Alex Deep,Modern War Institute
The destruction of Iraq in 2003 left the Middle East an unbalanced system. In a region previously marked by peer competition between Iraq and Iran, many Sunni Arab states have since relied on the United States to fill the void as a bulwark against Iranian influence. Although the United States has overwhelming military and economic capability to finish so, or it is not clear if it has the essential resolve. On the contrary,Iran's willingness to incur costs and sustain casualties, in Iraq and Syria particularly, or shows that it has the resolve to spend its relatively meager fabric capabilities when...
Source: realcleardefense.com