Are you old enough to remember when the U.S. invaded Iraq, a little more than 14 years ago? According to George Bush II, we were going to create a democracy in Iraq, allied with the west. It was even supposed to get us a settlement of the Israel-Palestine problem favorable to Israel, and a stable Middle East favorable to western oil companies.
Instead, Iraq is now a client state of Iran. Tim Arango tells the tale for the NYT:
When the United States invaded Iraq 14 years ago to topple Saddam Hussein, it saw Iraq as a potential cornerstone of a democratic and Western-facing Middle East, and vast amounts of blood and treasure — about 4,500 American lives lost, more than $1 trillion spent — were poured into the cause.Senior official of the Iraqi Interior Ministry says Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive after all. Whatev.
From Day 1, Iran saw something else: a chance to make a client state of Iraq . . . . If it succeeded, Iraq would never again pose a threat, and it could serve as a jumping-off point to spread Iranian influence around the region. In that contest, Iran won, and the United States lost.
2 comments:
NYT makes it seem like the USA is bumbeling fools, but Iran is a super nasty bad guy.
Propaganda at it's finest.... and they want you to pay for it!
Well, the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have committed innumerable well-documented atrocities. And the U.S. in Iraq has personified the bumbling fool. So I'm not sure what you're taking issue with here exactly.
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