The US and Iraq have had their ups and downs. In the 1980s, the US had to get involved in the Gulf due to the Iran-Iraq War, and in 1991 America led an alliance to eject Iraq from Kuwait. In 2003, America invaded the country and took over Baghdad, and now it looks like the US and Iraq are turning over a new leaf again.
This is all coming about because Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi went to Washington this week to meet US President Donald Trump.
Trump likes personal meetings. He wants to size up an individual. Through this, he decides if he likes someone. If he does, then US policy will flow from that assessment. This personal brand of politics hearkens back to Trump’s business experience and his New York roots. This has now become an integral part of the Trump doctrine. Personal meetings. Personal assessment.
It appears that Trump likes Iraq’s new leader. Zaidi is a former businessperson, like Trump. As such, Zaidi tried to present a new face of Iraq to the White House. The reports in the region also reflect the idea that Trump is “betting” on Zaidi for a better future for Iraq.
It’s worth recalling that it has been a rocky road in Iraq. After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the US took over Iraq. It tried to create a new government with limited success. Purging the Ba’athists led to a power vacuum.
From al-Qaeda to ISIS
Insurgents rushed in, some of them coming from Syria and quietly helped by the Assad regime. Then came al-Qaeda also. In addition, Iran backed Shi’ite groups.
Within years, the US had to surge more troops to Iraq. Then the US decided to leave, and by 2011, US troops were gone, and soon after, ISIS was on the rise. The US had believed that prime minister Nouri al-Maliki might be a helpful strongman type in Iraq.
However, Maliki proved a disaster. Pro-Iranian and a Shi’ite sectarian, he drove Sunnis into the arms of ISIS and alienated Kurds. By 2014, Iraq was falling apart. The US had to come back to help Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region.
With Maliki resigning, the US invested in a new prime minister called Haider al-Abadi, who helped liberate Mosul but also cultivated Shi’ite militias. Later, more prime ministers came and went. They are all relatively weak.
Iran held the strings behind the scenes. The Shi’ite militias attacked US bases, including Camp Taji and Assad base. The US used COVID as an excuse to redeploy forces. Most American personnel moved to the Kurdistan region and a new consulate there and several other facilities.
However, the militias kept attacking. The US killed IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Shi’ite militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in 2020. By 2021 and 2022, the militias had shifted to using more drones to attack the US.
The US is now leaving Iraq again. The new prime minister wants to shift to a partnership with the US. He has vowed to rein in and disarm the militias. This is part of the disarmament agenda the US has pursued in Gaza and Lebanon with mixed results.
Meetings in US go well
The meetings in Washington have gone well for Iraq’s prime minister. He got along with Trump. He signaled that Iraq is trying to turn a new page in relations. He also met with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “I hosted Iraqi PM Ali al-Zaidi at the Pentagon today,” Hegseth wrote on X/Twitter.
“To deepen our partnership, Iraq must assert its sovereignty and disarm the Iran-aligned militias responsible for 600+ attacks on US personnel this spring. The US is also looking to the Iraqi Security Forces, including the Peshmerga and other Iraqi Kurdistan Region security forces, to lead in D-ISIS (the defeat of ISIS) efforts as the OIR military mission winds down,” Hegseth added. “A secure Iraq opens the door to strong commercial and defense cooperation.”
Back home in Iraq, the Iranian-backed militias are still armed and waiting. “The Secretary-General of the Al-Nujaba Movement, Akram Al-Kaabi, attacked US President Donald Trump on Wednesday over his recent statements criticizing the late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani during his meeting yesterday with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi, while accusing American companies of being behind the failure of the electricity sector in the country,” Iraq’s Shafaq News noted. This indicates that the militias will not go quietly.