Iraq Home Page

Republic of Iraq

History

Humans have settled in what is now Iraq for thousands of years. Modern-day Iraq, however, is a much more recent entity, formally declaring independence from Great Britain in 1932. Previously the country had been part of the Ottoman Empire, but with the collapse of the Ottomans in WWI the land was placed under British administration by the League of Nations. Iraq became a republic in 1958, and was rocked by a series of military coups until Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979.

Saddam Hussein 

The year after coming to power, Saddam ordered Iraqi forces to invade neighboring Iran. The war, known as the Iran-Iraq war, would go on for 8 years, with over 1 million soldiers and civilians killed by the end of hostilities. In August of 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. In response, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 678, which authorized member-states to "use all necessary means to uphold and implement Resolution 660 (which was a demand to withdraw from Kuwait)". Two months later, a US-led coalition streamed across the Saudi border and into Kuwait, rapidly expelling Iraqi forces from the country.

American aircraft above burning oil fields during the Gulf War 

Immediately following the war, uprising sparked all across northern and southern Iraq. The Kurds (in the north) and the Shia (in the south) were rising up to defy Saddam Hussein (a member of the minority Sunni sect) and his government. The uprising successfully captured many of Iraq's largest cities, but was brutally put down by Iraqi forces, killing at least 100,000. Throughout the 1990s, Iraq was placed under extremely harsh sanctions by the United Nations in response to their continued nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs.

A rebel in Basra celebrates the disabling of an Iraqi government tank

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein for allegedly continuing Iraq's nuclear program (he wasn't). The resulting war sent Iraq into chaos, with hundreds of thousands being killed in the ensuing violence and a full-blown civil war cropping up. American troops remained in Iraq until 2011, finally leaving under orders from President Obama. The United States was obligated to withdraw troops under the Status of Forces agreement that had been signed under President Bush.

Aftermath of the 2006 Al-Askari Mosque bombing, which ignited the Iraqi civil war 

Following the withdrawal of US forces, and in response to an uprising in neighboring Syria, a group called the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI, the then-new name for al Qaeda in Iraq) sent 7 experienced members to start a wing of ISI in that country. In 2013, ISI's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a his control in both Iraq and Syria, a new group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS/Daesh. The group separated from al Qaeda in 2014, with the announcement of said separation and the declaration of a transnational caliphate.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 

Since then, the Iraqi military has been engaged in a life-or-death battle against the terror group, reclaiming the cities of Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah, and many others. Currently the Iraqi military, along with its Shia militia and Kurdish Peshmerga "allies", is engaged in a fierce fight for the city of Mosul, a fight which claimed the lives of over 2,000 Iraqi security force members in November 2016 alone.

Members of the elite Iraqi Golden Division 

Detailed Information

Iraq has a population of about 38 million people of mixed ethnic backgrounds. About 3/4ths of Iraqis are Iraqi Arabs, with Kurds (including Yazidis, Shabaks, Kaka'is, and Feylis) make up about 21% of Iraq's population. Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, Circassians, Persians, Sabians, Baha'is, Afro-Iraqis and Doms make up the remainder of the population. 

96% of Iraqis are Muslims, with 51% being Shia and 42% Sunni, the remaining describing themselves as "just a Muslim". Overall, Shias make up 65% of Iraq's population, with Sunnis representing 32%. .8% of Iraq's population is Christian, and the remainder practice Mandaeism, Yazidism, and various others. 

Iraq is divided into 18 governorates and 1 region: Al Anbar; Al Basrah; Al Muthanna; Al Qadisiyah; An Anjaf; Arbil (Erbil); As Sulaymaniyah; Babil; Baghdad; Dahuk; Dhi Qar; Diyala; Karbala; Krikuk; Maysan; Ninawa; Salah ad Din; Wasit; and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Military Information

The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are comprised of forces from both the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Ministry of the Interior (MoI). Iraq spends 8.7% of its GDP on defense expenditures. The Iraqi army was originally formed in the early 1920s, and leaders of the military regularly staged coups from 1936-1941 (six coups total). Iraq had been granted independence from Great Britain in 1932, but the country was still under British control via various bases and military installations throughout Mesopotamia.

Between 2-31 May, 1941, Iraq fought Great Britain for sovereignty. The short war was relatively bloody, with at least 60 British soldiers killed and 28 RAF aircraft destroyed. On the Iraqi side, things were much more drastic; 500+ killed, about 60 aircraft destroyed, plus 19 German and 3 Italian aircraft which were deployed to assist Iraq against the British. The war ended in a total British victory.

Iraqi forces took part in wars against Israel in 1948, 1967, and 1973. In each of these wars they were soundly defeated. Between 1961 and 1970, and then again between 1974-1975, Iraq fought a Kurdish insurgency in the northern part of the country. The Kurdish Peshmerga won the first war, but lost the second one.

In 1980, as mentioned above, Iraq and Iran went to war, a war which lasted 8 years and ultimately cost more than a million lives. This war was followed a few years later by the aforementioned Iraqi annexation of Kuwait and the resulting Operation Desert Storm/Gulf War. Finally, in 2003 the Iraqi army was handed its greatest defeat at the hands of the Americans, who completely routed, dismantled, and destroyed the Iraqi army. The army was disbanded by the Coalition Provisional Authority, throwing over 100,000 trained, desperate, hungry, poor men onto the streets. With guns.

The Iraqi army has been trained at great expense by American and other Western soldiers. Unfortunately, the rise of Daesh and the advance on Mosul saw the desertion of many thousands of Iraqi soldiers, which facilitated another restructuring.

Structure of the Iraqi Security Forces

Ministry of Defense 

• Iraqi Armed Forces
• Iraqi Army
• Iraqi Air Force
• Iraqi Navy

Ministry of Interior 

• Iraqi Federal Police 
• Facilities Protection Service 
• Department of Border Enforcement 
• Popular Mobilization Forces 

Notice of Updates

2016 was atrocious. 2017 promises to be worse. In order to counter many of the awful narratives and the boundless lies surrounding the world's hottest conflict zones, we will be remaking and remodeling this blog to better serve our readers. Posts in the past several months have been inconsistent at best, and that will change starting in January. Expect articles to come out much, much more frequently, and as always, email us any questions or story ideas you may have at thefuldagap@gmail.com.

On a final note, we are changing our name from The War Room to The Fulda Gap. This is for clarity and originality purposes.

Hope to see you in 2017!

Circumventing Russia at the United Nations

All of us, with the exception of Gary Johnson, are painfully aware of the current situation in Syria, especially in and around Aleppo. For over 5 years a civil war has raged, a war which has claimed at least 470,000 lives. The real number is likely much, much higher, and will probably never fully be known. Millions of internally displaced persons are scattered across Syria, and millions more have fled the country. A full 1/3rd of neighboring Jordan's population are now refugees. The power vacuum in Syria allowed for the spread of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh), which threatens both regional and global security.

Omran Daqneesh in an ambulance in Aleppo

Alan Kurdi prior to his death in 2015

For every Omran Daqneesh or Alan Kurdi we see in the West, hundreds more go unseen and unreported. Children in Syria are bearing the brunt of the violence, with schools now being deliberately targeted by regime forces and their Russian allies. Just this past week, over 23 children and 6 teachers were killed in an airstrike which was carried out either by the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) or the Russian Aerospace Force (RuAF). In response, at least 6 children in west Aleppo were killed by a rebel bombardment. And these tactics are in no way new or revolutionary to the Syrian civil war.

Russian Su-34 dropping munitions over Syria 

As the war continues, the likelihood that radical Islamist factions eventually take power increases.  On the 28th of October (2016), the opposition operations room known as Jaysh al-Fatah (Army of Conquest), along with select members of Fatah Haleb (Aleppo Conquest), launched an offensive to break the government siege of east Aleppo. Groups such as Ajnad al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham, harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki, and the "former" al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra) have been leading the charge, indicating that the real strength on the ground currently lies with radical elements. This is due in no small part to repeated RuAF/SyAAF bombardments of rebel factions, both more moderate groups and extremist groups.

In order to defeat Daesh, one of the underlying causes of their rise must first be resolved. That cause, of course, is the Syrian civil war. But, with Russia directly involved in the conflict, and with Russia also holding a veto at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), UN action on Syria is all but impossible. However, the last UNSC resolution on Syria, decided on 8 October 2016, was approved by 12 members of the UNSC, with 1 abstention (China) and two no-votes (Russia and Angola). This means that only Russia stands in the way of meaningful progress in Syria. The resolution had been supported by Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America, representing a wide swath of different nations around the world all seeking to establish the same principles of international law.

Russian representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin vetoes a resolution on Syria

There are two mechanisms in place that can and should be employed by the UN to help alleviate the situation in Syria. The first is called Responsibility to Protect (R2P), a doctrine recently being tested out by the UN. The resolution on R2P reads, in part, as follows:

The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. In this context, we are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner, through the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. We stress the need for the General Assembly to continue consideration of the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and its implications, bearing in mind the principles of the Charter and international law. We also intend to commit ourselves, as necessary and appropriate, to helping States build capacity to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and to assisting those which are under stress before crises and conflicts break out. 

 So, essentially, should genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, or crimes against humanity be perpetrated by the Syrian regime, the UN has the partial authority to intervene military with peacekeepers or via regional authorities (NATO, the AU, the Arab League, etc.) to prevent said crimes from occurring. However, this alone does not circumvent a Russian veto. For that, we must look back further, to UN Resolution 377A. 377A, also known as the "United for Peace" resolution, states the following, among other things:

Resolves that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in case of a breach of the peace or at of aggression the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security...

What this means is that the UN General Assembly, in light of the inability of permanent members to come to an agreement (due to Russia's repeated use of its veto powers) on the Security Council, may circumvent the UNSC and substitute their own resolution with full powers of the UNSC as though it were a regular UNSC resolution. 337A has been invoked twice in the past; during the Suez crisis and during a push for sanctions on Apartheid South Africa. If the international community wishes to make meaningful, multilateral progress in Syria, forcing a vote through the General Assembly may be the best bet.

Khaled al-Asaad, the Hero of Palmyra

So since Palmyra has been liberated I feel like it's a good time to share this story from last year. Khaled al-Asaad (b. 1934) was born and raised in Palmyra, also known as Tadmur, Syria. A father of eleven children (including one daughter named after the Palmyrene queen Zenobia), al-Asaad worked as an archaeologist, historian and head of antiquities at the ancient city of Palmyra for 40 years. He was a man with a passion and a devotion to history and to his field, a passion that cost him his life.

When ISIS invaded Palmyra last summer, they took over all of the museums and UNESCO heritage sites. With a stated mission of destruction of artifacts (or their sale overseas on the black market), Daesh set about looking for the rarest, most expensive artifacts in the collection. Unfortunately for them, al-Asaad had evacuated some artifacts and hidden many more. For weeks he was held and tortured, but he never broke down and revealed the location of the artifacts. For this he was beheaded publicly, his body left up on display as a warning to others.

Palmyra is more or less liberated now. Already teams from as far away as the United Kingdom are preparing to descend on the ancient city to begin estimating the costs of repairs and taking tally of the damages. Thanks to the efforts of one extremely brave man, future generations will be able to better understand and enjoy historical artifacts that were saved from sure destruction at the hands of Daesh. I think it's important to remember people like him in a world that so often only showcases the nastiest parts of humanity.

Update on the Situation in Syria

The last month has seen some of the worst violence of the entire Syrian civil war. Starting in mid-September with the breakdown of a poorly-implemented US/Russian-backed ceasefire, Russian Aerospace Force (RuAF) and Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) aircraft continued and increased their bombing missions against opposition-held territory. In particular, the city of Aleppo has seen a drastic increase in violence, with hundreds being killed in the last 30 days alone. Many of those killed have been children, and on top of those killed there are many thousands more wounded and millions displaced, not to mention the psychological impact. 

The SyAAF drops weapons known as barrel bombs, crude anti-personnel munitions consisting of a metal barrel of some kind filled with shrapnel and an explosive of some kind, then attached to a helicopter or simply rolled out of the cargo bay (or sometimes attached to attack aircraft) and left to find a target somewhere in opposition turf. The weapons are indiscriminate at best, and when they land they have the ability to level an entire city block. These weapons, despite their terror factor, cannot typically be aimed with any degree of accuracy. To hit precise targets, you need the RuAF's arsenal. The Russians are employing, among other things, bunker buster munitions, cluster munitions, incendiary weapons, and thermobaric weapons. Each of these is horrifying for a different reason. 

Bunker buster munitions are massive, designed to penetrate the thick concrete of aircraft hard-shelters or traditional bunkers, then exploding to destroy the substructure targeted. When used on a city building, the effect is the complete collapse and destruction of the target area, usually at least a city block, and the death of nearly everybody within. The video linked above shows a SyAAF jet making a bunker buster run.

Cluster munitions are, even at their best, an imperfect weapon simply due to their nature. A cluster weapon is a weapon that disperses a large number of smaller munitions over a certain area. Inevitably some of these smaller weapons will misfire and not detonate when they should, instead remaining on the battlefield until they are disposed of or discovered by somebody. Children are often the victims with cluster munitions, a lesson the US has been taught (and ignored) numerous times, from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The incendiary weapons in question are also known as white phosphorus weapons. White phosphorus (WP) burns at an extremely high temperature, making it nearly impossible to extinguish. When any amount of WP gets on the human body, it immediately burns through any clothing, then through the skin and the flesh until it hits the bone, where it will continue to burn until it exhausts its fuel. Victims are often brought to the hospital still on fire, smoke pouring from tiny holes all over their bodies. 

Thermobaric weapons are a whole different level of horror; instead of killing via an explosion or a concussion, they typically kill via conflagration, or the non-explosive rapid spread of fire. The fires rapidly suck the air out of the room before igniting, often leading the weapons to be called "Vacuum bombs". Human lungs are collapsed or popped, or according to some reports even sometimes pulled out through the mouth and made external. The weapons are, needless to say, inhumane at least. 

All of these weapons are being used in and around civilian areas of Syria. In particular, Aleppo has seen a large share of these events. And the targets of these weapons? Along with "valid" targets such as opposition strongholds, many Russian air strikes in particular have been seen targeting hospitals, marketplaces, schools, and Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets, henceforce SCD) facilities.

SCD facility destroyed by Russian airstrikes -- Aleppo 

The White Helmets (SCD) are a group of several thousand civilian volunteers across Syria who run toward the bombs and missiles to dig their friends and strangers alike out of the rubble. At least 146 have been killed since the organization began operating in 2013, yet they have saved over 60,000 lives. They are the shining spot of light in the darkness that is the Syrian civil war.

The situation is incredibly dire and requires immediate action. Please consider a donation (link at the bottom of this post) to the White Helmets, or if you can't afford a donation, take the time to write/call your representatives and tell them to support H.R. 5732, also known as the Caesar Bill or the Caesar Resolution, that would call for harsher sanctions against the Syrian government and leadership, require the creation of a list of war criminals and persons who have violated international law, and create a body to investigate the feasibility of putting a no-fly zone in place over parts or all of Syria.

Find your representative:

http://ziplook.house.gov/htbin/findrep?ADDRLK84190111084190111

Find your senator: 

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state

The Past, Present, and Future of NATO

What is NATO? What does NATO do? Who is in NATO? Why is NATO important? You may have asked some of these questions yourself over the years, perhaps after seeing something on the news about the Balkans, or perhaps Afghanistan. Maybe you heard about NATO with regards to the intervention in Libya, or the alliance's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Or maybe you've just heard the term before and always wanted to know more. It is my hope that this post will be helpful to those who know little about NATO as well as beneficial to those who already have a fair idea of what it is and what it means.

Flag of NATO

To start, NATO is an acronym. NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN) in French. As the name suggests, NATO is an organization founded around the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed on 4 April 1949. Combined, NATO accounts for over 70 percent of the world's defense spending, and three members (France, the UK, and the US) hold nuclear weapons. Today NATO is comprised of 28 member states, with more (Montenegro) likely to be added soon. NATO's significance comes from two important clauses of the North Atlantic Treaty, Articles 4 and 5. Article 4 provides the infrastructure for member-states to call for alliance-wide meetings on an emergency basis to discuss ongoing or developing defense or security threats. Article 4 has been triggered five times since 1949:

•  Turkey: Iraq War (2003)
•  Turkey: Shoot-down of Turkish jet in Syrian civil war (2012)
•  Turkey: Syrian Arab Army (SAA) attacks on Turkey (2012)
•  Latvia/Lithuania/Poland: Russian invasion of Crimea (2014)
•  Turkey: Daesh (2015) 

The vastly more important clause of the North Atlantic Treaty, Article 5, has dramatic and distinct ramifications for all citizens of every one of the 28 member-states. Article 5 states the following:

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Basically what it means is that, should any member of NATO come under attack (in Europe or North America), that member may request the alliance assist in their defense. In the entire history of NATO, Article 5 has only been invoked one time, that being by the United States following the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. NATO's response to the activation after 9/11 was the deployment of soldiers by almost every NATO member-state to Afghanistan to assist American and Afghan security forces.

In case you forgot. 

Currently NATO is comprised of most of Europe, along with the United States and Canada. The members are as follows:

The OG Crew -- (4 April 1949) 

•  Belgium
•  Canada
•  Denmark
•  France
•  Iceland
•  Italy
•  Luxembourg 
•  The Netherlands
•  Norway
•  Portugal
•  The United Kingdom
•  The United States 

First Enlargement -- (19 February 1952)

•  Turkey
•  Greece

Second Enlargement -- (6 May 1955)

•  Germany

Third Enlargement -- (30 May 1982)

•  Spain

Fourth Enlargement -- (12 March 1999)

•  Czech Republic
•  Hungary
•  Poland

Fifth Enlargement -- (29 March 2004)

•  Bulgaria 
•  Estonia
•  Latvia
•  Lithuania
•  Romania
•  Slovakia
•  Slovenia

Sixth Enlargement -- (1 April 2009)

•  Albania
•  Croatia 

As you can see, NATO has continued to enlarge in recent years. This has alarmed other countries, in particular, Russia. Russia sees NATO as a relic of the past, something used by the United States to wield immense political power against its rivals (namely Russia itself, along with Serbia and later Libya [as we will explore later]).

Russian president Vladimir Putin

NATO was created in the shadows of the second World War. Twice in the past 30 years Europe had destroyed itself in the two bloodiest wars in recorded human history. Millions perished around the world, and as Europe began picking up the pieces and rebuilding, the United States, relatively unscathed by the war, emerged as a global superpower. It sought to, among other things, safeguard Europe from what it saw as Soviet aggression while also providing an alternative to building up a national military for defense; if you join NATO, you have the collective strength of all members, in particular the United States. Thus, it made sense for many of the post-war nations in Europe to join the alliance. In 1952, the anti-communist governments in Turkey and Greece both joined NATO, which is significant due to Turkey's massive military forces (the second-largest in the alliance today). Later, the Bonn-Paris conventions brought about an end to the Allied occupation of West Germany and not only reestablished West Germany's sovereignty, but also granted West Germany membership in NATO. 

An early NATO meeting

 In response to the inclusion of West Germany into NATO, the Soviet Union and its allies founded the Warsaw Pact (or the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance) on 14 May 1955. The Warsaw Pact basically acted as a counterweight to NATO, providing mutual defense agreements among its members, of whom there were 8 (later 7). These member states were Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Albania (who withdrew in 1968 following the Pact's invasion of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring). 

NATO and the Warsaw Pact stared each other down for decades, never once firing a shot in anger at one another but coming close on several occasions. Since the breakup of the USSR in 1991, the following major military actions have been taken by NATO:

 Operation Maritime Guard: 22 November 1992 - 15 June 1993

Enforcement of UNSC embargo monitoring on warring factions in former Yugoslavia, naval blockade.

 Operation Deny Flight: 12 April 1993 - 21 December 1995 

NATO enforcement of UNSC-mandated No-Fly Zone over former Yugoslavia. 

 Operations Deadeye and Deliberate Force: 30 - 31 August 1995 & 5 - 14 September 1995 

NATO Airstrikes against Bosnian Serb air defenses (Operation Deadeye) and later Bosnian Serb command/control facilities and ammunition facilities. 

 Operation Joint Endeavour: 20 December 1995 - 20 December 1996

NATO Peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. Deployment of 60,000 troops from 16 NATO and 17 non-NATO countries, including Russia. 

 Operations Joint Guard and Joint Forge: 20 December 1996 - 20 June 1998, 20 June 1998 - 2 December 2004

Continuation of Operation Joint Endeavour by NATO members, ending in the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2004. 

 Operation Allied Force: 24 March - 20 June 1999

Large-scale NATO operations against the Former Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY: Serbia and Montenegro) and their forces in Kosovo. Operation saw the bombing of major Serb cities such as Novi Sad and Belgrade, along with widespread destruction of Serbian and Montenegrin military forces. This bombing would serve as the turning point in public relations between many Russians and the West, proving NATO would "stop at nothing" to impose its will on other states if Russia did not provide a counterweight. 

 Operation Joint Guardian: 12 June 1999 - Present 

NATO-led force in Kosovo implementing the peace settlements that ended the wars in the former Yugoslavia. 

 NATO Command of ISAF: 11 August 2003 - Present

As authorized by the UNSC on 20 December 2001, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to Afghanistan is established to assist the Afghan authorities with maintaining security and control over the whole of Afghanistan. 

 NATO Training in Iraq: 7 August 2004 - Present

Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, NATO forces began providing training personnel for the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) to help stabilize Iraq. 

Operation Ocean Shield: 17 August 2009 - Present

NATO anti-piracy mission around the world. 

Thus, it can be seen that with the fall of the Soviet Union, NATO lost a sense of its original purpose. NATO became a tool to be wielded by US foreign policymakers. Even with the activation of NATO in 2001, the use of the alliance was dubious at best. The original purpose of the alliance had been to fight a war in Europe, not Afghanistan. Some began questioning the usefulness of NATO, while still others outright called for its dissolution. Fortunately for fans of military blocs, Russia gave NATO a breath of new life in 2014 by annexing Crimea from Ukraine.

Russian soldiers ("Little Green Men") in Crimea, 2014. 

The annexation of Crimea showed a belligerent side of Russia that had been hinted at in 2008 during the invasion of Georgia, but not fully understood by many in the West. However, the message came through loud-and-clear after Russian troops landed in Crimea, and later the Donbass. Almost immediately, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland activated Article 4 of the Charter and convened an emergency meeting about Russian aggression. NATO has since deployed permanent forces to the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Poland.

NATO's plan to bolster the Baltic states and Poland

While NATO continues to evolve into a 21st century military alliance, one equipped and ready to defend Europe against Russian (or "enemy") aggression, it also has retained its newfound appreciation for interventions. In March of 2011, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1973, which called for an immediate ceasefire in the then-ongoing Libyan uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. Resolution 1973 gave room for nations or organizations to stand in to implement the no-fly zone/shipping restriction zone, and NATO happily stepped up to the plate. The intervention was known by several names: Operation Odyssey Dawn (United States + Others), Operation Harmattan (France), Operation Ellamy (United Kingdom), and Operation Mobile (Canada). The operation eventually expanded from no-fly zone enforcement to the destruction of Libyan air defense systems. By the time the campaign concluded in October (after Gaddafi was captured and killed brutally by local forces on the ground), over 600 tanks and other armored vehicles, along with 400 rocket launchers, were among the nearly 6,000 military targets destroyed by the coalition.

Inventory of NATO + Allied assets used in the Libya intervention

Relations within NATO are strained at the moment, in particular between Western European/American leaders and Turkish leaders. Turkey, a key member of the alliance, has accused the United States of harboring Fethullah Gülen, a man Turkey's government says is responsible for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. The United States has yet to extradite Gülen. The future of Turkey's NATO membership may be in the balance, although many suspect this is only a temporary upset in US/Turkish relations.