Iraqi envoy quit over failure to prevent IS 'tragedies'
Ambassador Lukman Faily bemoans missed opportunities to head off the Islamic State early on and elaborates on his post-diplomatic plans in an exit interview with Al-Monitor.
The rumor mill has been churning steadily ever since Baghdad’s man in Washington decided to call it quits a couple of months ago.
Did he rub someone the wrong way? Is he gunning for higher office?
In an exclusive exit interview this week with Al-Monitor, Lukman Faily insisted the truth is quite different: He’s become convinced that the superficiality of the US-Iraqi relationship is one of the reasons the Islamic State (IS) was allowed to run rampant for as long as it did. And he doesn’t think he can change things from the inside.
“One of the key reasons I’m leaving the service … is our inability to work with each other enough to prevent the tragedies that took place,” Faily told Al-Monitor. “And we had to pay the casualties for it.”
