Badr Brigade Chief: US Not Serious in Fighting ISIS

Pentagon Defends Effort, Citing Billions Spent on War

Speaking at a conference in the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf, Iraqi MP and Badr Brigade head Hadi Ameri was critical of US tactics in the war against ISIS, saying that so far the US hadn’t shown any serious effort to fight against the Islamist faction.

Ameri said there were efforts to “contain” ISIS but “not really eliminate them,” and said he’d told the US before that the coalition’s efforts would be more productive if they’d make an effort to stop fighters getting to ISIS through Turkey, noting the ISIS force comes from 108 countries, but they all arrive through the same one, Turkey.

Ameri was more upbeat about Russia’s new airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, saying he believes Russia is “moving in a very serious way” in contrast to the US-led coalition. Other Iraqi officials have previously suggested they would welcome Russian airstrikes expanding into ISIS-held territory in Iraq as well.

The Pentagon dismissed Ameri’s comments, citing $2.3 billion spent by the coalition, the majority of it from the US, in fighting ISIS, saying that proved the seriousness of their effort to train and equip Iraq’s military for the fight.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.