LegiStorm

Summary:

Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divisions—muted toward the end of the 2003-2011 U.S. military intervention in Iraq—are fueling a major challenge to Iraq's stability and to U.S. policy in Iraq and the broader Middle East region. The resentment of Iraq's Sunni Arabs toward the Shiite-dominated central government facilitated the capture in 2014 of nearly one-third of Iraqi territory by the Sunni Islamist extremist group called the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL, ISIS, or the Arabic acronym Da'esh). Iraq's Kurds are separately embroiled in political, territorial, and economic disputes with Baghdad, but those differences have been at least temporarily subordinated to the common struggle against the Islamic State. U.S. officials assert that the Iraqi government must work to gain the loyalty of more of Iraq's Sunnis—and to resolve differences with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)—if an eventual defeat of the Islamic State is to result in long-term stability. Prospects for greater inter-communal unity appeared to increase in 2014 with the replacement of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki with the current Prime Minister, Haydar al-Abbadi. Although both men are from the Shiite Islamist Da'wa Party, Abbadi has taken some steps to try to compromise with Sunnis and with the KRG. However, a significant point of contention with the KRG remains the KRG's marketing of crude oil exports separately from Baghdad. Achieving political consensus has been hindered in part by divisions within the major communities. Iraq's Sunnis remain divided between those who accept Islamic State rule and those who actively work to help the government defeat it. Within the majority Shiite community, Abbadi continues to struggle politically against the growing influence of Shiite militia commanders who operate independently of the official military chain of command, have close ties to Iranian leaders, and question the Abbadi government's alliance with the United States. The government has needed to rely on the militias in some battles against the Islamic State. Some of the Shiite militia leaders seek to combat the Islamic State without the participation of Sunni fighters, who many experts assert are key to completely defeating Islamic State forces. Divisions within the KRG have been widened by a dispute over the position of KRG President Masoud Barzani, whose term has expired but who his supporters insist should stay on in the interests of stability. More broadly, the economic strains of fighting the Islamic State have caused economic austerity and a deterioration of services that has produced some popular unrest even in areas not directly affected by combat. Protests in Baghdad in the summer of 2014 prompted Abbadi to push for significant restructuring of the Iraqi government, and to counter corruption and excessive government spending. These efforts were supported by Iraq's highest Shiite leadership based in Najaf, but have been blunted by Iraqi politicians whose positions are threatened by reform and by many citizens who do not want their salaries cut. Factions supporting reform, including Shiites loyal to cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, have mobilized to pressure Abbadi to push forward despite the entrenched resistance. As part of an overarching effort to defeat the Islamic State, the United States is helping the Iraqi government try to recapture territories in Iraq that have fallen under Islamic State control. The United States is conducting airstrikes against the group and has deployed over 3,500 U.S. military personnel to advise and training the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), the Kurdish peshmerga militia, and Sunni tribal fighters. For detail on the U.S.-led efforts to defeat the Islamic State forces in Iraq, see CRS Report R43612, The Islamic State and U.S. Policy, by Christopher M. Blanchard and Carla E. Humud