Publication

This paper explains why four supposedly well-armed Iraqi divisions rapidly disintegrated in the face of the so-called Islamic State’s assault on Mosul in the summer of 2014. The text's author places the primary blame on the deeply flawed civil-military relationships that existed within the Iraqi government at the time. She also points to 1) Nouri al-Maliki’s partisan attempts to establish tight control over the military; 2) the deep distrust of US efforts to build a new Iraqi Army; and 3) the debilitating effects of political sectarianism within the armed forces themselves.