On the streets of Baghdad, Iraq ’s security problems are glaring. On a recent visit, soldiers manning checkpoints could be seen staring off into space. Some chatted on mobile phones as they hurriedly gestured for cars to pass. Others pointed useless but still ubiquitous gadgets at passing cars in hopes of detecting explosives and weapons. The collapse of Iraqi security forces in Mosul has heightened worldwide attention on the grave shortcomings of the country’s national army and police, which melted away and abandoned the country’s second-biggest city after an attack by an insurgent group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as Isis). More On this story IN Iraq “Effective leadership was lacking from the outset in choosing, training and co-ordinating Iraqi army units to stand their ground in one of Iraq’s biggest cities,” says Ahmed al-Attar, of the Delma Institute, an Abu Dhabi research institute. “As […]