World press on the situation in Iraq (June 23, 2014)"Iraq’s Military Seen as Unlikely to Turn the Tide", reads the title of an article published by the New York Times. "As Iraqi Army forces try to rally on the outskirts of Baghdad after two weeks of retreat, it has become increasingly clear to Western officials that the army will continue to suffer losses in its fight with Sunni militants and will not soon retake the ground it has ceded. Recent assessments by Western officials and military experts indicate that about a quarter of Iraq’s military forces are “combat ineffective,” its air force is minuscule, morale among troops is low and its leadership suffers from widespread corruption", writes the New York Times.“Now we are just in the position of protecting what we have left of our territory,” the newspaper quotes an Iraqi Army commander in Diyala, where ISIS fighters and other Sunni groups are fighting.Admitting that many of the worst-case American scenarios came true, the article concludes: "In the face of that, some experts have declared the Iraqi Army a defeated force, posing a dire counterpoint to the hopes and assessments of American trainers when the United States withdrew in 2011".
"Iraq’s Military Seen as Unlikely to Turn the Tide", reads the title of an article published by the New York Times.
"As Iraqi Army forces try to rally on the outskirts of Baghdad after two weeks of retreat, it has become increasingly clear to Western officials that the army will continue to suffer losses in its fight with Sunni militants and will not soon retake the ground it has ceded. Recent assessments by Western officials and military experts indicate that about a quarter of Iraq’s military forces are “combat ineffective,” its air force is minuscule, morale among troops is low and its leadership suffers from widespread corruption", writes the New York Times.
“Now we are just in the position of protecting what we have left of our territory,” the newspaper quotes an Iraqi Army commander in Diyala, where ISIS fighters and other Sunni groups are fighting.
Admitting that many of the worst-case American scenarios came true, the article concludes: "In the face of that, some experts have declared the Iraqi Army a defeated force, posing a dire counterpoint to the hopes and assessments of American trainers when the United States withdrew in 2011".
