Iraq is crumbling.
The nation into which America poured so much blood and treasure is tearing apart. Its government has lost control and is spiraling into chaos.
So much so that recently thousands of Iraqis stormed the “Green Zone,” the portion of Baghdad that lies behind fortified walls. Inside those walls you will find the houses of government, foreign embassies, luxury hotels, shops, and restaurants. The Green Zone is the safe place in Baghdad where most foreigners stay when visiting the capital city.
The Iraqi protesters stormed the walls, tearing them down. They pushed on into the Parliament building, where they occupied the chamber for several hours.
Mostly, they were followers of the radical Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. They became enraged when the government disintegrated and they were unable to seat new ministers who represented al-Sadr’s faction.
The main beneficiaries of Iraq’s chaos are Sunni ISIS and Shi’ite Iran. ISIS wants to subdue Iraq and rule it by conquest. Iran wants to subdue Iraq and rule it by seduction. Both can achieve their goals only when the Iraqi people are at each others’ throats. As they are now.
Though U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden recently paid a brief visit to Baghdad in an attempt to boost the government and calm the situation (as did Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter), the death spiral continues unabated.
And we’re foolish to think we can stop it. These factions have been at war for centuries, since the night the hand of God wrote on the wall and the Babylonian Empire fell to the Medo-Persian Empire — the forbears of modern Iran.
In the years following the fall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Britain and France arbitrarily created Iraq. They simply sketched lines on a map and called it “Iraq.” It didn’t seem to matter that they were putting mortal enemies together inside a cage and telling them to form a nation.
From Day One, Iraq has been a nation at war within itself. It has only functioned when run by ruthless strongmen such as Saddam Hussein. Since 2003, the United States has been trying to turn this boiling cauldron into a democracy. I believe it is an unfixable problem. And yet, the U.S. cannot leave, because the permanent defeat of ISIS depends on the nation of Iraq.
Iran is all Shia. Iraq is mostly Shia. And it is drifting into Iran’s orbit by default. It is gut-wrenching to see that nation use its new freedom to give itself to new masters — the mullahs of Iran.
transmitted by Hal Lindsey – 5/6/2016
