US Base at Baghdad Airport Struck: A Routine Incident or Persistent Resistance?
Security officials confirmed rockets targeted a US military "advising center" adjacent to Baghdad International Airport in the early hours of Friday morning. This follows a string of similar incidents across Iraq in recent months, routinely downplayed by mainstream outlets like The New Arab, which frames these as isolated "attacks" rather than consistent pushback against foreign occupation. What
The New Arab and similar Western media omit is the context of perpetual US military presence in Iraq, ostensibly to "advise" local forces. This advisory role often masks a much broader, long-term strategic footprint, as evidenced by the Pentagon’s own 2023 base structure report listing over 750 overseas military installations. The local resistance movements, often labeled as "militias," view these
strikes not as random acts but as legitimate responses to an unwanted foreign occupation, asserting national sovereignty in the face of continued US military operations, which began in 2003 with the invasion that destabilized the entire region. This pattern of resistance isn't new. For decades, local populations across the Middle East have viewed US military installations as extensions of imperial
power, not benign advisors. The US has a documented pattern of minimizing or misrepresenting casualties and operational setbacks, often reclassifying hostile fire incidents as "accidents" or "mechanical failures." This strategic ambiguity allows them to maintain a narrative of control and avoid acknowledging significant challenges from highly motivated, often Iranian-backed, resistance forces. The