US influence in Iraq wanes as Iran strengthens grip

MALCOM LUMUMBA · 2020-01-07T10:08:35+00:00

Killing of Soleimani seen as more likely to boost Tehran’s role in region than weaken it. January 6, 2020 by Chloe Cornish, Andrew England. When Donald Trump ordered the air strikes that killed Qassem Soleimani he took his highest-stakes gamble yet as he ramps up pressure on Iran and seeks to counter the Islamic regime’s regional influence. For years, Washington had viewed Soleimani as its arch-nemesis. The commander of Iran’s elite Quds force cultivated a network of Iranian proxies across the Middle East that the Trump administration accuses of attacking American targets and destabilising the region. But rather than weaken the influence of Tehran and its proxies in Iraq, the US president’s decision to eliminate Soleimani as he left Baghdad airport threatens to strengthen it, Iraqis and western analysts said. “Trump has accelerated Soleimani’s work in Iraq,” said one Iraqi official. “They created a mess because they couldn’t understand Iraq.” Soleimani was killed in a convoy along with Iraqi militia leaders, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Now pro-Iranian militia groups in Baghdad are using the outrage the assassinations triggered to push to rid Iraq of US troops and the fallout from the air strike has already given them an initial victory. The Iraqi parliament on Sunday backed a resolution to order all foreign forces out of the country. Although non-binding, the vote, supported by Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, underscored the frayed state of Washington’s relations with Baghdad as Iraqis from across the political spectrum condemned the air strike as a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty. It is unclear how Mr Mahdi’s caretaker government will proceed. But Mr Trump responded to the vote by threatening sanctions against Iraq if Baghdad moves to evict US troops, adding that Washington would bill Iraqi authorities for an “extraordinarily expensive air base”. US influence in Iraq has waned since President Barack Obama withdrew American troops in 2011 after a disastrous eight-year occupation characterised by cycles of violence in which tens of thousands of Iraqis died. The US has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into Iraq since the 2003 invasion but successive US-backed governments failed to deliver services and rebuild the shattered state. American forces returned in 2014 to fight Isis, which had seized swaths of Iraqi territory as the army collapsed — but only after Iran first came to Baghdad’s aid. Iran, which shares a long border with Iraq, has strong cultural, religious and trading ties with its neighbour. It started building its influence as soon as the demise of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, allowed Iraq’s majority Shia community to dominate politics. Source: The Financial Times ================================= RT America with Rick Sanchez

Thread starter MALCOM LUMUMBA
Start date Jan 7, 2020

MALCOM LUMUMBA

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US influence in Iraq wanes as Iran strengthens grip

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