Don't Look a Gift Airstrike in the Targeting Package

There is always a time when it is better to keep your mouth shut, and for the Americans this is one of those times.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of Iraq has told the BBC he supports an air strike on Islamist militants at a border crossing between Iraq and Syria.

Military and rebel sources say the strike took place inside Iraq, at the Qaim crossing, although Mr Maliki said it was carried out on the Syrian side.

I didn't find it in a quick look on the interwebs, but the US government has actually complained about Syria hitting ISIL/S  positions in Iraq, although it seems that it was a border position so it may or may not have been in Iraq proper.  Regardless, it doesn't mean that you have to (or want to) take sides with either Assad or Iran, but like it or not ISIL is by far the greater threat to all concerned. 

There was another interesting article (not surprising) about how cheap it is to mount a terrorist attack.  This was written in the context of ISIL having millions of dollars in cash (at least $82M) and the potential mayhem which could be financed with that.  Certainly this is of interest to pretty much everyone, and anything which attrits ISIL strength and resources is a step to the good.

What is not widely considered in this situation is that the US has other tools to use against trans-national entities, particularly the financial system.  I understand bombs and operations, but I confess ignorance as to the intricacies of tracking money movements, it suffices for me to know that unless you're moving bags of cash via courier computers can track you.

The "so what?" of this is that while America has a hard time picking a dog in this fight, they should walk softly and carry the big stick.  Time will come to start swinging said stick, but until then they should work in the background (as I hope that they are) throttling cashflows out of ISIL Iraq and let the local players sort each other out.

This approach pre-supposes a coherent foreign policy from the USA, and I haven't seen anything like that, at least not a functional one, during this administration.  Were I running the show, I'd backchannel Iran and set some Lines of Control, e.g. no Iranians west of X, no Americans east of X.  With some ground rules, you don't have to co-ordinate with your "enemies" and risk of escalation/expansion is greatly reduced.

Whatever.  Iraq looks to be devolving into provinces, but with the Ottomans no more whose provinces exactly is the question.  The obvious answer for rump Iraq (Shia) is Iran (most of the way there already), the Sunni area most likely a dysfunctional no-go area for the time being, but Kurdistan looks like it might just make it.  They already have trading relations with Israel (oil), which gives them the better part of an alliance with the most-effective and tech-savvy military in the region, and tourism and investment are both looking good.  The Kurds not being Arabs and having been kicked around by both Arabs and Persians have much in common with Israel, and there is some hope there.

It's an ill wind as blows no-one some good (as they say) so (mixed metaphor alert) let's hope someone makes lemonade from this mess.