'Barbarians' and the Trojan horse are already within the Iraqi gates!

Omar Sindi | Exclusive to iKurd.net

If US Troops & Coalition forces depart from Iraq, Iraq will most likely cease to exist as a unitary State, most likely, it will be divided like the Cyprus issue, and that will be a frightening reality! There will be celebrations for both authoritarian regimes in Tehran and Ankara; it would not be a better, happier, and elated day for both rogue states to see US troops exit from Iraq and Syria.

Iraq will be a competing battle ground of influences- domination between Turkey and Iran’s Shia sphere of influence, the epic geopolitical battle for power and control, which would pitt Iran’s government and Turkish state against each other- Iraq would become more violent, and unstable, while ethnic, sectarian and regional divisions would increase; just like their predecessors’ did centuries earlier in competition between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire (Shah’s).

Iraqis whose society was gutted a long time ago, have been living in purgatory ever since with each war yielding to another one. Polarization- Iraq cannot stand alone without assistance from the United States, and coalition partners. Turkey and Iran are dealing with Iraq as a colony, not as a sovereign state, squeezing Iraqi society to death via politics, partial occupations, special trading deal in their favors, choking water flow off at will, which has degraded the environment for gravitational settling, biological uptake, microbial activity, and devastated ecological impact on farmland, biodiversity, marshes in Southern Iraq, continuously tree logging operations in autonomous Kurdish region, (it doesn’t appear that the deforestation issue bothers the politicians of central government in Baghdad) discount oil deal, etc.

However, Baghdad did act on the internal Kurdish oil issue, they took its case into the International arbitration/Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The Kurdish oil issue should have been dealt with internally. Why is the government in Baghdad not taking the water flow issue to the International Court against both Turkey and Iran, specifically the tree cutting operation case against Turkey? In many places in the world people live in a period, where smart people are pushed to the side, therefore unsophisticated people are not to be disturbed.

“At a time Russian writer Anton Chekhov was asked what failed societies are like? He answered: In failed societies, there are a thousand fools against every reasonable mind, and a thousand rudeness words against every conscious word, the majority remains foolish always, and it always dominates the sane. If you see trivial topics raised in a society on conscious talk, and trivial people lead the scene, you are talking about a very failed society.” Perhaps, Anton ‘s comment/analogy is applicable to Iraqi society, but the main blame should go to the Iraqi leaders with respect to obeying neighboring countries interest, whose Mullah’s regime in Iran, and Erdogan regime in Turkey, influence, and direct policy have chosen and picked which person or politician(s) lead Iraq.

For centuries, the Iraqi Shia Community tried to take power from Suni minority Muslims in Iraq, including military assistance from Iran during the eight years of Iran and Iraq war, they were unable to until the United States overthrew the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein and his clique from power, therefore they should appreciate that the power was easily handed to them, they should owe the United States and its coalition partners… Whether that transfer of power was a right policy or not, that is another subject for political pundits and historians… However, the United States should and must explicitly ascribe to Iran and Turkey that the US has sacrificed over 4,000 thousand soldiers in Iraq, along with many injuries, more than trillion of US dollars spent on the war cost.

U.S. president Barack Obama, 2015. Photo: Courtesy/Barack Obama/flickr

This young blood of our soldiers must not go in vain, leaving Iraq at your mercy… However, the US foreign policy weakened in the Middle East, and particularly in Iraq under Former President Barack Obama’s doctrine, the egress from Iraq without a strategic policy left in place, and Iraq’s structure of balance is thrown out of balance, thus allowing Iran and Turkey to infiltrate more onto Iraqi domestic policy, (at that time, Obama was seeking advice on the Middle East issues from the Turkish Prime Minister/ President Erdogan, and didn’t detect herald from Erdogan has other agendas when it comes to the Middle East).

Whirlwind, nihilistic ruffian ISIS invaded large parts of Iraq and Syria, which held a swath of territory, the US forces and coalition partners had to go back to fight, along with the Kurdish Peshmerga who became foot soldiers for Allies until the so called Islamic Khalifah state was physically defeated in both Iraq and Syria; without the presence of US forces in the area, ISIS will become more aggressive in it’s fight; they pose a greater threat to the theocratic based Shia led regime in Iran, and the recent twin bombing in Karman city proves that.

Meanwhile, at that time the Turkish border was a getaway for Islamic terrorists’ entry into Syria and Iraq to join the fight. Afterward, Former President Donald Trump did a profound effect, pick and choose, no better, imbalanced the traditional US foreign policy, which it started after World War II, and persuaded an isolationist policy; which caused a rift, and many of his top diplomats/experts in the US government resigned or were dismissed from their duties.

Those Iraqi politicians, policy makers, and leaders who want to pivot Iraq toward Iran’s orbit – impose theocratic policies, copy-paste from the Iranian regime to Iraqi Society; who are assisting the Iranian regime to avoid the international economic sanctions because of the regime’s malicious behaviors; they should go ask the Iranian people how they feel about Mullah’s regime in Iran; in my view, they will overwhelmingly receive negative responses; Iranian people have desperately tried to eliminate the theocratic delusional regime, but they were brutally crushed by the regime’s abettors.

Both Iran and Turkish regimes malicious behavior and their encroachments have destabilized many regional states, via their proxies, economically and politically, for example, look at Lebanon’s economic status, most people are economically poor, living in dire situations and Libya‘s civil war, etc…The devastated situation for Palestinian people in Gaza, the war between Israel and Hamas, which both regimes Iran and Turkey use their proxies, along with their fictitious- rhetorics to destabilize the region. There are many World leaders who are greatly concerned about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which could possibly spiral out of control, escalate to a wider conflict, starting with Iran.

Iraqi journalists shared video from the scene showing a close up of the ring used to identify Qasem Soleimanis ‘torn to shreds’ body, Baghdad, Iraq, January 3, 2020. Photo: Press Association/PA

Nothing is impossible, but most unlikely to happen at this time: a) it’s election year in the United States, generally in the democratic society, no president, politician (s) or political party who is running the government, would like to go to war during election year cycle because so many unknown factors could happen that become disadvantageous, at the same time, many observers think American forces are stretched to thin round the globe countering major issues, from China-Taiwan tension, China bullying neighboring countries especially the maritime disputes in the South China Sea, Russia-Ukraine war, the ongoing Israel and Hamas war, etc., b) the Iranian regime is internally unstable, such as recent twin bombings in Kerman city, which caused many deaths and a lot injuries, the gathering was to remember the 2020 death of the notorious Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Quds Forces in Iran, who was killed outside Baghdad International Airport by a US drone strike c) their economy is mostly based on the hydrocarbon, natural gas…, that sector could be hit very hard, and possibly be knocked out of production for a long time, if war happens to involve the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime striking Erbil with drones and missiles is a sign of bullying neighboring countries into submission, with erroneous beliefs.

World War II, the United States, and Allies defeated both Nazi regime in Germany and the Imperial Japan government. After the war, the US assisted both to build German society and Japan, economically and politically. Look at what Germany and Japan achieved today, they would not have achieved under undemocratic rules.

“History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from it. And if it offends you, even better. Because then you are less likely to repeat it. It’s not yours to erase. It belongs to all of us” -Unknown. Iraqi politicians and leaders should learn a lesson from Germany and Japan’s success; and not allow Barbarians and Trojan horse agendas to nest in their gates, because they are like a vermin ruining their cities!!!

Omar Sindi, a senior writer, analyst and columnist for iKurd.net, Washington, United States.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.