It was a year ago this week that the Iraqi city of Mosul — the second largest city in country — fell to ISIS. The loss of Mosul sparked a re-examination of US policy toward Iraq and ISIS. And just this week, the White House announced that it is sending over 400 military advisers to an Iraqi base that is on the front lines of the fight.
On the show with me to discuss the evolution of US strategy to counter ISIS in Iraq is Dr. Steven Metz, a columnist at World Politics Review. He does a very good job articulating that the White House is betting on a strategy of containment–and that this is probably their best option even though they wont publicly admit as such. Metz describes what this strategy looks like; and identifies the big drawbacks of “containment.”
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