Twenty-two Kurdish fighters were killed in the sporadic and disorganized resistance, while seven Iraqi soldiers also lost their lives. It is a remarkable setback for the Kurds, who just a few weeks ago held an independence referendum. The loss of Kirkuk especially, given the city’s vast oil resources, lessens the likelihood that an independent state will emerge from the Kurdish Regional Government area in northe ...
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Iran's Hand and Iraq's Kirkuk Offensive
By Seth J. Frantzman
With ISIS out of the way, underlying tensions have come to the surface. On Sunday October 15, the Pentagon encouraged Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Peshmerga to “avoid escalatory actions,” as Iraq gave the Kurds an ultimatum to withdraw from areas around the city of Kirkuk. The United States said it opposed “violence from any party,” and that any action could risk destabilizing Iraq and distracting from the war on Islamic State. The Pentagon st ...
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