It is unfortunate that US Secretary of State John Kerry spent his time in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, talking about military affairs and ignoring politics, as he addressed Congressional pressure to avoid an open-ended conflict in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Kerry spoke in detail about the administration’s need to have the authority to use troops without too many restraints on the commanders on the field. To this end, he was willing to agree to a three-year limit (for the moment) but told the Senate committee that any new measure should not ban the use of American ground forces, or place a “geographic limitation” on the effort.
Kerry would have been better off putting the military effort in some political context, which would give any result from the military effort some long-term permanence. It is a serious weakness that the anti-Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) coalition does not offer a clear political plan for what happens if and when they defeat the extremists. Kerry needs to be clear, along with the Iraqis, over who will take over responsibility for the security and administration of the liberated parts of Iraq and what political structure will they work under. Otherwise, their military work will fail. It is vital to remember that current Daesh forces include both a small minority of imported radicals and a large majority of local Iraqi militias who must be detached from Daesh and will be part of any Iraqi future, which needs a political offer to accompany the military campaign.
