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Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt (U.S. Army, ret) is an advisor to U.S. firms in the Middle East. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy under Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates and as Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs under Secretary Condoleezza Rice in the George W. Bush administration. While in uniform he served as the Deputy Director of Operations and Chief Military Spokesman in Iraq, Deputy Director for Plans and Strategy at U.S. Central Command, and commanded tactical units at every level of the U.S. Field Artillery. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and Harvard University.
Since the departure of U.S. ground forces from Iraq in 2011 in the wake of failed negotiations to extend the 2008 Status of Forces Agreement, the security situation in Iraq has steadily declined. To many, the situation was predictable, as the absence of a residual U.S. force to mature the Iraqi security forces and moderate long-standing political tensions among the sects led to a security vacuum filled by extremists and terrorists. To others, 10 years of investment and over 4,000 troops lost was enough, and it was time for the Iraqis to resolve their own internal conflicts.
