Rock-bottom oil prices are ravaging Iraq's ability to combat the Islamic State (IS), former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford told Congress at a Jan. 12 hearing.

Ford's warning was one of several ominous messages from a trio of former Obama administration officials who painted a far less rosy picture of the fight against IS than the one expected a few hours later in the president's final State of the Union address. Ford told the House Armed Services Committee that the Iraqis' financial woes are the biggest challenge, along with sectarian strife, to defeating IS.

"Both the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in Erbil are heavily dependent on oil, and oil sales," Ford said. "And low oil prices are really crunching their ability to mobilize resources in the fight against the Islamic State."

Some peshmerga fighters hadn't been paid in three months when he visited a few months ago, Ford said. Baghdad, meanwhile, is 95% dependent on oil revenue and based its FY 2016 budget on a $45-per-barrel price — almost 50% higher than the $31, 12-year-low recorded Jan. 11.