Shiite militants helped save Iraq from the Islamic State, President Barack Obama's envoy to the anti-IS coalition told Congress at a Feb. 10 hearing.
Brett McGurk's blunt comments underscore the envoy's gargantuan task of juggling the competing interests of a broad array of forces that often seem more at war with each other than with their stated enemy. McGurk took turns praising Turkey, the Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis and the international community during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, while urging all of them to put their differences aside and cooperate in Iraq and Syria.
