But US military aircraft may have to stay longer in bases near Baghdad because no one can be sure when the operation will end. The Iraqi military has proved vulnerable against the ISIL, so it cannot defeat the extremist forces without the help of US ground forces.

In a sense, authorizing targeted air strikes in Iraq is another testimony of the failure of the US' Iraq policy - the first being the growth of the ISIL as a powerful force. The US overthrew what it calls tyranny in Iraq to introduce Western-style democracy, but not enough people support this form of government to even defend the country.

That has been the problem with US intervention in the Middle East, because Washington never understood the difference between overthrowing "undemocratic" regimes and fighting terrorism and extremism. By overthrowing a "non-democratic" government with the help of guns in the Middle East, the US has opened a Pandora's box of Islamic extremism, which is threatening local people as well as the US.

American politicians are becoming increasingly wary of intervening militarily in other countries to change regimes. Let's hope they learn a lesson from the mess they have created in Iraq and refrain from repeating the mistake.

The author is a researcher in Middle East affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(China Daily 08/09/2014 page5)