Britain's urgent recipe for Iraq to "avoid the trouble of confrontation between America and Iran"

Britain's urgent recipe for Iraq to "avoid the trouble of confrontation between America and Iran"



2019/08/19 03:04:05
 
The Financial Times published a report by Choley Corniche, saying that Iraq faces a major challenge in the current confrontation between Iran and the United States.

The report points out that Iraq does not want to enter the conflict between two important allies, and does not want to be a proxy group between a neighbor and a strong ally.

Cornish says the military and political leadership in Iraq met at the luxury presidential palace in Baghdad to discuss one issue: how to prevent Iran and its powerful ally from waging war against each other.

The meeting, held on May 19, came at a time of heightened tension between the United States and Iran over the nuclear project and Tehran's activities to spread influence in the Middle East, and at a time when America sent military reinforcements to the Gulf region. It receives information about the potential threat to US and allied interests.

According to the report, officials feared that Iraq, which shares a 1,400-kilometer border with Iran and has about 5,000 US troops along with a series of pro-Tehran Shiite militias, could become a battleground. In 2003, he ousted President Saddam Hussein, and he just emerged from a 4-year-old war to get rid of ISIS.

"Iraq is a success that emerges after four decades of conflict," writes Iraqi President Barham Salih. "We have no capacity, energy, resources or willingness to be once again the victim of a new proxy war." He called on Iraq's neighbors and allies not to undermine Iraq's hard-won success. "We say Iraq first, we don't want to lose our stability, we have suffered enough conflicts," he said.

Analysts fear the resurgence of the confrontation from Iraq could result from Iranian-backed militias, so strong that its leaders were among those attending the palace meeting, noting that their rise to power and influence was compared to the rise of Hezbollah, which has become the main force in Lebanon.

The report noted that Washington took the threat from Iraq seriously, decided to close the consulate in Basra, and asked non-key employees of the Baghdad embassy to leave Iraq.

The newspaper pointed to the role of Iranian-backed militias during the invasion and war, the US forces to come back and cooperate with them under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization, which was formed in 2014 to counter the Islamic State, pointing out that these militias, the number of its 100,000 members, became legal in 2016, and its leaders got On political influence in last year's elections, people voted by America were designated terrorists and entered parliament.

The report finds that while many praised the crowd's role in preventing ISIS fighters from reaching Baghdad, increasing their political and economic power since 2018 has turned them into a serious challenge for the Iraqi state, noting that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Shiite groups they support Iran "threatens the sovereignty of Iraq."

Corniche reveals that a number of participants in the palace meeting preferred Tehran to Washington, and an official said that Iran was frustrated by the neutrality of Iraq, which was confirmed at that meeting, and hours after the Katyusha shell arrived on the Green Zone, which is the headquarters of the US embassy and government institutions. Pompeo linked the attacks to Iran, but no one has claimed responsibility for incompetent attacks that caused no casualties.

"It was a way to examine the limits of American patience," said Maria Fantapi of the International Crisis Group, adding that the party that did it knew Trump administration lines were victims.

Pompeo canceled a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and hastily traveled to Baghdad to underline US concern about Shiite groups, the report said, noting that Washington did not specify the nature of the danger.

Iraqi intelligence adviser Hisham al-Hashemi said the US intelligence "has a prejudice to prove," but a veteran Iraqi official spoke of "ugly threats" from Shiite militias against US facilities, including oil companies and diplomatic sites, and that leaders Iranian soldiers met with Iraqi militia leaders.

The fear of a rogue group pushing Iraq into a confrontation between Iran and the United States has been fueled by a missile that hit a Saudi oil facility in Yanbu.

The report said that an Iraqi official said that the danger that America is talking about stems from Hezbollah battalions, which has 10,000 fighters, and classified by Washington as a terrorist group, but the Iraqi official questioned the US assessment, said: "According to our information the Iranians gave orders to this Groups not to beat. "

Cornish recalls that the US ambassador to Iraq, Douglas Silliman, told Jan. 24 in Louvre that he feared a group not controlled by Iran would cause casualties among the Americans to make a name and expelled the Americans.

The Gulf region has seen tensions this summer, especially after the Iranians shot down a US drone, and Washington responded by preparing for a retaliatory strike that Trump stopped 10 minutes ago. For US forces in Iraq, his country is using it to monitor Iranian actions.

"The dilemma of Iraq is that the United States is an important ally, and Iran is an important ally," the report quoted Saleh as saying.

It is ironic that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein has given Iran a chance to expand its regional influence. Iraqi exiles who have taken refuge in Iran, where their parties and leaders have been prepared, have been in power since 2003. Supported.

The newspaper quotes hardliners in the US administration as saying that Iran's influence on the government and its proxy groups has turned Iraq into a satellite state. At the same time from Iran.

The report finds that the latter's strong influence on Iraq means that if the administration decides to pressure the government there, the moderates will be inclined towards Iran. "The policy of blacklists, sanctions, siege and the threat of war will only increase," said Maliki, who was forced by Barack Obama's administration to step down in 2014. Enemies of America. "

Cornish said that figures such as Hadi al-Amiri, who leads the Badr Organization, lived for years in Iran before returning to Iraq, accused of running death squads, and defending Iran altogether, raises fears, pointing out that he praised Iran's role in the campaign against ISIS, described a leader The Quds Force in the Revolutionary Guards Qassem Soleimani, "our friend, not our enemy."

However, some argue that replacing al-Amiri in uniform, adopting a nationalist rhetoric and the slogan "Iraq first," may make him the person the United States can talk to, weaken Iranian influence and the Sunni-Shiite sectarian rhetoric that has hindered national unity, Iraq is vulnerable to outside interference.

The report notes that many interpreted the sanctions imposed on Iraqi leaders on the pretext of corruption as an American attempt to target figures associated with Iran, especially as these figures, such as Ameri, pushed for the departure of American advisors to the Iraqi army, pointing out that this did not prevent Ameri from meeting US officials, But he is still critical of what he sees as the administration's reckless stance on Iran, and says Iran's position is a thousand times wiser than America's.

The Iraqi Times concludes its report by noting that Iraq's leaders want to focus on its internal problems stemming from the rapid population growth and the country's need for educational institutions, yet Iraqi politicians feel that America and Iran are not seeking war, but it may occur in error Former Hoshyar Zebari.

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