Striking a Kataib Hezbollah militia base in Iraq, the U.S. military killed 24 militants, injuring 55 responsible for rocket attack on a U.S.-backed Iraqi military base, killing an American contractor. Condemned by Iranian-backed Hezbollah [Party of God] continues to meddle in Iraq and Syria, prompting 73-year-old President Donald Trump to order the recent strike. While Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi condemned the attacks as a violaion of Iraq’s sovereignty, Iran has faced nearly continuous guerrilla war since former President George W. Bush launched the Iraq War Mach 20, 2003. Iran’s influence on Iraq increased after the fall of Saddam Hussein April 10, 2003, Iraq leaned toward Iran once Shiite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr fled to Iran following the second battle of Fallujah Nov. 7 – Dec. 23, 2004, where al-Sadr strung up U.S. soldiers on bridges like Christmas ornaments, attesting to his hatred of U.S. involvement, despite getting rid of Saddam.
Yesterday’s airstrike on Kataib Hezbollah draws a line in the sand when it comes to the Iranian-based militia killing a U.S. contractor. Trump’s been battling Hezbollah in Syria, setting up Iranian bases in Syria Iraq’s prime minister condemned U.S. actions because it’sthe politically correct thing to do publicly, despite quietly urging Trump to get rid of all foreign forces currently camped out in Iraq. It wasn’t than long ago that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] partitioned 33% of Iraqi territory, seizing oil fields in Mosul and Kirkuk to sell illicit oil to fund the late Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s caliphate. It took over five years to terminate al-Baghdadi, killing the world’s most wanted terrorist Oct. 26, 2019 in a U.S. airstrike. If nothing else, terrorists in Iraq know that they can’t escape the long arm of American justice, even if it takes several years. Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden met his fate May 2, 2011, 10 years after the worst terror attack in U.S. history
Trump’s military actions were equally condemned in Iraq and the press, with the anti-Trump media trying to spin the attack as turning Iraq against the U.S. In reality, the Iraqi government quietly backs any U.S. military action that addresses the multitude of terrorist group camping out inside Iraq. U.S. officials aren’t, as the U.S. press suggests, pitting Iraqis against the U.S., but stopping Hezbollah’s offshoots from firing rockets into U.S.-back Iraqi facilities. “What we did is take a decisive response that makes clear what President Trump has said for months, months and months,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo referred to Trump’s efforts to stop Iran’s proxy war against U.S. allies in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iran operates through a tightly knit group of militias, doing the bidding of Iran’s Ayatollah Khaemei, who’s ambition in the Mideast and North Africa in political domination in the region.
Saying Trump’s airstrikes against Hezbollah hurts U.S. rapport with Baghdad ignores the growing influence of Iran in Iraq, something began when Iran shielded Moqatada al-Sadr when he took refuge in Iran for several years. While Kataib Hezbollah claims to be an independent Iraqi militia, they are in fact a division of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, a sworn enemy of the U.S. and Israel. “We are taking about a foreign force attacking an Iraqi force,” said Maria Fantappie, Iraq analyst at International Crisis Group. Calling the Hezbollah-based militia a local Iraqi group shows the kind of spin used to attack U.S. foreign policy. Fantappie knows that the Iraqi government does not approve any militant groups outside the Iraqi military. Khtaib Hezbollah is clearly funded-by Iran for the purpose of gaining a stronger foothold in Iraq. Since the fall of Saddam, Iraqis have sacrificed blood-and-treasure to ensure that their country remains a sovereign state, independent of Iran’s Ayatollah.
Moqtada al-Sadr said it was “irresponsible” of foreign or domestic militias to act independently of the Iraqi government, in effect backing U.S. airstrikes. Pompeo has accused Iran of scheming to control Iraq and other Mideast countries. Recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery and oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman show that Iran is out of control Once former President Barack Obama handed over $16 billion in cash and $150 billion in sanctions relief to Iran in the so-called Iranian Nuke Deal July 15, 2015, it gave Iran a license to run amok in the Middle East and North Africa. When Trump cancelled the Iranian Nuke Deal May 8, 2018, Iran escalated its proxy attacks on U.S. targets. Trump’s detractors in the press would have you believe he’s responsible for Iran’s proxy war in the Mideast and North Africa Iran’s been attacking U.S. interests since seizing the U.S. embassy in Tehran Nov. 4, 1979, having little to do with Iranian Nuke Deal.
Iraq seeks independence from all outside groups but would have fallen into Iran’s orbit without U.S. military support. Iraq’s Prime Minister Mahdi knows that without U.S. help Iran would fall quickly into Iran’s orbit. Attacking Kataib Hezbollah militia doesn’t violate Iraqi sovereignty, it guarantees that it lasts. Blaming Trump for responding to a Hezbollah rocket attack on a U.S.-backed Iraqi military base, killing a U.S. contractor, shows the extent that the U.S. press despises Trump. Without responding quickly to an attack against U.S. interests, Trump would have been remiss as commander-in-chief. Iran has had free rein to attack U.S. interests under Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal. Now that Iran faces the toughest sanctions in its history, they’re looking for any way to assert their power. Instead of criticizing Trump, the press should be explaining how the Hezbollah militia threatens U.S. interests in Iraq and Syria, and can’t be ignored by U.S.
