Recent victories in Fallujah and Qayyarah show that the Iraqis are capable of defeating the Islamic State group but the country must consolidate control of armed groups and promote political reconciliation in order to achieve lasting peace and stability, a United Nations official said Friday. – Associated Press
A powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric said the additional 560 U.S. troops heading to Iraq to upgrade an air base recently retaken from the Islamic State group would be a “target” for his supporters. – Associated Press
FPI Fellow James Kirchick writes: Because to blame Bush and Blair for the mess in Iraq is to surrender to a fatalism in which Arabs are considered devoid of agency, inherently incapable of establishing any form of government other than hardened dictatorship. For the same patronizing reasons that they scoffed at the notion of Arab democracy in 2003, the war’s critics today absolve Iraqis of any responsibility for their self-inflicted fate. – National Review Online