Abadi’s Iraq reform and “failure” of US train-and-equip program (VIDEO)
Wednesday, 19 August, 2015
Today, we discuss two big issues. First, a reform initiative in Iraq that has resulted in the removal of top politicians from power.
Second, what happened to America’s $500 million train-and-equip program, which was aimed at training Syrian opposition forces to battle the Islamic State?
“A complete disaster,” is how a senior defense department official describes it. We will talk more about this in the program.
But first, Iraq.
Iraq is precariously holding together as a state, but there are increasing doubts as to whether it can, or even should, remain as a unified country.
ISIS controls large swathes of the country, and there’s still considerable tension between Sunnis and the Shiite dominated government of Haidar al-Abadi.
There have been protests against corruption and the poor state of the country’s infrastructure, including unreliable electricity supplies.
Abadi has responded by reshuffling his government and getting rid of his deputies vice-presidents, including his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki.
The United States expected Abadi to create a unified government which could deal with social, political, economic and security problems.
He’s promised reforms with this reshuffle, but is this just political musical chairs, or is he serious about dealing with the major issues that confront Iraq?
Link to Video.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Wednesday, 19 August, 2015
Today, we discuss two big issues. First, a reform initiative in Iraq that has resulted in the removal of top politicians from power.
Second, what happened to America’s $500 million train-and-equip program, which was aimed at training Syrian opposition forces to battle the Islamic State?
“A complete disaster,” is how a senior defense department official describes it. We will talk more about this in the program.
But first, Iraq.
Iraq is precariously holding together as a state, but there are increasing doubts as to whether it can, or even should, remain as a unified country.
ISIS controls large swathes of the country, and there’s still considerable tension between Sunnis and the Shiite dominated government of Haidar al-Abadi.
There have been protests against corruption and the poor state of the country’s infrastructure, including unreliable electricity supplies.
Abadi has responded by reshuffling his government and getting rid of his deputies vice-presidents, including his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki.
The United States expected Abadi to create a unified government which could deal with social, political, economic and security problems.
He’s promised reforms with this reshuffle, but is this just political musical chairs, or is he serious about dealing with the major issues that confront Iraq?
Link to Video.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]