Issues Under Fire: How Sabotaging Iran Talks Could Undermine Fight Against ISIS

Issues Under Fire: How Sabotaging Iran Talks Could Undermine Fight Against ISIS 

In order for President Obama to get a bipartisan authorization to use military force against ISIS, he'll be pressured to accept certain limitations as to how many boots will be on the ground, how long those boots will be engaged, how much will those boots cost and of course, how far those boots can go to get the job done. 

With all these limitations, the United States will need someone in the neighborhood strong enough and willing to do some of the dirty work. Since Iraq's military has shown itself to be less than capable and the Peshmerga, brave but ill-equipped to do to much more than protect the integrity of Iraqi Kurdistan, Iran could prove to be a valuable partner and regional asset. 

Iran has a strong, motivated, well equipped and trained military. Iran has the regional relationships critical in forming and holding ground level coalitions together. Iran has expressed its disgust for the so-called Islamic State and vowed to see its destruction. The international community needs Iran's contributions to the overall effort against ISIS. 

However, providing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a platform to undermine the Iranian-P5+1 nuclear negotiations at this sensitive stage of the talks could very likely have the United States fighting a proxy war against Iran in Iraq and Syria. Instead of cooperating (albeit tacitly) in the fight against ISIS, an entirely new level of complexity will be introduced into the ever-expanding conflict. 

Imagine a conflict that has Iran fighting ISIS, while supporting Syria's Bashar al-Assad and Iraq's Faud Masum, while the United States fights ISIS while supporting what's left of Iraq and what's left of the Syrian rebels. Now, imagine that conflict with Iran fighting the United States and its Western allies in the same theater of war where, the Kurds, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the UAE and others are trying to avoid colliding stepping on each others toes.  

If you think that's crazy, imagine that conflict eventually pitting Sunni against Sunni and Shiite against Shiite, while the Sunni continues their millennia old blood feud against the Shia all over the region. Congratulations, you've achieved total chaos! 

Bottom line: If Benjamin Netanyahu is successful in talking the U.S. Congress into placing even more crippling sanctions on Iran or worse yet, making sure no deal is reached at all, the entire region will be set ablaze and there'll be absolutely no way to put the fire out. Perhaps that's been the Israeli plan all along. Podcast Below!