With victory of the forces of ISIS, the Government of Iraq has a window of opportunity to rest, refit, and restructure their forces. Unfortunately, their dependence on unvetted and politically motivated militias to achieve this victory has left them missing a few key items of military equipment... in this case, at least 9 M1A1 tanks.

The US company responsible for the maintenance on these tanks has responded by temporarily halting maintenance on all Abrams platforms until the missing tanks are returned.

This video showing US supplied tanks being moved under the flag of Kata'ib Hezbollah is just one example.

Regardless of where these modern edifices have ended up, the reminder of the consequences of not maintaining them are ever present in the Iraqi landscape. Hopefully, for the people of Iraq, a solution presents itself that maintains their combat effectiveness. If not, the tanks of today will soon look like the tanks of yesterday.