Time for the U.S. to Ally with the Kurds

As a former State Department political officer who served in Iraq and who saw conditions dramatically improve in 2008/9 at the tail end of the “Surge,” words cannot describe my visceral reaction to the recent collapse of American policy in the region. As a military historian, I am sure that recriminations over the causes of American defeat have only just begun—but the priority of our policy makers should be to adjust our posture in the region in accordance with the material realities of this dark time in the history of American arms. The United States should thus acknowledge that the dream of a unified and multiethnic Iraq has turned into a nightmare, accept the country’s de facto partition, and throw our lot in with our only remaining effective allies in Iraq—the Kurds.