Operation 'Enduring Defeat'? DoD Admits US May Need To "Stay In Iraq For Decades"

Why a self-reliant Iraqi military may take ‘years, if not decades’ and could require a ‘generation’ to reform

Despite reports that the Islamic State terrorist group has lost 99 percent of its territory and shifted to insurgent tactics in Iraq and Syria, a recent report said an enduring defeatof the organization could take “years, if not decades.”

This, according to Department of Defense information provided to investigators with the DoD Inspector General, is in large part due to what is still needed to make Iraqi security forces “self-reliant.”

“Systemic weaknesses remain, many of which are the same deficiencies that enabled the rise of ISIS in 2014,” according to the quarterly IG report on Operation Inherent Resolve, the counter-ISIS operation that spans Iraq and Syria.

Though top military officials recognized the gaps in capabilities among the Iraqi forces and that a “resurgence” of ISIS in the region is likely without sustained support and attention,congressional support for the fight against ISIS has decreased in the new fiscal year and an estimated $230 million in U.S. stabilization funds earmarked for Syria has been shifted to other countries.

The quarterly report on OIR noted that while security in cities such as the capital Baghdad has improved to such a degree that security forces have removed about 300 police and security checkpoints and 1,000 barriers that divided and walled off the city.

The report covered July to September.

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