The New Iranian Empire

A new Persian Empire is rising upon the decimated, abandoned, failed state of Iraq. The military forces of Iraq, although armed and trained by America, have proven to be of inferior character – prone to fleeing and abandoning American weapons and vehicles to the eager hands of ISIS. Due to Iraq’s inability to defend and America’s refusal to properly act, Iran has filled the void of savior to Iraq’s Shiite popultion. 

Iraq’s shortcomings – militarily and diplomatically – have made it inappropriate and inaccurate to call Iraq a country.  The strongest ground troops within what is called Iraq are the Kurdish Peshmerga, who the Iraqi government refuses to pay for or acknowledge as a legitimate military force within the Shiite zone of what is called Iraq. Along with diplomatic disagreements over oil, this split caused by the Shiite government has convinced the Kurdish government not to continue with the failed experiment of Iraq.

The pseudo-government residing in Baghdad – given their predicament of not having military power and currently being under siege by Sunni extremists – accepted their only option, one which the Shiite government installed after the 2003 Iraq war has always viewed favorably: become an official or unofficial vassal state of Iran. 

 Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Kurdistan recently stated: “You can’t go back to the same structure, the same system, because Iraq is now a failed state. There is no Iraqi nation. But independence won’t be offered to us, we’ll have to take it. With the only standing army within Iraq no longer considersing themselves part of Iraq, the Baghdadi government was eager to allow Iranian troops in to fight their battles.

Unless Iran – a country that has executed over a thousand people this year – has become a force of benevolence and security, imagining a time in which they will leave Iraq has become more and more difficult. While some on the left view this as a positive, given their pre-existing dismissal of American action in Iraq, many experts fear the ramifications of such a presence. 

“I would lift perhaps the restriction on even the more Iranian-backed [militias] if we have good reason to believe they won’t run amok among the Sunni population, because we are in a crisis here with humanitarian (thousands of pro-government Sunni families in Ramadi) as well as military aspects,” said former ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey.

The murder of Sunni women and children by these Iranian funded militias will undoubtedly be a rallying cry for Sunnis around to world to join ISIS. In the cities of the failed colonial experiment some still call Iraq, Sunnis will be presented with three options in the face of Iranian forces: run; die; join ISIS. Such an event would trigger a multiplication of Islamic State power.

 Due to the Obama administration’s complete misinterpretation of the issues within Iraq, the only consequence of the 2003 Iraq war is the tremendous growth of Iran – paid for with thousands of American lives. Also thanks to the Obama administrations lack of pressure, the new Persian Empire is not far away from acquiring nuclear weapons. Just when you thought things couldnt get worse in the Middle East…