Notwithstanding the gnashing of teeth in some quarters in America about our killing of an effective enemy commander, Iran's Soleimani, Iraqis have welcomed his death:
Iranian influence inside Iraq has waned since the American airstrike in January the killed Quds commander Qassem Soleimani along with the commander of the Iraqi Katab Hezbollah and several other key Iran-backed Iraqi militia leaders.
You may recall that some here said Iraq would eject America in their anger. I did not think it was likely. And it didn't happen.
There is an unfortunate strain in American liberalism that wrongly equates hostility to America with "authenticity" in a Third World country. I've noticed that all my life. I've never understood it. They and the Iranian mullahs were wrong that Iraqis would rally around Iran over the death of the super predator Soleimani.
In addition to freeing Iraqis to mock and reject the Iranians trying to turn Iraq into a Syria-like vassal, Soleimani's death has opened the way to bring the pro-Iran PMF militias--established in 2014 when ISIL rose up and much of the Iraqi security forces in northern Iraq dissolved--under control (back to the Strategypage article):
Worse [for Iran], the payroll for PMF militias, which are now technically part of the military, is often late or short for PMF militias still believed loyal to Iran. Without someone like Soleimani to organize a suitably scary response, the Iraqi government does not back off and keeps applying economic and other pressure on PMF militias to act like they are Iraqi, not agents of Iran.
I've long urged this measure to control the pro-Iran militias and it is finally happening:
Iraqi security forces have raided the offices of one of the country's most powerful Iran-backed militias, signalling a possible crackdown on Tehran's military influence in Baghdad.
The raid on Thursday night saw the arrest of more than a dozen members of Kataib Hezbollah, a Shia militia group blamed by the US for numerous rocket attacks on American bases in Iraq.
Not that Iran won't resist:
Following the raid by the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) against the Kataib Hezbollah headquarter in Baghdad in the early hours of June 26, pro-Iran militias and their political allies are threatening the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, warning him to not continue taking actions against militias targeting US bases.
Why Iraq and America can't exploit Iran's desire to fight its enemies to the last dead Arab is beyond me.
But if Iraq can keep up the pressure, inshallah, we might just win Phase IX of the Iraq War. And inflict a defeat on Iran, in the process.
A broad victory in Iraq (building on the surprisingly unrecognized victory we already achieved) won't happen until rule of law is strong enough to make democracy more than just voting for the chief crooks. Will we stay for that?
UPDATE: I won't call this a silver lining but I'll take what we can get:
Iran’s financial and military support for Shi’ite proxy paramilitary groups in Iraq, a linchpin of its regional foreign policy, has been dramatically disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and U.S. sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter.
This is no time to let up on the effort to defeat Iran in Iraq.
