Why is the United States Army still in Iraq in 2018?
Because about a dozen Islamic State terrorists “invaded” in a used pickup truck and the Iraqi Army, all 100,000 plus strong ran away back to Baghdad.
And I wish I were joking.
The true numbers are ISIS (ISIL) probably had a couple of thousand full time fighters. And the entire Iraqi Army ran away.
Sure the ISIS numbers swelled after they invaded but there were not that many at the start.
I will say this many times: Iraq is not a nation state. Iraq makes no sense as a country. It should be at least 3 countries. Iraq is just lines on a map created by European imperial powers over a century ago. Those borders cut right through ethnic, cultural and sectarian religious groups. Trying to keep Iraq together is a waste of lives and money. Iraq should be left alone to settle the issue for themselves. It would probably mean civil war but that is their problem not ours. Most borders are hammered out by conflict over centuries, it is a nasty truth that most people don’t want to face up to.
America and Europeans cannot build a nation for Iraq. Nation building by outsiders does not work. The sooner America and Europe realize this the better.
