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France Arms Kurds as U.S. Advisers Arrive in Iraq
In a surprise announcement, France said Wednesday morning it will send arms "in the coming hours" to Kurdish forces in Iraq to aid in their fight against ISIS (AP).
The announcement comes a day after the European Union failed to
establish a common policy on the issue, agreeing only that individual
states could—in agreement with Baghdad—send weapons to Kurdish forces (NYT). Meanwhile, the Obama administration deployed another 130 military advisers (FT) to the Kurdish capital of Erbil on Tuesday
in what the Pentagon described as a "temporary mission" to assess the
humanitarian crisis and help trapped Yazidi civilians on Sinjar
mountain.
Analysis
"There
is still an opportunity to draw back from the brink. Iraq is now in the
process of replacing its prime minister. What Iraq sorely needs is a transformational leader of Faisal's caliber—one
that can navigate the potentially devastating storms that are gathering
and shift Iraqis away from the mind-set that views the redressing of
wrongs as vengeance and equates the loss of absolute power with complete
powerlessness," writes Ali Allawi for the New York Times.
"In other words, Obama's moves do not amount to a resumption of the Iraq war
but rather a necessary response, not only to a humanitarian crisis but
to a mortal danger facing a vital ally," writes Fred Kaplan for Slate.
"The US should carry out sustained attacks on Isis in both Iraq and Syria.
The border is irrelevant; what is essential is that Isis is slowed and
weakened. Economic and especially military aid to the Kurds holding the
line against Isis should be increased and sped up," writes CFR President
Richard N. Haass for the Financial Times. | 
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