--- title: Sandy Berger: Iraq and U.S. Must Forge New Ties to Stifle ISIS Threat description: Iraq's change of leadership must be a pivot point for the country, the region and the United States canonical: https://time.com/3130983/sandy-berger-iraq-isis-maliki/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-17T14:52:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:38:17.425Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Sandy Berger: Iraq and U.S. Must Forge New Ties to Stifle ISIS Threat og:description: Iraq's change of leadership must be a pivot point for the country, the region and the United States og:url: https://time.com/3130983/sandy-berger-iraq-isis-maliki/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sandy Berger: Iraq and U.S. Must Forge New Ties to Stifle ISIS Threat twitter:description: Iraq's change of leadership must be a pivot point for the country, the region and the United States twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # U.S. Must Forge New Ties With Iraq to Tackle ISIS Threat > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: How Iraqi Kurdistan is Battling ISIS So We Don’t Have To [Watch (HLS stream): How Iraqi Kurdistan is Battling ISIS So We Don’t Have To](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Y8Kt8K9r.m3u8) (3:26)  _Published 2014-08-05. How Iraqi Kurdistan is Battling ISIS So we Don’t Have Too_ by [Sandy Berger](https://time.com/author/sandy-berger/) ## Sandy Berger Aug 17, 2014 2:52 PM UTC by [Sandy Berger](https://time.com/author/sandy-berger/) ## Sandy Berger Aug 17, 2014 2:52 PM UTC President Obama and Secretary Kerry played their cards right not to undertake a broad scale air campaign against the advancing forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) so long as Nouri al-Maliki held on as Prime Minister. Maliki had governed in such an overtly anti-Sunni fashion that the Sunni tribes in the north had come to hate him more than they feared ISIS. Regardless of what we had claimed, those American bombs would not have read “ISIS.” They would have read “Sunni” — strengthening the extremists. Withholding a broader air campaign gave leverage to those in Baghdad, including us, who were pushing for Maliki to step down. Maliki’s reluctant departure and the appointment of Haider al-Abadi as Prime Minister must be a pivot point — for the leaders of Iraq, the region and the United States. Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani is no doubt right when he says it’s the last chance for Iraq. The Obama Administration and our military acted swiftly and decisively to save the Yazidis who fled to a mountaintop to avoid slaughter by ISIS. But that human drama powerfully displays the brutality and fanaticism of ISIS. It is building a self-described Islamic state in the heart of the Middle East, spanning Syria and Iraq with broader designs in the region. It is a base for thousands of Western jihadi recruits, some of whom will return home with destructive intent and deadly new skills. In the view of intelligence officials, ISIL sees conflict with the United States as inevitable. ISIS came out of nowhere for most Americans: another group of fanatics in a dizzying array of warring factions unleashed by the Arab uprisings. But it’s essential that we understand this force more clearly because ISIS’s future will affect ours. ISIS, born under the banner of Al-Qaeda, was chased out of Iraq by Sunni groups which did not want its brand of fanaticism controlling their lives or defining their Islamism. It retreated to Syria, and deepened the civil war there. Seeing the anger among Iraqi Sunnis due to Maliki’s overtly sectarian rule in Iraq, ISIS saw an opportunity. It moved deep into northern Iraq — but this time with the support of many of those same Sunnis tribes. President Obama has authorized U.S. airstrikes against ISIS under narrowly defined circumstances: in support of the humanitarian mission and to prevent ISIS from overrunning Baghdad and Erbil — based on the fact that there are many Americans in these cities to protect. We are also providing assistance to both the Kurdish peshmerga and the Iraqi forces. But the President has not authorized broader strikes. As long as Maliki was Prime Minister, Iraqi Sunnis would have seen American strikes as Maliki’s bombs, driving them further into the arms of ISIS. But the President told Tom Friedman of the _New York Times_ that we do have a strategic interest in pushing back ISIS. He told Friedman, “We’re not going to let them create some caliphate through Syria and Iraq, but we can only do that if we know that we’ve got partners on the ground who are capable of filling the void.” Maliki is now gone. The opportunity now exists to have partners on the ground. The path ahead will not be easy, but it is discernable. There are some things we must do: * Help Abadi form a strong, inclusive government, with meaningful outreach to Sunnis and Kurds. * Work with Abadi to begin the reforms that will convince others that inclusion is real, not just rhetorical — for example, appointing someone with strong support in the Sunni tribes as defense or interior minister * Support reform of the Iraqi Security Forces, depoliticizing them and restoring professionalism. * Reach out energetically to our regional partners. This is as decisive an opportunity for Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and the UAE as it is for us. The Saudis have close ties to Iraq’s Sunni tribes, but have been unwilling to call upon those relationships as long as Maliki was at the helm in Baghdad. * Work with the new Iraqi government and our regional partners to regain the support of Sunni groups in the north. They know the perils of life under ISIS all too well. Sunnis will best expel poisonous Sunnis. That will require both a political and a military strategy. It will happen only if they feel safe and believe they are legitimately part of Iraq’s future. * American air power will not defeat ISIS alone. There will need to be motivated Iraqi forces on the ground that will confront the extremists, but they will need to be backed up by vigorous American air and other support over a sustained period. All of this does not need to be done by tomorrow, or next week or next month. For now, ISIS is focused on establishing its safe haven in the center of the Middle East; it will turn to its more distant enemies a bit later. What does need to be done by the President — very soon — is to explain this gathering threat to the American people. Today, public support for our means — an ongoing campaign of airstrikes — cannot be sustained by our stated ends, protecting our civil servants in Erbil and Baghdad. While some conservatives will attack the President for not doing enough, the greater danger is that the American people and Members of Congress will question why we’re engaged at all in another Iraq military adventure. The President needs to alert Americans to the threat ISIS poses to our friends in the region and to us. This also means that Iraq cannot be separated from the vexing problem of Syria. When pressed in Iraq, ISIS will fall back to the safe zone they have there. But our natural allies in Syria — those who oppose both ISIS and Assad — are weaker now than ever. A strategy to blunt ISIS compels us to accelerate and strengthen support for groups in Syria who oppose both, including some whose ideology is uncomfortable to us but not threatening. This is all a dense and difficult thicket for us to traverse. But a door has opened with Maliki’s involuntary departure. If we don’t barrel through that door, bringing the American people and our partners with common interests along, it will slam shut and the future will be more dangerous for us. _Samuel R. Berger is chairman of the Albright Stonebridge Group. He was national security adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001._ ## Transcript [ NOISE ] The Kurds have long yearned for independence, since they were denied a state after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Kurds in Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey have suffered at the hands of centralized states. State repression has fueled Kurdish secessionism which in term has fueled more repression. In 1988 Saddam Hussein ordered a chemical weapons attack on Halubja, a Kurdish town in north Iraq. Thousands were killed on the spot. Halabja remains the largest chemical weapons attack on a civilian population in history. Omed was 14 years old at the time. [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ] Of his family, only Omed and his father survived. The effects of chemical weapons continue to haunt him today. [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] 2003 changed things for the Kurds. Upon the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Kurds established an autonomous region with their own government and an oil dependent economy that attracted big foreign investors. Today, out of all the Kurdish regions, only in Iraqi Kurdistan does independence appear to be within reach. But even there pulling it off won't be easy. When the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria, known as Isis took over Mosul last month. The Iraqi army abandoned many of its positions north Baghdad. Amid the chaos, Kurdish forces called Peshmerga swiftly ceased Kirkuk. Sometimes called the Jerusalem of Iraq, the oil- rich province of Kirkuk is home to a mixed community of Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens and Assyrians who all lay claim to it. Those the peshmerga are in control of much of Kencur their soldiers have been killed [ INAUDIBLE ] in the south of the province. Hiwa Nader a peshmerga medica was 23 years old when he was wounded and fighting with ISIS in southern Kencur. After 26 days in the hospital, he died of his wounds. [ FOREIGN ] Independence won't be easy. Iraqi Kurdistan's neighbors, Iran and Turkey are opposed to the idea. Fearing that their own restive Kurdish populations may be inspired by the Iraqi Kurds example. On the regions' other two borders with Iraq and Syria, ISIS and other militants control large swaths of territory, posing a serious threat to Kurdistan's hard- won security. 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