ISIS Iraq War Update: Top U.S. General Reports Over Half of Iraq's Army is Unable to Assist U.S. Forces

In one of the more bizarre military situations, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the media on Tuesday that half of the Iraqi army would be unable to assist the U.S. in the fight against ISIS.

The issue at hand is that Iraq is divided into Shiites and Sunnis, and the Shiites are potentially sympathetic to the ISIS cause. With their loyalties hanging in the balance, Gen. Dempsey has made the decision to abandon hope that the brigades full of Shiites will be of any assistance. 

Iraq has 50 troop brigades, and in the vetting process to determine which could be used to counteract ISIS, it was found that 26 could be counted on but 24 could not. Gen. Dempsey remarked, "They appear to have a national instinct, instead of a sectarian instinct." This national instinct speaks to the militaries dedication to the country instead of their specific religion. The other 24 brigades do not house the same honor system, because seemingly church and state has meshed together.

The 26 brigades that remain loyal to Iraq are in need of U.S. training. The U.S. stopped training Iraq personnel when their government decided that U.S. trainers would not receive immunity after the mission ended in 2011.

A new conversation will be had with the current government to decide if Iraqi lawmakers need to approve U.S. military personnel training local forces.

"There will likely be a discussion with the new Iraqi government, as there was with the last one, about whether we need to have Iraqi lawmakers approve new U.S. training," Gen. Dempsey said.

Naturally, the U.S. would like for Iraq to be able to defend itself against ISIS, but judging by the segmented military this will hardly be a possibility. U.S. military training will give the Iraqi forces an edge on the ISIS fighters. The mission goal is to push ISIS back into Syria, where they can be further apprehended. "This is about training them in protected locations and then enabling them to fight the fight," said Gen. Dempsey.

President Obama will be briefed on the current situation and will have the choice to pursue whichever means of conflict he wishes. Obama has said that troops on the ground should be avoided at all costs.