Publication

This brief analyzes the implications of the takeover of central Iraq by the Sunni extremist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in June 2014 for Iraq's neighbors and the US. The authors contend that the US will need to take a leading role in coordinating the response to ISIS' expansion, but that in doing so it must first answer some tough questions regarding the extent to which it provides advanced weaponry to the Iraqi army and cooperates with Iran against ISIS extremists.