Behind Iraq’s Protests

Since early October Iraq has been rocked by protests, which the international media has consistently portrayed as the worst cycle of violence since the defeat of Daesh. On the other hand, the Western media have tried to frame the Iraqi protests as a local uprising against “corruption”. But the Western media seem to forget that the nation is angry about “foreign influence” as well. The USA still remains a lingering occupying power in Iraq and it continues to deploy 5,000 troops in Iraq under the pretext of countering Daesh and promoting stability in the country. As for the meddling of the US’s all-weather allies, namely Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, more and more documents are coming to light. Yet, the very Western media, in tandem with much of the Arab world’s major broadcasters, is clearly reluctant to identify the real malign foreign influence behind the latest unrest in Iraq. This has placed additional burden on the non-mainstream media to expose the activities and intentions of regional powers like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Iraq.