Al-Hayat reports that the US is thinking about arming and training the Sunni tribes itself, but that report contradicts what Gen. Martin Dempsey has said about needing the Iraqi government itself to do the arming.The problem in Iraq is similar to that in Syria. The Baghdad government only wants to see ISIL destroyed if it can pick up the pieces and assert itself. It doesn’t want armed Sunni Arab tribesmen taking over al-Anbar, either. And Baghdad doesn’t trust the tribesmen, some of whom have fought the Shiite government in the past.In Syria, Turkey is not getting involved very much in defending Kobane because it doesn’t want to see the leftist, Kurdish separatists of the PKK and their Syrian allies strengthened.
Juan Cole: U.S. Dismayed That Iraq’s Shiite Government Hasn’t Armed Sunni Tribes Fighting Islamic State – Juan Cole – Truthdig
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