This week, the Iraqi military and Shia militias have announced an offensive to retake the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State.
However, the concern of many US pundits is not with the fight against the jihadists. Instead, they are fretting that Iran — with its link to the Shia militias and its commanders on the ground in Iraq — is “winning” a contest for influence.
I spoke with Monocle 24’s The Globalist on Thursday morning about the Tikrit offensive and the wider dynamic around the US, Iran, and Iraqi groups.
Listen from the 4:49 mark:
The discussion ranges from consideration of US policy (“The Obama Administration is not ‘leading from behind’; it is standing on the sidelines”) to the Shia militias (“There are no good guys v. bad guys here”) to Iran’s role in the Tikrit offensive.
