Iraq Pulls Its Troops From Fallujah and Turns Control Over to Local Police, Who Are Promptly Defeated by Militants: This is Nouri al-Maliki’s Problem, Not Ours

Two Iraqi cities have been captured by al-Qaeda, or by militants opposed to both al-Qaeda and the Iraqi government, after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pulled the Iraqi Army from those areas.  Responsibility for security was turned over to local forces who were no match for battle-hardened militant fighters.   Fallujah and Ramadi both fell to the militants within days of the army pulling out.

Time to see if the Iraqi Prime Minister can back up his bold words and retake both cities, as well as securing the rest of al-Anbar province. 

He’s going to find out the cost of launching military operations against fortified enemy positions with major civilian populations nearby, in terms of lives and political capital. 

Can’t help but think about the press conferences held by this Iraqi Prime Minister who was quick to criticize U.S. and coalition forces for inflicting collateral damage on Fallujah and its residents during the occupation.  Now he’s calling the shots and ordering his military in. 

There’s no doubt that the Iraqi military will defeat the militants, but they’re going to cause the same kind of damage to the city and residents as the coalition did during the war, and Nouri al-Maliki will take the same kind of heat that the U.S. and international forces did when he criticized them.

This is an Iraqi problem, and the U.S. needs to stay out of Iraq.   We can’t go riding to the rescue of Nouri al-Maliki every time he makes a blunder and Islamic militants take full advantage by capturing entire cities.   Iraq has to deal with this on its own.