Anyone visiting Iraq and wandering the streets cannot fail to notice the disappointment, anger and desperation in people’s voices. If asked about the US, pro-Iranian citizens describe it as the “great evil,” while others blame Washington for presenting their country to the Iranian regime on a silver platter.
As 2022 approaches, we can see how the policies of the Washington administration have inflicted woes on the region, starting with Yemen and continuing through Iran and other regional countries that are facing security and political instability.
In February, US President Joe Biden, along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, revealed the “America’s Place in the World” plan and outlined the administration’s foreign policy goals for the next four years.
“Investing in our diplomacy is not something we do just because it is the right thing to do for the world. We do it in order to live in peace, security and prosperity. We do it because it is in our own naked self-interest. When we strengthen our alliances, we amplify our power, as well as our ability to disrupt threats before they can reach our shores,” Biden said in his first foreign policy remarks since taking office.
Iraq, it seemed, had little part in this equation, despite the presence of US troops there.
When asked about the Middle East, a former senior national security official and close Biden adviser stressed that the region was not one of Biden’s Top 3 priorities. “It is Asia-Pacific, then Europe and then the Western Hemisphere. And that reflects a bipartisan consensus that the issues demanding our attention have changed as great power competition (with China and Russia) is resurgent,” Politico magazine quoted the unnamed source as saying.
Biden’s omission of Iraq shows that Washington views the country from an Iranian angle, giving priority to reviving the nuclear deal instead of limiting Tehran’s influence in Iraq and other neighboring countries and preventing the horrific crimes and human rights violations carried out by Iranian-backed militias against innocent Iraqi citizens.
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