Political rifts threaten Iraq's anti-IS coalition
While a coalition of the willing is being formed to tackle the Islamic State (IS), international and local political divisions still threaten to tear it apart, leaving IS the only winner.
Achieving a perfect Iraqi consensus about the war on the Islamic State (IS) has been a concern for the country ever since IS invaded Fallujah at the beginning of this year and, subsequently, the province of Mosul in June.
However, reaching this consensus was always hindered by political and security problems that are not related to the parties' positions on the terrorist group. All Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish parties have condemned the crimes committed by IS and have reiterated the need to unite to fight it. Yet, harmony has not yet been reached to achieve this objective.
The Sunni leaders would deny the IS presence in Sunni towns one day and the next declare that the rebel tribes were the ones who occupied the towns. Then they would recognize IS, but refuse to get involved in its war under the wings of the previous Iraqi government. For years, they accused the government of using militias, random airstrikes, political exclusion and adopting security measures that wronged the citizens.
However, the lack of harmony is not limited to the Sunni party. The Kurds in Iraq were not at harmony with the trends of the previous government either. The previous administration exchanged accusations with Kurdish leaders and refused to coordinate with the peshmerga forces, even after two months of IS expansion in the northern Iraqi cities, followed by the group's decision to move toward the Kurdish Regional Government’s (KRG) borders and threaten their capital. At the time, the KRG accused Baghdad of refusing to reinforce the peshmerga, while Baghdad was accusing the KRG of hosting extremist Sunni leadership opposing the government.
