Do we even know who the 'good guys' are anymore?

2015-07-27T14:35:37-04:00

The steady growth of Shiite militias in Iraq is making it increasingly difficult for American forces deployed there to determine exactly which Iraqi forces they are supporting, experts say.

The official line from Defense Department is that the U.S. will support operations involving both the Iraqi army and some militia forces that are operating "under command and control of the Iraqi government."

But the Pentagon wants to avoid providing direct support for anti-Islamic State militia forces loyal to Iran, a longtime enemy, a reflection of the deeply opaque and tumultuous politics of the Middle East.

"I love this line, 'We only want to support the militias under the command and control of the Iraqi government.' You can't really look at it that way. There is a lot of fuzzy gray area in that zone," said Phillip Smyth, an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"It's not some binary situation like people keep trying to make it out to be," Smyth said.

The chain of command in Iraq has frayed since the Islamic State's battlefield victories last year inspired the creation of the so-called Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, a loose-knit patchwork of mostly Shiite militias with scattered loyalties to leaders in both Iraq and Iran.

The PMF are not part of Iraq's Ministry of Defense, which has close ties to the U.S. military after years of receiving money and training from Americans. Instead, the PMF militias operate — technically — under Iraq's Ministry of Interior, which has direct links to Iran.

The head of the Ministry of Interior, Mohammed Salem Al-Ghabban, is a Shiite who was imprisoned under former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime and later lived and attended a university in Tehran, the capital of Iran. He is a member of the Badr Organization, a Shiite political party with close ties to Tehran.

For many factions of the PMF, it appears that their chain of command leads to both the Iraqi and Iranian government.

Read more at ...

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/07/24/shiite-militias-alliles-unclear/30528921/

Real U.S. allies in Iraq difficult to identify, experts say

The steady growth of Shiite militias in Iraq is making it increasingly difficult for American forces there to determine exactly which Iraqi forces

Response by SGT Michael Glenn made Jul 27 at 2015 2:39 PM

2015-07-27T14:39:45-04:00

No we dont, thats the biggest issue the modern military is facing. We have all seen very soberingly that we have muslim radicals within the Military as well as among our brothers and sisters on patrols/missions. With obama's bad decisions never being questioned it will only get worse, now he is contemplating giving new citizens the liberty to deciding if they want to defend our country or not. He is the worse thing to happen to this country and I am shocked that so many of you stand behind him and his muslim extremist loving ways.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jul 27 at 2015 2:46 PM

2015-07-27T14:46:02-04:00

Not without their ID badges and mafia decoder rings we don't. We arm populations that turn against us, we side with one faction and they abuse the relationship. Remember back in 1978, we sided with the Shah of Iran and that country has hated us ever since? We pissed our ally Russia off during WWII and kept the atomic bomb from them and they've held a grudge.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jul 27 at 2015 2:59 PM

2015-07-27T14:59:13-04:00

There are very few constants. The allegiances shift like the sand.

Response by SrA Daniel Hunter made Jul 27 at 2015 3:39 PM

2015-07-27T15:39:54-04:00

Yes, they have a U.S. Flag patch on their shoulder. Anyone else is suspect.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jul 27 at 2015 3:55 PM

2015-07-27T15:55:44-04:00

"There are no good or bad organizations. Just organizations with strong or weak oversight" - Tony Stark.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 27 at 2015 7:14 PM

2015-07-27T19:14:15-04:00

Unfortunately friendly, neutral, and enemy tend to shift over time as the ground situation changes and as alliances are formed and broken among the various groups GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad. We saw this happen between WWI and WWI and after WWII our WWII enemies:, Germany, Italy and Japan became our staunchest allies [possible exception of Italy] as we confronted the Soviet Union and China in the Cold War.
Since we have moved from primarily national aggressors to non-state actors as well as those who want to establish the trans-state Islamic Caliphate the same process of forming and breaking alliances continues even while the organizations involved change their own names and allegiances.
Previously this administration arranged to ship arms from Libyan rebels to Syrian rebels who later proved to be less than friends. It isn't surprising that the same administration is moving towards using the Shia forces to confront the Sunni and particularly the Wahhabi doctrinal Sunni forces. However within Islam the enemy of my enemy is "my friend" tends to be true even as the enemies shift. Hopefully we will begin to have a few reliable allies and gain good intelligence in time to disrupt the enemies timeline. SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" thanks for the head up :-)

Response by LTC John Shaw made Jul 27 at 2015 8:26 PM

2015-07-27T20:26:24-04:00

GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad Perhaps if we can't tell who is the good guy then we must look at what they say and how they act. This is why the Iranian agreement is not a good idea. It is not a treaty as a deal was struck to make it an agreement, secret deals were reached that still have not been disclosed, we are providing over $100B to an enemy who will turn around and fund thier proxies to kill more US service members.
Iran says they will wipe Israel and US off the face of the earth, sometimes you must take people at their word and just keep the pressure on them.