SobieskiSavedEurope
Gold Member
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Do you kind of miss Saddam Hussein, yet?
Gee, why did the New York Post types fight tooth, and nail to get rid of Saddam Hussein, who kept Iran in check?
Now, we have much worse, thanks in part to W. Bush, and Obama.
https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/iraqi-anger-at-iran-is-an-opportunity-for-america/
Iraqi anger at Iran is an opportunity for America
By Benny Avni
September 10, 2018 | 8:10pm
Modal Trigger
Iraqi protesters in BasraAFP/Getty Images
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With Baghdad’s politics back in chaos, America needs to up the battle against Iran’s influence over Iraq.
Last week angry protesters torched the Iranian consulate in Basra, the southern city in the heart of Iraq’s oil country. The protesters, mostly young Shiites, were angry over increasingly contaminated water. Related illnesses have recently hospitalized 30,000 people.
Yet Basra’s water problem is but a symptom of Iraq’s succession of hapless governments.
Iran and Turkey have built dams on the Tigris River, Basra’s main water source, and also diverted water to aid their own farmers. Meanwhile, Baghdad and local governments have failed to maintain, let alone renew, water infrastructure (or adequately fulfill any other civil task, for that matter.)
Mostly, anger is directed at those who run things, and Iran controls Iraqi militias and top politicians — especially in Basra, where posters of Ayatollah Khomeini hang everywhere. So the Iranian consulate was a natural target for protests.
A tense calm returned Monday, and Prime Minister Haider al Abadi even dared visit Basra. Abadi’s hold on power is tenuous amid a political standoff after the May 12 election, in which a faction led by Moqtada Sadr, the former anti-American firebrand turned a calculating politician, won the largest number of votes.
Sadr, who isn’t vying for the leadership himself, initially backed Abadi — an alliance that looked like a promising coalition against the politicians in Iran’s pocket. Sadr recently removed his support from Abadi, but Iraqi sources tell me that, after Abadi’s Basra visit, the coalition may well reunite, perhaps riding a wave of anti-Iran frustration.
Gee, why did the New York Post types fight tooth, and nail to get rid of Saddam Hussein, who kept Iran in check?
Now, we have much worse, thanks in part to W. Bush, and Obama.
https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/iraqi-anger-at-iran-is-an-opportunity-for-america/
Iraqi anger at Iran is an opportunity for America
By Benny Avni
September 10, 2018 | 8:10pm
Modal Trigger
Iraqi protesters in BasraAFP/Getty Images
MORE FROM:
BENNY AVNI
How Team Trump is making the UN spotlight Iran's evil
Trump is busting the myths that prevent Middle East peace
Venezuela's nightmare is spreading to its neighbors
The global lobbying to appease North Korea is going strong
Iran has only begun to feel the pain of Trump's sanctions
With Baghdad’s politics back in chaos, America needs to up the battle against Iran’s influence over Iraq.
Last week angry protesters torched the Iranian consulate in Basra, the southern city in the heart of Iraq’s oil country. The protesters, mostly young Shiites, were angry over increasingly contaminated water. Related illnesses have recently hospitalized 30,000 people.
Yet Basra’s water problem is but a symptom of Iraq’s succession of hapless governments.
Iran and Turkey have built dams on the Tigris River, Basra’s main water source, and also diverted water to aid their own farmers. Meanwhile, Baghdad and local governments have failed to maintain, let alone renew, water infrastructure (or adequately fulfill any other civil task, for that matter.)
Mostly, anger is directed at those who run things, and Iran controls Iraqi militias and top politicians — especially in Basra, where posters of Ayatollah Khomeini hang everywhere. So the Iranian consulate was a natural target for protests.
A tense calm returned Monday, and Prime Minister Haider al Abadi even dared visit Basra. Abadi’s hold on power is tenuous amid a political standoff after the May 12 election, in which a faction led by Moqtada Sadr, the former anti-American firebrand turned a calculating politician, won the largest number of votes.
Sadr, who isn’t vying for the leadership himself, initially backed Abadi — an alliance that looked like a promising coalition against the politicians in Iran’s pocket. Sadr recently removed his support from Abadi, but Iraqi sources tell me that, after Abadi’s Basra visit, the coalition may well reunite, perhaps riding a wave of anti-Iran frustration.
