There is No Going Back to How it Was

“In a Town Hollowed Out by Jihadists, There is No Going Back to How it Was” New York Times article by Azam Ahmed is prophetic for both Syria and Iraq in the following sense: What motivates an Army to fight?  Looking at the map it appears that the town of Mahmour in Iraq that was just liberated from ISIS by the Kurds’ Pesh Merga militia is not in Kurdistan.  Unless the Kurds plan on expanding their region for their people, it is difficult to see their motivation for remaining. So now what?

The Kurds are the only cohesive group in the middle east with a common aspiration for self rule with a well developed regional government and militia, a Switzerland in the middle of a warring Europe.  They deserve our full support because they can use it effectively to maintain their island of stability where economic and military aid goes to where it will do the most good because of their dream for a nation state.  What is Baghdad’s dream?  It is difficult to imagine a Shia Militia from the south invading the north to reclaim and police Mosul and the Tigris river from ISIS. But even if it was mounted and succeeded, what would be the militia’s motivation for staying and policing an openly hostile Sunnis population?  Think of it as an occupying force similar to the white police in Ferguson, Missouri maintaining law and order with armored vehicles against a black population.