Iraq at "Decision Point"

There is something austere these days in the US approach to Iraq. The diplomatic pleasantries and talk of "strategic partnership" are crowded out by matter-of-fact demarches and warnings. And there’s no mystery why. Iran has made Iraq a battlefield. Iranian backed militias in Iraq have killed Americans, twice, in December and again this month. American forces have been injured by Iranian or Iranian proxy attacks. Also in December, Iran-backed militias organized crowds to attack the US Embassy in Baghdad, and Iraqi security forces were initially nowhere to be found.

“The Iraqi government is at a decision point,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said last week.

US policy toward Iraq is now a variation of "us or them," with "them" being Iran. The future of the US-Iraq relationship depends on Iraq’s choices. There can be no claims to Switzerland-like neutrality. The Trump administration has so far shown unusual restraint and empathy with Iraq’s plight. It knows Iraq can’t change its border with Iran, and an all-out conflict is in noone's interest. But when Americans are killed and US embassies are under siege, there is an inevitable reckoning.