Iraq's Future

From Yahoo/The NY Times:

“A Shocked Iraq Reconsiders Its Relationship With the U.S.”

American oil workers were fleeing Iraq on Friday, as fears grew of war between the United States and Iran. At sermons in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, worshippers chanted, “Death to America!” And in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, where anti-government protesters have gathered for months, a banner went up with a pointed message to both Iran and the U.S.: “Keep your conflicts away from Iraq.” Iraqis awoke to the news Friday that Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani of Iran, the architect of Iran’s dominating influence over Iraq, had been killed in a U.S. drone strike, along with several others. Even before the shock of the brazen killing wore off, Iraqi factions were weighing their responses. Militias with ties to Iran vowed bloody revenge. Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi condemned the attack as “an outrageous breach to Iraqi sovereignty” and said parliament would meet to discuss the future of the U.S. presence in Iraq. Anti-government protesters, who have been protesting Iran’s stifling influence in the country, were worried their movement could be snuffed out by pro-Iran militias. And throughout the country, there was the familiar feeling that Iraq was a mere bystander in the broader geopolitical conflict between the U.S. and Iran taking place on Iraqi soil. More broadly, the events raised a single, overarching question: can the U.S. maintain a cooperative security relationship with Iraq given the upheaval the assassination has provoked? The question was already coursing through the halls of power in Baghdad, even as the Trump administration said Friday that it was rushing new troops to the region in response to the crisis. The airstrike on Soleimani “was a clear breach of the terms of the American forces’ presence,” Abdul Mahdi said. He said that parliament would meet in the coming days to consider “appropriate measures to preserve the dignity of Iraq and its security and sovereignty,” including whether to ask the Americans to leave. It could well turn out that the killing of Soleimani, intended as a shot against Iran, could accelerate one of Iran’s long-term objectives: pushing the U.S. military out of Iraq.

^ Iraq should remember that we got rid of Saddam for them. Also the last time we left (under Obama) ISIS came in and took most of their country over and Iran did little to nothing to help the Iraqis. It was up to the Americans and the Kurds to come in and save the day (again.) If Iraq kicks out the US then we should let Iran and ISIS do whatever they want to the Iraqis. The Iranians will want to get revenge for the murder and destruction that Iraq caused in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 in which Iraq killed 11,000 to 16,000 Iranian Civilians and 200,000-600,000 Iranian Soldiers. ISIS will want to get revenge on Iraq for their murdered soldiers and loss of territory. Without the US in Iraq Iran and ISIS will take over and impose their strict Islamist practices on the Iraqi people. At that point the Iraqis will be begging for the return of the Americans. Iraq needs the US more than the US needs Iraq. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/news/shocked-iraq-reconsiders-relationship-u-152201601.html?guccounter=2