US seeks to divide Iraq in three in order to maintain troop presence

By Robert Inlakesh

Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer and political analyst, who has lived in and reported from the occupied Palestinian West Bank. He has written for publications such as Mint Press, Mondoweiss, MEMO, and various other outlets. He specializes in analysis of the Middle East, in particular Palestine-Israel. He also works for Press TV as a European correspondent.

The US, pushed into a corner by Iraqi calls to expel the US occupying forces from their country, is reportedly seeking to split Iraq into three separate sectarian regions in order to maintain its troop presence in the region.

Today’s million man march in Iraq, called by Iraqi religious leader Moqtada al-Sadr, has stood as a testament to the fact that the Iraqi people are tired of the US’s involvement in their country. The 2.6 million strong march took place in Iraq’s capital Baghdad and has sent a strong message to the US about what public opinion is in Iraq on the issue. Iraq’s parliament, leadership and people are standing together, calling for the exit of what they see as a foreign occupation force. The US however, does not seem to care about the opinions of those they occupy and seeks instead to continue ruling over them.

One of the strategies employed in Iraq by the US, has been to divide the Iraqi population along sectarian lines and to exploit the tensions they have created. One of the most successful examples of how the US has done this has been in Northern Iraq, were the the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) maintains a semi-autonomous model, separating itself from the rule of the Iraqi government. The exploitation of the Kurdish minority in Iraq, has led to the mass uprooting of several other minority communities, such as the Assyrian Christians, leading to a manufacturing of pro-Western Kurdish controlled region - Iraqi Kurdistan - within the country. 

According to the Middle East Eye, both Iraqi and US officials have noted that a very similar project is on the minds of the Trump Administration for Anbar province of Iraq, where they seek to create a Sunni region in Iraq’s West. This sectarian Sunni region, if created, would mean that Iraq would essentially be balkanized into semi-autonomous sectarian regions, which could be exploited by the West in different ways. 

There are a number of goals which the US will attempt to be achieved with such a project. The first being the separation of Iraq, an ally of Iran, from Syria. The stirring of more hatred and conflict in Iraq, in order to keep the country down. And finally this move would ensure that the US would be able to keep its forces inside of Iraq, simply by relocating them to elsewhere in the country, most probably into Iraqi Kurdistan. 

There are already many rumors spreading that the US is seeking to greatly increase its troop presence in the KRG controlled region of Iraq, allowing them to defacto remain in Iraq and to have an area from which to strike into the rest of Iraq when they see fit. If we were to incorporate the idea of a potential Sunni controlled region in Western Iraq, we could assume that this region would then act as a lifeline to the US troops stationed in Eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor province.

The US strategically views its presence in Iraq, as being essential to countering Iran and its allies in the region, in an attempt to weaken the resolve of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ against Western hegemony. The US sees Iran and its allies, like the Popular Mobilization Units in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Syrian government, as a threat to Israel and to the US’s control of the Middle East’s resources. 

In order to allow Israel to continue its illegal occupation of Arab lands and its expansionist, conflict initiation approach in the region, the US must be there to throw its sheep into the slaughter for the Israeli regime. If it wasn’t for the US, Israel would likely be rolled back from Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian lands. 

US President Trump is now openly seeking to aid Israel in its attempt at a complete destruction of the Palestinian national project in Gaza, East Jerusalem (Al-Quds) and the West Bank, with his infamous, so called, ‘Deal of the Century’. The US actively has a number of CIA linked NED (National Endowment For Democracy) charities on the ground in Lebanon, reportedly creating violence within the Lebanese protests. It also actively worked, last year, with Israel to target Syria’s Air Defenses and has openly recognized the Golan as belonging to Israel, in violation of international law. As a part of the effort to destroy the resistance to Israel and the West in the region, the US also is not going to just walk away from Iraq.

There is a long-term plan that is being carried out against the people of the Middle-East, by the US and Israel, which can only be stopped by the steadfastness and intellect of the resistance in the region. The US and Israel love creating Sectarianism in the Middle East, they love watching Muslims killing Muslims, Arabs killing Arabs and Persians killing Persians. As long as the people of the Middle East are able to be divided the Israelis and the US will continue laughing, whilst they eat popcorn and watch the mess they have created.

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