American Influence Over Iraqi Government Fading

[Purveyor]

By the Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) -- American influence has so dwindled in Iraq over the last several months that Iraqi lawmakers and political leaders say they no longer follow Washington's advice for forming a government.

Instead, Iraqis are turning to neighboring nations, and especially Iran, for guidance -- casting doubt on the future of the American role in this strategic country after a grinding war that killed more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers.

"The Iraqi politicians are not responding to the U.S. like before. We don't pay great attention to them," Shiite lawmaker Sami al-Askari, a close ally of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Thursday. "The weak American role has given the region's countries a greater sense of influence on Iraqi affairs."

Vice President Joe Biden, the administration's point man for Iraq, has doggedly lobbied Iraqi leaders, both on the phone and in six trips to Iraq during the past two years.

Iraqis, however, measure U.S. influence largely by its military presence, which dipped by threefold from the war's peak to 50,000 troops in late August. As a result, Baghdad is now brushing off U.S. urgings to slow-walk a new government instead of rushing one through that might cater to Iran.

"The Iranian ambassador has a bigger role in Iraq than Biden," said a prominent Kurdish lawmaker, Mahmoud Othman. He said the Americans "will leave Iraq with its problems, thus their influence has become weak."

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http://www.thereporter.com/wirenews/ci_16405234

[DFab420]

1. Damned if we stay

Damned if we leave:
" "The Iranian ambassador has a bigger role in Iraq than Biden," said a prominent Kurdish lawmaker, Mahmoud Othman. He said the Americans "will leave Iraq with its problems, thus their influence has become weak."

Honestly though this isn't surprising. We are just the latest in a long line of world powers who meddled in a land so tangled that it's inevitable they draw back in on themselves. They would rather deal with a dictator or despot, then deal with Americans who they believe will vanish like a fart in the wind when it's expedient to do so.

[kenny blankenship]

2. Hopefully we are replicating all our Iraqi success in Afghanistan!

We can take all we learned from our Surge in Iraq and apply it in Afghanistan. Then, as Iraq slips from our grasp, we can take all we learned from Afghanistan and apply it to Iraq. By then it should be just about time once again to take everything we learned from the Iraq War: the Second Sequel, and reapply it to Afghanistan. When threepeat offender Afghanistan is declared pacified and stable we can finally turn our attentions to achieving lasting peace in Iraq, and by then we should be just about spent as a world power and nation state in command of its own territory and people, and History can close the books on us.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Isn't that what folks wanted? For Iraq to regain its independence?

:shrug:

[Tutankhamun]

4. Yes, regain their independence by doing what we tell them to do.

The logic is as follows: America, as a country, is independent. Above all else, our rhetoric trumpets the themes of "freedom" and "independence." Therefore, by following us, Iraq will be independent too.

This is a popular school of thought on American/Iraqi relations. It's subliminal in the minds of most Americans, but that was the intention of our leaders and their media when they planted this idea in preparation for the invasion.

The idea of independence through following orders from another only seems ridiculous when it's articulated. It's much easier to swallow when it's merely insinuated and assumed.