Iran continues to subvert Iraq:
In the West (Anbar province) Iran has apparently ordered some of its most loyal PMF (Peoples Mobilization Forces) militias to use violence (bomb attacks, assassination)) against Iraqi army units that interfere with the movement of Iranian military supplies through Anbar into Syria. The Iran controlled PMFs are also expected to prevent economic reconstruction in Anbar, which puts these PMFs at odds with most Anbar residents (who tend to be Sunni). Pro-Iran PMF commanders have moved slowly and as covertly as possible with this because most of the armed men in Anbar are hostile to these Iranian orders.
Iranian efforts to dominate Iraq have fallen way short of expectations. For the moment Iran is still trying to halt Iraqi political or military decisions that weaken Iranian power in Iraq. This slowed down the formation of a new government and effort to defeat the remaining Islamic terror groups in the country. Iran has political and military goals that clash with what most Iraqis want.
Do read it all.
But slowing down is not stopping:
Iraq's new premier Adel Abdul Mahdi has had an early taste of the partisan politics he hopes to rein in, failing so far to win parliament's approval of a full government to begin to tackle the destruction of years of war and rampant corruption.
At a heated session on Wednesday night, MPs rejected key cabinet picks and accused some nominees of links to late dictator Saddam Hussein.
Iraq is corrupt and rule of law is hardly making solid progress. But the form of the new government is being decided by prolonged and bitter negotiations--and not by firing squads and midnight disappearances.
Tell me again that we didn't win the Iraq War.
And this is a good sign:
Iraq's new prime minister began moving his offices out of Baghdad's highly secure Green Zone on the first day of his term Thursday, saying he wanted to bring his government closer to the people. ...
"We want to consider all of Iraq a Green Zone," said Abdul-Mahdi.
Voters don't want just government ministers to be safe in their protected enclave.
And the prime minister has responded to that by moving out of the protected Green Zone to share a bit more of the risks his people face. He has skin in the game and can't get away with formal declarations of concern over security for his people.
Not that there won't be high security at the new location. But it is important symbolically.
We must support Iraq in its efforts to build democracy and rule of law while rejecting the crippling influence of Iran.
If Iraq keeps this up for a couple generations they might be as good of an ally as France and Germany are.
UPDATE: Iraq deserves our support:
After more than 15 years of American military entanglement in Iraq, the sense of idealism that characterized the original U.S. intervention has long since dissipated. Rather than dreaming of midwifing a model democracy in Baghdad, Washington’s aims there have become more modest and realist: preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State and balancing Iranian power.
So it is ironic that — even as the American foreign policy establishment has grown averse to a values-based approach to the Middle East — Iraqi democracy is on the verge of a breakthrough.
Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama, and Trump all made Iraq an important objective to commit our power to fighting over its future. Democracy (and rule of law) in Iraq is worth fighting for.
Preventing ISIL from regenerating and reducing Iranian influence in Iraq should be the means to the objective of a free Iraq, or a free Iraq might falter in this window of opportunity. Which could allow jihadis to regenerate and enable Iran to increase their influence.
In the bigger picture we have a large interest in showing Arab Moslems that democracy is an alternative to the traditional forms of government--monarchy/autocracy/dictatorship or Islamists--that have held them back for so long by generating Islamist-inspired terrorists (either as part of the government to generate support for it or in opposition to the corrupt government in the belief that Islamism will cure the governance problem).
As much as Germany annoys me today, never forget that the democratic country is far better than it was under a kaiser or a fuehrer. Let's help Iraqis make a better Iraq.
