Foreign Policy Realism in Action

While it is annoying that Iraq's government is refusing to back dissidents in Syria, I figured part of it was fear of Iran and part of it was worry that if Assad lost (or even if a civil war broke out in earnest), Iraqi Baathist refugees might stream back into Iraq and destabilize Iraq. But it is more than that. Iraq cut a deal with Iran:

There is not much sympathy for Syrians, who prospered by hosting Iraqi exiles after 2003 and tolerated these exiles shipping cash, weapons, and terrorists into Iraq. For the moment, the Iraqis are keeping Iranian meddling to a minimum by supporting the pro-Iran dictatorship in Syria. The Iraqis are not particularly enthusiastic about this support but it is enough to keep Iran from messing with Iraqi politics.

If our troops were still in Iraq, the Iraqi government probably wouldn't have worried about Iran's influence as much. But we are gone and Iran is near. So Iraq cut a deal that seems to have bought Iraq some time without Iranian efforts to interfere with Iraqi politics too much.

Iraq is no friend of Iran. But Iraq lives in a rough neighborhood and acts accordingly.