A Holy War

That's Ali Khedery's opinion with regards to the current battles in Iraq. He thinks that there could be a global holy war between Sunnis and Shiites unless actions are taken now. If that happens, 40% of the global energy supply could be in jeopardy.

I had never heard of Mr. Khedery, but he certainly has extensive experience in Iraq. He has worked for the U.S. State and Defense departments, where he served as special assistant to five American ambassadors to Iraq and as senior adviser to three commanders of U.S. Central Command.  He was the longest continuously serving American official in Iraq. He's worth listening to.

In his opinion ISIS has not operated alone. It was part of a full-blown Sunni insurgency consisting of ISIS, Sunni Arab Baath party elements from both Syria and Iraq, and the Iraqi and Syrian Sunni tribes that all joined to cooperate on beating back the Iranians and their proxies in Baghdad and Damascus.

In 2010 at Ambassador Jeffreys' order Khedery met in Jordan with a council of Iraq's top Sunni leaders; his job was to tell them that they needed to join Prime Minister Maliki's government. The Sunni response:

"We will join the government in Baghdad, but we will not allow Iraq to be ruled by Iran and its proxies. We will not live under a Shiite theocracy.  We will not continue to accept political, economic, and social marginalization under Maliki and the Dawa party.  The United States gave us assurances during the Awakening that they would stand with us if we turned our arms against al Qaeda and joined the political process.  We devastated al Qaeda alongside the U.S. Army; we participated in the elections; and we won.  We want our share in the New Iraq, not to be treated as second class citizens.  If this does not happen, we will take up arms again, and this time we will retake Baghdad or we will burn it to the ground."

Needless to say, none of their goals was met by the Maliki government, which now controls less than half of its "sovereign" territory.

Khedery thinks we must try to contain this sectarian fire by restarting the political process in Baghdad and forcing Iraqis back to the constitution which we helped them write. Maliki has to go and very soon. A global coalition needs to be formed to deal with this highly flammable situation.