Why Washington Is Pressuring Iran to Join the Anti-IS Coalition

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/WA/2014/10/21/why-washington-is-pressuring-iran-to-join-the-anti-is-coalition/



We will reiterate that the U.S. guarantees its own interests by taking advantage of ignorance, exacerbating existing tensions, and exaggerating extremist groups' actions in the Middle East.

Why Washington Is Pressuring Iran to Join the Anti-IS Coalition
Published in Ettelaat (Iran) on 14 October 2014 [link to original]
Translated from Persian by Michelle Quay. Edited by Nicholas Eckart.
Posted on October 21, 2014.

As the basic framework of the coalition to destroy the Islamic State takes shape, experts warn that the U.S. must be careful about which military partners it selects to join in the fight against the terrorists. With a quick glance at the existing coalition members, we can grasp that countries like Bahrain, Qatar, the U.A.E. and others do not possess the necessary force to stop the Islamic State group. On this issue, analysts have expressed their belief that failing to invite Iran, the largest regional power, to join the anti-Islamic State group coalition will lead to the coalition's inability to deliver a serious and effective blow to the terrorist group. This is at a time when we have witnessed how American officials have, after some time, corrected their mistake with regard to [not] inviting Iran to join the coalition, but even still they are faced with a closed door.

~snip~

American officials are continuing their efforts to trump up the coalition, named "The International Coalition against the Islamic State," just as this past week John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, announced in a Senate hearing that 50 nations have joined the coalition to oppose the Islamic State group. Yet Kerry emphasized in the most recent Security Council meeting that Iran must have a role in combatting the Islamic State group, especially in terms of providing intelligence on recent developments in the Islamic State group's terrorist activities. The Washington Post described Kerry's statements to the Security Council one day later as follows: "America Requests Help from Iran in the Fight against Islamic State Group."

~snip~

The answer lies in response to another question: Are the coalition and its 50 member nations strong enough to combat Islamic State group militants? How influential are the member nations of the coalition? While American officials focus only on the quantity of nations, does the coalition also possess political and strategic quality? To answer this question, it is enough to take a look at the level of commitment of the current coalition members.

~snip~

None of America's other Western allies, including Canada, Australia, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Albania, Croatia and New Zealand, will have a significant role to play in the fight, other than lending America logistic and humanitarian aid, simply because they lack the military strength to do so. In this regard, after Great Britain and France, Turkey is perhaps the most important country that could come to the aid of the U.S. in Iraq and Syria, by virtue of the fact that it has the second largest army in NATO. Furthermore, it borders each of these two countries (Iraq and Syria), and has the Incurlik air bases and ties to paramilitary groups in Syria as well as good relations with Sunni groups in Iraq. As such, it could play a critical role in the coalition. However, Erdogan's government has also thus far preferred to offer logistic support only, and not to play a role in the coalition. In the best case scenario, (Turkey would also) stop deploying armed individuals within Syrian borders and quit selling oil to the militants. In the past week, Turkey has finally announced it has joined the coalition.