Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 06:05 PM Jun 2019

Trump wants to use Iraq to 'watch' Iran. Baghdad says not so fast

Source: CNN


By Mick Krever, CNN

Updated 2040 GMT (0440 HKT) June 25, 2019

London (CNN) - Under no circumstances will Iraq allow the United States to use its bases in Iraq to launch an attack on neighboring Iran, Iraq's President Barham Salih told CNN.

"We do not want our territory to be a staging post for any hostile action against any of our neighbors, including Iran," Salih said in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour in London on Tuesday.

"This is definitely not part of the agreement between the Iraqi government and the United States."

In an interview with CBS in February, US President Trump said that "one of the reasons" he wanted to keep a base in Iraq was to "be looking a little bit at Iran, because Iran is a real problem." (When asked if he meant that his intention was to be able to attack Iran, he said, "No... all I want to do be able to watch.&quot

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/25/world/iraq-iran-barham-salih-amanpour-intl/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Politics%29

10 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trump wants to use Iraq to 'watch' Iran. Baghdad says not so fast (Original Post) DonViejo Jun 2019 OP
This message was self-deleted by its author TeamPooka Jun 2019 #1
During that time, Iraq was controlled by Saddam Hussein's Sunni party against Shia Iran. House of Roberts Jun 2019 #5
Good God in Butter is Trump stupid Botany Jun 2019 #2
I wouldn't call them mortal enemies yaesu Jun 2019 #3
No one in the world wants to be involved in rumps' own messes and I don't blame them. Many... SWBTATTReg Jun 2019 #4
Geography makes Iran a tough nut paleotn Jun 2019 #6
On a military scale modrepub Jun 2019 #10
Get ready for the Khuzestan gambit. roamer65 Jun 2019 #7
Wars are about money watoos Jun 2019 #8
Because America has been such a good friend to Iraq? BlueIdaho Jun 2019 #9

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

House of Roberts

(5,120 posts)
5. During that time, Iraq was controlled by Saddam Hussein's Sunni party against Shia Iran.
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 08:39 PM
Jun 2019

Iraq is now run by its Shia majority, and the two countries are no longer enemies.

Botany

(70,291 posts)
2. Good God in Butter is Trump stupid
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 06:13 PM
Jun 2019

From 1980 to 1988 Iraq and Iran were @ war and they still are mortal enemies to this day.

yaesu

(8,020 posts)
3. I wouldn't call them mortal enemies
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 06:24 PM
Jun 2019

Iran is Iraq's third-largest trade partner, at approximately $12 billion annually. In the 2018 elections, Iran loyalists in the Fatah Alliance won 48 of the seats—14.6 percent—in Iraq’s parliament, making it the second-largest bloc in the legislature. And Iran has armed Shiite militias, which have cornered parts of the Iraqi economy and are responsible for security in some regions even after the territorial defeat of the Islamic State.

SWBTATTReg

(21,859 posts)
4. No one in the world wants to be involved in rumps' own messes and I don't blame them. Many...
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 07:25 PM
Jun 2019

have already said that they wouldn't send ships to the area, troops or the like, and here we got Iraq wanting nothing to do with rump's own mess.

paleotn

(17,778 posts)
6. Geography makes Iran a tough nut
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 08:42 PM
Jun 2019

Mahdi's government and Iraqi Shias want nothing to do with any half ass invasion through their territory, so no easy jumping off point like Kuwait. The key to much of Iran's coastline is the Strait of Hormuz. Difficult at best. Turkey? Forget it. Pakistan? Joking, right? Afghanistan? It would take months, if not years for the necessary build up, and all the heavy stuff has to go through Pakistan. An insurgents paradise. It would cost untold billions, plus, the Stan's are the long way to Tehran. Except...Turkmenistan? Please. They don't like us much. Who can blame them? And they're landlocked. Again, everything would go through Pakistan AND Afghanistan. Ain't happening. And people wonder why the Pentagon is so dead set against any military action against Iran. It's a tough nut and when we fail, we'll look like bigger assholes than we do today. Hmmm....maybe diplomacy is the way to go and not getting caught up fighting the kingdoms wars for them.

modrepub

(3,469 posts)
10. On a military scale
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 04:32 AM
Jun 2019

It's no contest. But wars are not won on military strength alone. Iraq went pretty quickly but the real trouble came afterwards with asymmetric warfare. Expect the same with Iran. If our military couldn't control 35 million people in Iraq, with probably a full third (Kurds) openly supporting us than what hope has our military controlling 80 million people with a significant portion probably openly hostile to our presence?

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
7. Get ready for the Khuzestan gambit.
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 10:38 PM
Jun 2019

They will try to turn Arab Shi’a in Iraq and Iran’s Khuzestan province against the Persians.

Khuzestan province has 90 pct of Iran’s oil.

 

watoos

(7,142 posts)
8. Wars are about money
Tue Jun 25, 2019, 11:04 PM
Jun 2019

and Putin doesn't want a war in Iran. Putin runs the Iraq/Iran oil /gas pipelines that go to Europe.

What's Trump going to do about the Russian planes that are landing in Venezuela? What's Trump going to do about the Russian military ship with cruise missiles that just docked in Havana? Venezuela and Cuba are quite close to our shores. Putin wants military bases outside of the former Soviet Union and it looks like he is eyeing up Venezuela and Cuba.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Trump wants to use Iraq t...