Why Iraqi soldiers are abandoning their posts and shedding their uniforms

Iraqi soldiers are abandoning their posts and shedding their uniforms. Various explanations are being given: they lack morale; they need their backbones stiffened; they are unwilling to fight for their country; they won't fight with the dedication of their opponents; they are cowards.

These explanations are absurd. The actual problem is that the soldiers who deserted were Sunni or Kurdish soldiers who were being asked to serve in the army of a Maliki regime that has been relentlessly pro-Shiite. Sunni and Kurdish soldiers are melting away not because they are cowards, but because they see the invading forces of ISIS as liberators (or, perhaps not as liberators, but as an army who will view any Iraqi soldiers defending the Maliki regime as collaborators). In other words, their actions are completely rational and predictable.

The problem is not that the United States did a poor job of training the Iraqi army and security forces, but that Barack Obama pulled out the American troops who were restraining and holding in check the pro-Shiite tendencies of Maliki. As soon as the last American troops left Iraq, Maliki essentially became a puppet of the Iranian government. As a result, Maliki has lost the support of Sunni and Kurdish elements, thereby making his country vulnerable to the kind of insurgency that ISIS has mounted.