McChrystal: Lack of Leadership Credibility Led to Iraqi Army Collapse

[Geee]

PJ Media:

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal said a lack of credibility among Iraqi’s leadership led to the Iraqi army’s collapse as ISIS advanced.

 

McChrystal and Chris Fussell, co-authors of Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, were asked why the Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS have been effective in fighting against forces trained by the United States.

 

“You go back to Vietnam, you go back to other times when we struggled with client elements, if the government isn’t credible with the people, if the soldiers or police are not there for the right reasons, you are never going to get the performance that you really like and it’s not just a problem we have but it is one to pay attention to,” McChrystal said during a discussion at the New America Foundation.

“So when the Iraqi army collapsed in Mosul a year ago, they didn’t do it because they lacked equipment, they didn’t do it because they didn’t have enough soldiers, they did it because the leadership all the way up to the national level wasn’t credible enough with the people to cause the organization to have cohesion, so if you don’t have those basics there you are building on a weak foundation and it just doesn’t work,” he added.

In May, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the United States is “not going to be responsible for securing the security situation inside of Iraq.”