Ambassador is a former U.S. special representative for Syria engagement and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq; from 2013-2018 he was the Philip Solondz Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute. He currently chairs the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program.
Articles & Testimony
Iraq is at a decisive impasse. An al-Qaeda threat able to operate as a quasi-conventional military force has seized large portions of western Iraq, including parts of Ramadi and Fallujah, two major cities in Anbar province. While the main reason for the growth of al-Qaeda in Iraq, a faction which is calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is the unbridled war in neighboring Syria, the Maliki government's spiteful actions toward Sunni Arabs have contributed.
In recent days, news reports of Sunni tribes in Anbar cooperating loosely with the Baghdad government against al-Qaeda, and expedited U.S. military assistance and intelligence, gave reasons for hope. But then came Sunday's news conference by Secretary of State John Kerry. Although the secretary spoke about the dangers of al-Qaeda gaining ground in Iraq and the countermeasures the United States was taking, he stated no fewer than four times that this fight was not ours but the Iraqis'. This, combined with an immediate denial of a suggestion that no one is even making -- that the United States put troops on the ground -- undercuts all the good commitments he made...
