In the Mosul mix

As Turkey asserts a military role, watch out

Turkey is dealing itself militarily into the multiparty assault on Mosul, Iraq’s second city. This adds one more complicating factor into the already-confused operation.

As of now, an alliance of forces on the ground, ostensibly led by forces of the Baghdad government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi but highly dependent on American support, has been actively engaged for nine days in an attack on Mosul. The city’s population is estimated at over a million; it has been held by the Islamic State since mid-2014. Its population is predominantly Sunni Muslim, as is the IS; Mr. al-Abadi is a Shiite.

The attacking force includes predominantly Shiite Iraqi government forces, Kurds who are mostly Sunni, Shiite militias (some of whom are supported by Iranians integrated into them) and Americans. One U.S. soldier has been killed already, clearing mines from the road ahead of advancing forces.

Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, which borders on Iraq near Mosul, now has troops in the conflict. Its rationale is mixed. Turkey, too, is firmly opposed to the Islamic State. But, as a predominantly Sunni Muslim state, it is also generally unsympathetic to the predominantly Shiite Muslim Iraqi state in Baghdad. Mr. al-Abadi has already stated that he considers Turkey’s incursion to be an invasion of Iraq, which he opposes and threatens to resist.

Turkey is also made nervous by America’s and the Baghdad government’s alliance with the Kurds, who pose a threat to the Ankara government led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In general he is striving mightily to exert and extend Turkey’s influence in the region. Iraq was once part of the Ottoman Empire, a fact that still constitutes a burr under Iraq’s saddle.

The campaign to recapture Mosul is already showing itself to be no piece of cake. The pre-eminent role of the United States in the affair suggests that more American casualties are to come. The introduction into the campaign of forces of Turkey, an important NATO ally, in opposition to the wishes of the Baghdad government, whose objectives the United States is seeking to achieve, suggests that President Barack Obama’s administration has put at least one foot deeper into the quicksand that is Middle Eastern warfare — particularly Sunni-Shiite intra-Islamic conflict — than America should be.

Next Americans will be told that the battle for Mosul is too important to lose and that America needs to put more forces in to enable a victory.