Wednesday, June 25, 2014

IRAQ - The Vulnerable Failed State

"How ISIL capitalized on vulnerabilities of Iraq’s security forces" PBS NewsHour 6/24/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The United Nations estimates that, at minimum, 1,000 people have been killed in two weeks of fighting in Iraq.  Judy Woodruff talks to two former U.S. Army officers who served in Iraq -- retired Lt. Col. Douglas Ollivant and retired Col. Derek Harvey -- about the strengths and weaknesses of the Iraqi security forces, the role of incoming U.S. special forces and the spread of ISIL’s influence in the region.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  For more on the situation in Iraq, we turn to two former Army officers who served in that country.  Retired Colonel Derek Harvey was an intelligence officer and special adviser to the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus.  He’s now a professor of practice at the University of South Florida.  And retired Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Ollivant had two tours in Iraq.  He was also the director for Iraq on the National Security Council during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.  He’s now a managing partner in a consulting company which does business in Iraq.

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