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Retaining mosul, iraqi forces, this validates, arguably, the obama administration s changed strategy to embolden, properly train and equip the iraqi forces to do this themselves. talk to me about the u.s. presence involved in this. yes, there has certainly been a change and, yes, there are not as many u.s. forces on the ground. in my view, having spent over three years of my life in the country, that is a very good thing. they have to want this more than the united states does. in fact, that s what s occurring right now. i would suggest that arwa s earlier comment about iraq having a checkpoint army is incorrect. in fact, we re seeing the results of changing strategies on the iraqi s point of view, too. the reason that the second and third infantry divisions in mosul and ninevah province laid down their arms and ran away is not because they were a checkpoint army. i d gone on multiple operations with elements of the forces when ....
Of the past, when they were trying to train the iraqi security force in the past? yes. the criticism back then was that the americans basically trained a checkpoint army and then left the country. one of the concerns right now is perhaps maybe the americans are training an air strike army. at the end of the day, that is perhaps what is needed at this stage. but it also is important to point out that not only is the p battle very important, but also what comes next. because it s not just about defeating isis in mosul and pushing the isis fighters out of mosul. what comes next is arguably even more important if we re going to be talking about establishing long-term stability in iraq. what does that mean? long-term stability in iraq means that organizations like isis will not be able to exploit the divisions that exist here and then reemerge once again. incredibly important point, arwa. stay with me. it is the top of the hour. i m poppy harlow. i want to welcome my viewers here in the u ....
Know what we re doing when it comes to training iraqi forces. which is it? i think it s exactly as you said. when we stopped training in 2011 the iraqi security forces were in very good shape. they hadn t seen a battlefield defeat in months. when we stopped providing the advisory and assistance mission after 2011 it didn t stick. we weren t there to continue to remind them to train and to conduct multilevel operations and as a result they became the best checkpoint army in the middle east. a year ago isil came across the boarder and they weren t prepared. a small investment by american troops after 2011 in my view would have prevented the situation we re seeing right now. if iraqi forces don t have the will to protect their own country and just be checkpoint security guards can you really instill that as an american troop? you sure can. that s exactly what we do around the world. our white special forces a teams, you take ten men in a 600 ....
We are talking about 2 1/2 months. the real immediate threat is isis fighters digging in and getting stronger and being harder to dislodge as well as the the iraqi army not being ready to take them on. so, the process we are talking about, it is not one that really seems to be designed to actually deal with that real immediate threat that is right now, anderson. arwa, in terms of military folks you are talking about, you are on the kurdish side up in the north. how much support is there for the idea of american advisers coming? well it really depends on who you are talking to. there is a lot of wariness when it comes to u.s. involvement because of the american time of in iraq. in the word of the governor of the province of kirkuk he put it simply. americans train a checkpoint army. great at check points and creating traffic jams but are clearly incapable of stopping the kind of offensive that isis and sunni insurgents launched. america need to be careful when it comes to iraq and l ....
About, it is not one that really seems to be designed to actually deal with that real immediate threat that is right now, andersen. arwa, in terms of military folks you are talking about, you are on the kurdish side up in the north. how much support is there for the idea of american advisers coming? well it really depends on who you are talking to. there is a lot of wariness when it comes to u.s. involvement because of the american time of in iraq. in the word of the governor of the province of kirkuk he put it simply. americans train a checkpoint army. great at check points and creating traffic jams but are clearly incapable of stopping the kind of offensive that isis and sunni insurgents launched. america need to be careful when it comes to iraq and learn from the lessons of its deadly era that it spent here. realize if it is going to get involved in iraq it needs to reach out to sunni tribes. the sunni tribes will not turn on isis until maliki is out of power. in baghdad, a hu ....