The Abadi government in Iraq already has enough reasons to be pessimistic about their chances of beating ISIS and reunification of the country afterwards, since they lose seemingly every major battle against ISIS. Analysts are increasingly concerned, however, that pessimistic comments out of the US are going to really weigh on them.

Testifying to the House Armed Services Committee last week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter offered a pretty negative assessment on the Iraqi military. But the real eye-opener for some was the revelation within his comments that the Pentagon is already opening planning for the contingency that Iraq will never be reunified at all.