It’s not incompetence, it’s politics. U.S. policy from the beginning has been that Iraq is one nation and Kurdistan doesn’t exist. If we arm the Kurds directly, we’re no longer following that policy.
Interestingly, U.S. policy is irrelevant in this matter. I’ve been to Kurdistan. It’s a real place, and the Kurds won’t give it up without a hell of a fight.
they aren’t sending their sons to fight and die unless they fight for their own goals, not necessarily ours.