{"id":81348,"date":"2016-09-22T00:30:44","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T04:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=81348"},"modified":"2016-09-22T00:30:44","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T04:30:44","slug":"defence-chief-defeating-isil-alone-wont-bring-peace-stability-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/09\/22\/defence-chief-defeating-isil-alone-wont-bring-peace-stability-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Defence chief defeating ISIL alone won\u2019t bring peace, stability to Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vance<\/a>
Vance told the Senate committee that ISIL will be dismantled or at least rendered militarily insignificant in Iraq. However, he said there are other issues that need to be addressed. (Photo: Sgt. Richard Andrade\/DVIDS<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Western military intervention may have prevented a \u201cshort-term calamity\u201d in Iraq, but it is only the start of a long effort to bring peace and stability to the country, says Canada\u2019s defence chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy belief is that the work we\u2019re doing now militarily in Iraq is the first step in a long, long journey to ensure the success of that region into the future,\u201d Gen. Jonathan Vance told the Senate defence committee Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Concerns about Iraq\u2019s long-term stability are mounting after its parliament sacked a high-profile minister for the second time in a month.<\/p>\n

Finance minister Hoshiyar Zebari was impeached Wednesday on allegations of corruption \u2013 the same fate that befell defence minister Khaled al-Obaidi at the end of August.<\/p>\n

The allegations have not been publicly proven, and some believe they are actually politically motivated and intended to weaken Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi\u2019s grip on power.<\/p>\n

There has also been an uptick in violence between some of the various Iraqi groups, including Kurdish forces and Shia militias, that have until now been united in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.<\/p>\n

Thomas Juneau, an expert on Middle East politics at the University of Ottawa, said the fear is that such infighting will only increase as Iraq\u2019s various ethnic, religious and political factions begin to stake out ground for the post-ISIL era.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s fighting ISIL right now,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this coalition \u2013 in the loosest term \u2013 against ISIL is very weak in the sense that the only glue that holds it together is fighting against ISIL. So the more ISIL weakens, the more glue that barely holds this coalition together also weakens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance told the Senate committee that ISIL \u2013 also known variously as the Islamic State, ISIS and Daesh \u2013 will be dismantled or at least rendered militarily insignificant in Iraq. However, he said there are a variety of other issues that need to be addressed, including the country\u2019s many political, economic and social challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitical stability, the rule of law, democratic principles, all of that, is of huge importance to the long-term success of Iraq,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prevented the short-term calamity that would have been the Islamic State in Baghdad. But there\u2019s lots more to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Juneau said that is more easily said than done.<\/p>\n

The reality is that the West doesn\u2019t have as much sway over internal Iraqi politics as it would like to believe, he noted. As a result, the divisions that many have blamed for creating the conditions to let a group like ISIL grow are unlikely to go away any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn practice, there\u2019s very little that can be done,\u201d Juneau said. \u201cWhat everyone is realizing is this pressure is not working.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2013 Western military intervention may have prevented a \u201cshort-term calamity\u201d in Iraq, but it is only the start of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":81349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[1842,12276,12277,12275],"class_list":["post-81348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-iraq","tag-isil","tag-jonathan-vance","tag-vance","mauthors-lee-berthiaume","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}