Iraq Caught Between Two Patrons, Forever The Battleground
📰 THE STORY: Al-Monitor reports on Iraq's ongoing political deadlock and the challenge of balancing its relationships with both the United States and Iran, suggesting Iraq is vulnerable to being 'dragged back to darker times' by external pressures and its own internal divisions. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The 'decades of conflict and chaos' aren't some natural disaster.
In 1980, the US, through Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, gave tacit approval and advanced intelligence to Saddam Hussein as he launched a devastating eight-year war against Iran, costing an estimated 1 million lives. In 1991, the US led a coalition to destroy Iraq's infrastructure. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq under false pretenses of WMDs, leading to over a million Iraqi deaths and fundamentally
destabilizing the entire region, creating a power vacuum now blamed on Iran. Double Standard: The 'US turning up the heat on Iran' is framed by Western media as a necessary measure against a 'rogue state.' Yet, when Iran builds alliances or exercises influence in a neighboring country that shares a 1,458 km border and deep cultural ties, it's branded 'malign interference.' The US, on the other
hand, maintains military bases across the globe, including illegally in Iraq and Syria, and its 'lobbying' in Baghdad is reported as a matter of course, not interference. Follow the Money: The US military presence and its 'aid' to Iraq (which often comes with strings attached, dictating purchases from US defense contractors) are direct pipelines for the military-industrial complex. Lockheed