RSS
Twenty-one years ago, the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq in the erroneous belief that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction and was allied with al-Qaida, the terror group responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
The U.S. created an occupation authority, but failed to restore order and helped spawn the insurgency that bedeviled it by dismissing the entire Iraqi military and the most experienced civil servants. Coalition troops fought a losing battle, regained their footing with the 2007 troop surge, and finally departed in 2011. U.S. troops returned in 2014 to fight the Islamic State and they remain there to this day, though ISIS was largely eliminated by 2019.
In January 2020, Iraq’s parliament voted on a nonbinding measure to remove the U.S. troops from Iraq, but the Americans remain at the request of the Iraqi government. However, in response to the parliament’s 2020 vote, Iraq and the International Coalition changed the mission of the troops from a combat mission to one of advisory and training.
Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani, will meet U.S. President Joe Biden on April 15, primarily to discuss the U.S. troop presence.
Though the U.S.-Iraq Higher Military Commission is reviewing the troop presence issue, will the U.S. side stall fearing it may have to agree to a smaller presence and constrained operations? Possibly, so Sudani may want a public commitment from Biden to force the march to a constructive, timely decision.
Aside from the troops issue, Sudani wants to strengthen Baghdad’s ties with Washington, which he considers Iraq’s top bilateral relationship, and to add an economic dimension to Iraq’s ties with America.
When Americans think of Iraq in economic terms it’s all about the oil, but in November 2023 ExxonMobil, America’s biggest oil company, exited Iraq with nothing to show for a decade-long effort. The departure will lower the expectation of other U.S. companies, but Sudani wants to revitalize economic ties, and he will be accompanied by many of the country’s top businessmen.
U.S.-Iraq trade has room for growth. In 2022, the U.S. exported $897 million in goods, the top product being automobiles. Iraq, in turn, exported $10.3 billion in goods, most of it crude oil.
A key economic objective of Iraq is the $17 billion Development Road, an overland road and rail link from the Persian Gulf to Europe via Turkey, that will host free-trade zones along its length.
Biden and Sudani should consider the shape of the future U.S.-Iraq relationship, which has to now been governed by military considerations, and has become the best example of The Meddler’s Trap, “a situation of self-entanglement, whereby a leader inadvertently creates a problem through military intervention, feels they can solve it, and values solving the new problem more because of the initial intervention. …A military intervention causes a feeling of ownership of the foreign territory, triggering the endowment effect.”
Iraq is the only real democracy in the Arab world, and many young Iraqis want a separation of religion and state, something that should resonate with Americans and, Iraqis hope, cause the U.S. to deal with Iraq as Iraq, not a platform for operations against Syria and Iran, or to support Washington’s Kurdish clients.
Washington damaged itself in Iraq by killing Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in January 2020. Baghdad had moved the PMF, once a militia, into the government in 2016 (no doubt with American encouragement), so the killing of Muhandis, then a government official, increased popular support the PMF.
What are some clouds on the horizon for the U.S. and Iraq?
Corruption. Pervasive corruption in Iraq has slowed economic development and subjected Iraqi citizens to ineffective governance. The 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International ranked Iraq 154 of 180, a slight improvement from 2022 when it ranked 157 of 180.
Iraq was previously described by TI as: “Among the worst countries on corruption and governance indicators, with corruption risks exacerbated by lack of experience in the public administration, weak capacity to absorb the influx of aid money, sectarian issues and lack of political will for anti-corruption efforts.”
Sudani has not ignored corruption, calling it one of the country’s greatest challenges and “no less serious than the threat of terrorism.”
Elizabeth Tsurkov. Tsurkov is a Russian-Israeli academic who was kidnapped in 2023 by Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-influenced Iraqi militia. Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University in the U.S., entered Iraq with her Russian passport and did not disclose that she was an Israeli citizen and Israeli Defense Forces veteran. (A 2022 Iraqi law criminalized any relations with Israel.)
Tsurkov’s family wants the Biden administration to designate Iraq a state sponsor of terrorism for failing to secure her release. Sudani’s office announced an investigation into the matter and the issue may arise when Sudani meets Biden, though the best outcome for Iraq and the U.S. is a Russia-brokered deal between Israel and Iran.
If Biden designates Iraq a state sponsor of terrorism that will irreparably damage the relationship and open the door for China.
China. The U.S. is Iraq’s top relationship, but not its only relationship. China will respond to the ostracism of Baghdad by extending invitations to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, the latter of which can fund infrastructure projects through the New Development Bank. PetroChina replaced ExxonMobil in West Qurna 1, one of Iraq’s biggest oil fields, and is ideally positioned for further expansion. And Iraq was the “leading beneficiary” of China’s Belt and Road Initiative investment in 2021.
Sudani has said Iraq should not be a cockpit of conflict for the U.S, and Iran, but when Iran is concerned it, in Washington, is always 1979. Though Sudani has many challenges to face, Biden has more: he must reorient his government away from its colonial mentality in West Asia, recognize that Baghdad must reach a modus vivendi with Tehran that may not be to Washington’s pleasure, and not smooth the way for Beijing’s greater penetration of West Asia.
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Vietnamese
I won’t read it. SEE if you can figure out why.
Grammar. Sound thought. My time and attention deserve better.
Erroneous belief ? An invasion that was planned in the 90’s by the Jewish Neo liberal Paul wolfowith and the pnac ? The surge helped stabilize what other than Americans claiming that less soldiers were dying because they were holed up in remote desert bases instead of patrolling? And Americans left but maintained a presence which seems kind contradictory? Elisabeth is a American captured by Iraqis and not a mossad asset in mosul for spying?This author is either completely ignorant or he’s being deliberately disingenuous to slant geographical happenings to fit a narrative rather than tell the truth as it is
All American forces should just leave Iraq. Period.
The question should be is the U.S prepared to use nuclear weapons against Israel if Israel starts nuking neighbors after it has lost its war in the middle-east it so desperately wants?
If the U.S isn’t prepared to stop the monster it has created then we are nearer end times than I thought.
Clouds on the Horizon. Like all brainwashed beltway appartatchiks, you forgot one big fuckin giant roiling mushroom cloud on the horizon: Article 8 bis3 (2a), Crime of aggression
1. For the purpose of this Statute, “crime of aggression” means the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State [Like the CIA DDO,] of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, “act of aggression” means the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations. Any of the following acts, regardless of a declaration of war, shall, in accordance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, qualify as an act of aggression:
(a) The invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State, or ANY MILITARY OCCUPATION, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another State or part thereof;…
This from the Rome Statute
https://www.pgaction.org/ilhr/rome-statute/iraq.html
is universal jurisdiction law, so all three multipolar defenders of the UN Charter can pile on. We can expect Iran/Russia/China to roll this grave crime into the bill of indictment at the war crimes tribunal when CIA loses this world war they started and gets nuked.
Why would the Iraq’s deal with vermin who destroyed their country?
here is another fine example of if you can’t beat them, buy them. hopefully these iraqi traitors won’t sleep at night without worrying about have their throats slit, to paraphrase general milley.
this is their attempt at vietnam 2.0, sad to think that a country that would fight so hard for independence, would then sell it for a fist full of dollars.
“U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq in the erroneous belief that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction and was allied with al-Qaida, the terror group responsible for the 9/11 attacks.”
The US did not have an erroneous belief but flat out lied and also knew there was no connection to 9/11. The whole thing was a fraud.
“Corruption. Pervasive corruption”. There’s no greater corruption than that which the US has committed in destroying the lives of millions in Iraq and elsewhere. There’s nothing lower than the neo-con’s worldwide Murder Inc.
If Tsurkov is a dual Russian-Israeli citizen then why would the US go to bat for her, a non-citizen? It would be a job for Russia to do. You can see she’s a spy who got caught. Arresting people who slip into a country on an espionage mission is not terrorism.
The whore legacy media in the West is talking up an immediate attack by Iran on Israel even though Iran said it was in no hurry to retaliate.
Fasten your seatbelts for a false flag attack on Israel so the U.S can strike Iran in its next attempt at breaking up the alliance between Russia, Iran and China.
These scum in Washington will not stop until they burn through all our lives for their goals…but the majority are ok with that…because they vote for it?
All the more reason why America should just leave.
Yes, the whole world wishes for the U.S. to deal with them as sovereign nations, not a platform for operations of the Judeo-American satanic homo-empire. These wishes have gone unfulfilled for decades and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change until the empire collapses.
The Americans in turn wish Israel would deal with them as a sovereign nation, not as a golden calf to be milked to death. That’s not happening either without a regime change in the US.
The American rulers are purposefully destroying their own country. That being so,
what should be their policy towards other countries like Iraq? Get the fuck out and never come back, at least not until the jewish parasite is removed from the body of the nation.
at the direction of Israel for the benefit of Greater Israel is more like it
“insurgency” is an illegal rebellion against a legitimate government. “Resistance” is the correct term for fighting an occupying power
Hey, in for a penny, in for a pound, right?
That is a huge lie. Everyone knew that progressive Iraq was at odds with Osama’s fundamentalists, who didn’t do 9-11 anyway. And everyone knew there were no WMDs in Iraq, the UN inspectors on the ground told them so.
Video Link
Video Link
False. American troops never departed, combat units were just renamed training units and thousands of our soldiers remain.
This is false too, Iraqi leaders have demanded US troops leave, but Iraq is an American colony that does not dare attack their lords. The author didn’t even mention the all Iraq’s oil revenues must be paid to the Federal Reserve bank in New York then the Americans dole out what they want to Iraqis. Exxon cashed out as they worried their entire investment could soon be seized in a revolution.
Video Link
Come on Biden, answer him.
Really, the Iraqi blood spilled by Washington would make any pact impossible. There have been several million children murdered by the blockade and Western bombs for forgetting.
On the part of Washington, racial contempt and religious hatred are not elements that lead to an agreement.
The Iraqis will seek some peace and reduce their deaths and Washington will try to force an alliance that includes Iraqi support for the genocide in Palestine.
And that is neither diplomacy nor politics, it is simply convenience at the door of hell.
Utter drivel.
Iraq is still under extortion by the US. All oil revenues are diverted to banks in NY. The US gives Iraq an allowance when it sees fit. This article is garbage. Iraq doesn’t want to deal with the US. It has no choice because the US controls it’s revenues. Did this guy not see they are trying to de-dollarize. …? this guy is either severely misinformed or trying on purpose to distort.
Not just the invasion. Almost everything in the article was a lie. Claiming Iraq wants an economic relationship with the US is another. Iraq is being extorted by the US banking system.
This article is not worthy of TUR. It is a collection of ridiculous neocon propaganda.