Yes, Iraq. It has not made front page headlines with so much else going on, but over the last several days there has been an escalating series of protests against corruption in various parts of Iraq and culminating yesterday in Baghdad with one being met by soldiers firing openly upon the demonstarters with the result being about 104 dead and 6,100 wounded. The government of Adel Abdul al Mahdi appears in danger of facing a no confidence motion and falling as it has lost the support of fellow Shia leader al-Sadr, who has a large faction of supporters in the parliament and how apparently is supporting the demonstraters.
Corruption has become an increasingly widespread problem around the world, so much so that we increasingly take it for granted and remain unimpressed by it. And we are tired of hearing about Iraq, a nation we made a mess of, are now mostly not much bothered with, and especially since it appears that ISIS has been largely defeated. Indeed, opposition to the deep government corruption there laid low while the war against ISIS was on. But now with its defeat, many want something done about it.
The result of our intervention there was always going to be a Shia state aligned with Iran. The only thing preventing that all those years was Saddam. You remove that and the result was inevitable. The only question was how long it was going to take. Apparently long enough for us to lose interest.
Ahmed-Maliki just needs to announce that ground is being broken for Trump Tower-Baghdad, and US interest will pick up immediately.
I have corrected the original post. The prime minister’s name is Adel Abdul al Mahdi, not “Ahmed-Maliki,” that was an earlier PM. Also, I have updated the death and injury numbers based on this morning’s WaPo, now 104 dead and 6,100 wounded.
BTW, the degree of alignment with Iran is an open and ongoing issue, although certainly once a Sunni leadership was gone, they were likely to be much friendlier with Iran. Apparently one issue in the demos, especially coming from the more nationalistic Sadrists, is unhappiness about being too close to Iran.
Barkley:
I change the detail for you.
“….Ahmed-Maliki just needs to announce that ground is being broken for Trump Tower-Baghdad…”
Better yet, maybe they could find a spot for Hunter Biden on the board of the state oil company.
Edmond:
You have been here before as Edmond and now you are Michael. Decide who you wish to be and stay that person. I do not approve multiple identities.
@Edmondo,
LOL! Hunter Biden serving on the board of a Ukraine oil company did nothing to stabilize Ukraine or increase US interests in Ukraine.
But nice try at GOP propaganda deflection.