Iraqi army will be 'reconstituted and trained': Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry said today that the Iraqi army will be rebuilt as part of a global strategy to be outlined within hours by President Barack Obama.
The Iraqi army "will be reconstituted and trained and worked on in terms of a number of different strategies through the help not just of the United States but of other countries also," Kerry said during a visit to Baghdad.
But it was unclear how rebuilding the country's army squares with repeated assertions by Kerry and other American officials that US troops will not return to Iraq.
The Iraqi army -- which the United States spent billions of dollars arming and equipping for years -- withered in the face of a sweeping offensive led by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, with some soldiers abandoning vehicles and shedding uniforms in their haste to flee.

Both American and Iraqi officials repeatedly stated in the run-up to the 2011 withdrawal of US troops that Baghdad's forces were capable of maintaining internal security.
But they have been unable to do so, failing to stop a surge in violence last year, losing control of one city and part of another in January and folding when faced with militants they greatly outnumbered in June.
Kerry's previously unannounced visit in Baghdad was the first stop on a regional tour to build support for a new US strategy against IS, which he has said will only work with the backing of the "broadest possible coalition of partners around the globe."

Obama was due to announce his strategy for combatting the group on Wednesday night, and was expected to steel Americans for a prolonged battle against the jihadists, despite devoting much of his presidency to avoiding new entanglements in the Middle East.