Reuters, Arbil, Iraq, 20 July 2014 – Western countries will end up fighting insurgents who have overrun large parts of Iraq on their own doorstep unless they intervene to combat the threat at its source, a senior Kurdish security official said in an interview.
Masrour Barzani, head of the Kurdish region’s National Security Council, said he doubted Iraq’s army would be able to roll back militant gains without help from outside, but that the world did not appear serious about confronting the insurgency.
Iraq’s million-strong army, trained and equipped by the United States at a cost of around $25 billion, largely evaporated in the north after militants overran the city of Mosul last month.