How The Fall Of Fallujah Could Be Good For The U.S.

How The Fall Of Fallujah Could Be Good For The U.S.
An Iraqi soldier searches a vehicle carrying a Sunni Muslim Iraqi family fleeing their homes in the city of Fallujah, as they wait to enter the central Iraqi Shiite Muslim shrine city of Karbala at Ein Tamer along the boundry with Anbar province, on January 6, 2014. Fallujah has been outside government control for days, while other parts of the Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, farther west, are also held by militants. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
An Iraqi soldier searches a vehicle carrying a Sunni Muslim Iraqi family fleeing their homes in the city of Fallujah, as they wait to enter the central Iraqi Shiite Muslim shrine city of Karbala at Ein Tamer along the boundry with Anbar province, on January 6, 2014. Fallujah has been outside government control for days, while other parts of the Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, farther west, are also held by militants. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

With the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi partly under the control of Qaida-linked militants, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki looks headed for a long, bloody slog in restive Anbar province. And President Obama is facing renewed criticism for refusing to supply more military aid to U.S.-friendly factions across the region after grim developments last week that empowered radical Islamists from Iraq to Syria to Lebanon. And yet for the United States, this is a bright spot of opportunity.

Before You Go

Clashes in Iraq

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot