US Picks Iraq's Leaders: A Threat to 'Aid' if Democracy Disobeys
📰 THE STORY: Al-Monitor reports that Donald Trump has issued a stark warning, threatening to cut US assistance to Iraq if former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were to return to power. Trump's stated rationale blames Maliki's previous tenure for 'chaos and poverty,' implying that the US retains veto power over Iraq's internal political choices. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context:
The current 'chaos and poverty' in Iraq is a direct result of the 2003 US-led invasion, which illegally deposed Saddam Hussein, destabilized the entire region, and ushered in years of sectarian violence and the rise of groups like ISIS. The cost of this war to the US alone exceeded $2 trillion, with an estimated over 300,000 Iraqi civilian deaths by 2008. To blame Maliki, who came to power after
the US invasion, for conditions created by that invasion is a historical revisionism of epic proportions. Furthermore, the US itself has a long history of meddling in Iraqi politics, even installing leaders and fostering divisions for its own strategic interests, including arming Saddam Hussein in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. Double Standard: Imagine if Russia or China publicly threatened
to withdraw 'aid' from, say, Poland or Canada, because a particular political candidate might return to power. Western media would universally condemn it as blatant interference in sovereign affairs. Yet, when the US exercises the same overt strong-arming against Iraq, it's framed as a legitimate concern for 'stability' or 'democracy' – the very things the US consistently undermines in West Asia.