Iraq at "Decision Point"
There is something austere these days in the US approach to Iraq. The diplomatic pleasantries and talk of "strategic partnership" are crowded out by matter-of-fact demarches and warnings. And there’s no mystery why. Iran has made Iraq a battlefield. Iranian backed militias in Iraq have killed Americans, twice, in December and again this month. American forces have been injured by Iranian or Iranian proxy attacks. Also in December, Iran-backed militias organized crowds to attack the US Embassy in Baghdad, and Iraqi security forces were initially nowhere to be found.