Iraq May Sidle Up to Iran, Want the United States Gone

By Logan Williams, Warrior Editorial Fellow

At his press briefing, just days ago, on the 4th of January, the Pentagon Press Secretary, Air Force Major General Pat Ryder went to great lengths to painstakingly reiterate that the US views Iraq as “an important and valued partner.” Major General Pat Ryder went on to state that “we [the United States’ troops] work very closely with the Iraqi Security Forces… and [we] have had a relationship with the Iraqi Security Forces for many years;” and Major General Ryder also repeatedly emphasized that the United States’ forces are stationed in Iraq “at the invitation of the government of Iraq, to help train and advise, in support of the Defeat ISIS mission.”

The feeling of “valued partnership” between the United States and Iraq, expressed by the Pentagon, does not seem to be mutual at the moment — and the Iraqi government is attempting to rescind its “invitation” for U.S. troops to be stationed on Iraqi soil.

It is important to note that the current friction between the United States’ forces and the Iraqi government, given voice by the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani, was catalyzed by the United States’ rare, targeted airstrike against an Iraqi citizen, conducted on the 4th of January, 2023. The airstrike, which Maj. Gen. Ryder described as a defensive action and as a “necessary, proportional act,” targeted Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, the leader of a militia group that has been listed by the U.S. Department of State as a foreign terrorist organization, called Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HAN or HHN).

Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces

HAN is a part of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF; i.e., Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), although there seems to be some disagreement as to whether the HAN has parted from the PMF, as some news organizations’ reportage lists the two as previously affiliated organizations.

For historical context, the PMF is a conglomeration of different tribal militia groups, that operates as a quasi-official Iraqi state security service, despite in reality existing separate from the official Iraqi Security Forces and operating outside of the chain of command. The PMF is known for its particular brutality, having been accused of numerous war crimes, intentionally inflaming sectarian violence, and targeting innocent Sunni Muslim civilians unconnected to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; i.e., Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS), for illegal detention, torture, and murder. The PMF has even occasionally been called the new Iraqi Republican Guard, due to its proclivity for grotesque violence, and presumably, as a reference to its lack of obedience to the government’s command structure.

The PMF militia units originated as Iranian-backed “Special Groups,” which were Shia Muslim terrorist organizations intent upon carrying out attacks upon United States military forces during the United States’ initial 2003-2011 intervention and occupation within the State of Iraq. Iran’s Quds force, a division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, was responsible for the proffering of training, weapons, and financing for Shia terrorist organizations in Iraq. Iran, being one of two Shia-majority Muslim nations (Iraq being the other, although the divide is not nearly as cavernous as it is in Iran) and the only Muslim nation in which Shia Muslims have a strong majority, hopes to establish Shia-led states in Sunni-majority nations, believing that Shia-majority or Shia-led states will show loyalty and deference to Iran, as the epicenter of Shia Islam.