A number of contracted studies, including a new study conducted by the Army War College by outside experts, are calling the U.S. invasion of Iraq a failure that has essentially given Iran the victory it sought over Iraq in the stalemated Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s. A Pentagon source who has seen the studies tells NSNS that “a number of experts who are respected in the military have concluded that the result of the war in Iraq has been to provide Iran effective control of Southern Iraq and a military presence through Shi’a leaders it controls.”
The reports stop short of saying Iraq is now in a nationwide Sunni vs. Shi’a civil war but one report has concluded that unless the Sunnis can be convinced to come into the political process in the next few months total civil war is likely. The reports also warn that Turkey will not allow an independent Kurdish state inside Iraq on the Turkish border.
