In Iraq, US Breaks With Allies, Finds Strange Bedfellows
WASHINGTON D.C. - It has been another week in which the future of Iraq has dominated the news agenda here in the United States.
It has also raised questions for policy makers about age-old alliances and hostilities between Washington and the wider world.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu publicly broke with the Obama Administration last week coming out in favor of Kurdish independence.
Meanwhile, White House and State Department officials continue to press for political dialogue in Baghdad even as Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani says he wants to hold a referendum later this year.
While U.S. officials were surprised by the Israeli position, they are also stunned to find themselves, for the moment at least, working on the same side as Iran in the Iraqi crisis.
Both Washington and Tehran are committed to pushing back the advance of the Islamic State militants.
In this edition of Inside America, Rudaw's Namo Abdulla discusses all of this with three respected experts:
- Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
- Daniel Serwer, a professor of conflict resolution at the Johns Hopkins University.
- Frederick Fleitz, a former CIA analyst who currently serves as a senior fellow with Lignet, an intelligence analysis firm that he has founded in Langley, Virginia.
It has also raised questions for policy makers about age-old alliances and hostilities between Washington and the wider world.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu publicly broke with the Obama Administration last week coming out in favor of Kurdish independence.
Meanwhile, White House and State Department officials continue to press for political dialogue in Baghdad even as Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani says he wants to hold a referendum later this year.
While U.S. officials were surprised by the Israeli position, they are also stunned to find themselves, for the moment at least, working on the same side as Iran in the Iraqi crisis.
Both Washington and Tehran are committed to pushing back the advance of the Islamic State militants.
In this edition of Inside America, Rudaw's Namo Abdulla discusses all of this with three respected experts:
- Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
- Daniel Serwer, a professor of conflict resolution at the Johns Hopkins University.
- Frederick Fleitz, a former CIA analyst who currently serves as a senior fellow with Lignet, an intelligence analysis firm that he has founded in Langley, Virginia.