“It is important to understand that there are two separate battles taking place in Iraq: there is the political rift between the Sunnis, Shia and the Kurds and there is a foreign extremist group - ISIS - trying to take advantage of the political environment through violence. If the Iraqis can resolve their political differences, it will be far more difficult for ISIS to thrive. Moving forward, we should continue to evaluate additional steps to help combat ISIS as we see what the Iraqis are willing to do politically, but we must also firmly guard against mission creep.” IfsShouldTryingTwoImportantHelpingMovingPoliticalDifficultDifferencesStepsEnvironmentViolenceGroupsMilitaryWillingBattleAdvantageIraqMissionsMoving ForwardThriveResolveCombatIsisCreepsEvaluateExtremistKurdsShiaRiftPolitical EnvironmentPolitical DifferencesExtremist Groups Author:David Adam Smith