Washington, Riyadh seeking to partition Iraq: Commentator

Press TV has conducted an interview with Zayd al-Isa, Middle East expert in London, to ask for his take about Iraqi troops’ major gains against Daesh in recent days.

What follows is a rough transcript of the interview. 

Press TV: What do you attribute to it as it appears that the Iraqi troops and volunteer forces have been making very positive gains against the terrorist group on the ground? Almost it appears that the Iraqis are lot more effective than the so-called US coalition that is also supposed to be fighting this terrorist group.

Isa: Well it is beyond doubt now that the so-called US-led coalition against ISIS (Daesh) has spectacularly failed and this milieu failed in actually degrading or destroying the ISIS which is the aim, overarching goal supposedly of Obama’s faltering and feeble strategy that he has adopted a year ago. The faltering strategy of Obama has not worked. We have seen ISIS expand its influence and actually seize control, seize control of Ramadi where the Americans have played a major, if not a pivotal, role, in preventing and thwarting the popular mobilization forces and the volunteers from actually defending Ramadi.

It is absolutely clear and [Martin] Dempsey has said it very clearly that Ramadi was insignificant, was not strategic enough and even if it falls; then we do not help the Iraqis take it back. We now see clearly that the population mobilization forces and the volunteers are actually spearheading; they are at the front lines and they are at the forefront of actually battling, combating and beating back the ISIS.

The only reason that the Iraqi forces have not, till now, seized back control of Ramadi is because there is a veto, there is a political redline by the Americans and by their staunchest ally Saudi Arabia which has entered the so-called coalition against Daesh only to torpedo and to put a redline against the popular mobilization forces actually entering the Anbar province.

The Saudis and the Americans want to construct and formulate the so-called National Guard which has the sole purpose of breaking up Iraq and creating an extremist Takfiri state within Iraq, in Western Iraq, which is backed up by the Saudis, which is going to toe the Saudi line and act as an army to actually threaten the safety and security of Baghdad and that is a motivation the Saudis have put a redline on actually degrading and destroying ISIS.

The purpose is of them [Saudis] joining the so-called anti-ISIS coalition is actually only to weaken, contain ISIS but maintain it as a credible, viable threat to bring Iraq to its knees, to weaken the Iraqi government and to achieve its goal of overthrowing the Syrian legitimate government and also to use it as its foot soldiers and military army.  

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