Ahmadinejad Returns to Baghdad

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 17, 2013
All Rights Reserved.                                      

             Rolling out the red carpet for 56-year-old Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iraq’s Vice President Khudier al-Khuzaie exchanged kisses with the one of the world’s most vocal U.S.-bashers.  After spending over $1 trillion and losing more than 4,886 U.S. troops, former President George W. Bush great experiment with Mideast democracy officially backfired.  Closer to Iran than ever, Ahmadinejad only brings “brotherly love,” whose bloody eight-year war cost Iran nearly 1 million lives.  Now it’s all kisses that the new Iraq is no longer Saddam Hussein’s Sunni dictatorship.  Bush launched the Iraq War March 20, 2003 claiming that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction, especially biological agents, threatening U.S. national security in the wake of Sept. 11.  When nothing was found after toppling Saddam April 10, 2003, the mission became one of democracy.

             When President Barack Obama officially ended the Iraq War Dec. 31, 2011, Republicans on Capitol Hill protested there was more work to do.  Three years into his presidency, Obama found out the hard way that there was no winning-for-losing with Iraq’s new close ties to Iran.  U.S. officials should have figured things out after radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was hidden by U.S.-backed Iraq President Nouri al-Maliki in Iran, wanted by the Pentagon for over a 120 deaths from his al-Mahdi militia in the 2004 battles of Fallujah.  Though sacrificing U.S. troops to protect the al-Maliki government, a strong alliance between Shiite Iraq and Iran was forming to the detriment of U.S. national security.  Watching Ahmadinejad get the royal treatment in Baghdad shows just how far Operation Iraqi Liberation backfired, serving no purpose other than ridding Iraq of Saddam Hussein.

             Hussein’s Iraq was no friend of Iran.  Today’s Iraq has closer ties to Tehran than Washington, leaving the U.S. only wondering how badly things went awry.  Leaving office in August, Ahmandinejad hoped to cement economic ties with Iraq that includes the sale of natural gas and completion of a pipeline between Baghdad and Tehran, supplying Iraq’s ramshackle electrical grip with electricity into the foreseeable future.  Given the draconic U.N. sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program crippling the Iranian economy, Baghdad provides the best way to skirt U.N. sanctions and continue business as usual with Iranl.  It’s beyond ironic that the U.S.-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki now provides Iran the business relationship needed to circumvent U.N. sanctions.  While on the back burner, Iran’s covert atomic work continues to threaten the region with a nuclear arms race.

             Scheduled to hand the baton to newly elected president Hassan Rouhani in August, Ahmadinejad’s last official duties involve sticking it to the U.S. whenever possible.  Sealing a 25 million cubic meters natural gas deal with Baghdad, Ahmadinejad puts Iran in good stead to neutralize the punishing effects of U.N. sanctions.  With the Syrian War occupying the headlines, Iran’s nuclear program has receded into the background.  Whatever the changeover in Iran’s leadership, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei won’t abandon Iran’s nuclear ambitions anytime soon.  Given the growing business relationship and bicultural exchange with Iran, al-Maliki won’t reverse the strong ties to Tehran, helping Iran beat U.N. sanctions.  Baghdad’s biggest threat—like in Damascus—comes from Saudi-funded Sunni insurgents seeking to topple al-Maliki’s Shiite regime.

             When Obama announced June 14 he intended to supply arms to Syrian rebels he damaged U.S.-Moscow relations.  Russian President Vladimir Putin begged Barack to stay out the Syrian War.  New reports show that the Saudi-backed Wahhabi insurgency is beginning to fail, leaving Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power.  Russia and China believe the region would be far less stable with Sunni insurgents taking over the region.  Obama’s plan to arm Syrian rebels—thought backed by GOP hawks like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)—hurt bilateral relations with Russia and China.  Had Obama not insisted on arming Syrian rebels, Putin would have delivered NSA leaker Edward Snowden on a silver platter.  Obama’s newly minted U.N. ambassador 42-year-old Samantha Power signaled she supports arming Syrian rebels despite the consequences in the U.N. Security Council.

             If the Iraq War taught the U.S. anything, it’s that the U.S. should not stick its nose anywhere that doesn’t involve U.S. national security.  Keeping al-Assad in power—while detestable—is still preferred over opening up the floodgates of Islamic extremism that’s bound to happen if al-Assad falls.  With strong economic ties to Syria, Russia and China had to suck it up and watch the U.S. make brutal mistakes in Iraq.  While national U.S. national security isn’t always aligned with Russia and China, the humanitarian crisis in Syria is best left to the Syrians and regional players.  If al-Assad succeeds in beating back the Saudi-funded insurgency, the death toll against the civilian population would dramatically drop.  As long as Syria is a legitimate U.N. state, Russia and China—key members on Security Council—believe it has a right to defend its sovereignty, including beating back the insurgency.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.