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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/world/middleeast/iraq-protests-iran.html
Iraqis Rise Against a Reviled Occupier: Iran
(New York Times) Alissa J. Rubin - Last week more than 200,000 Iraqis marched in Baghdad, raging against the Iraqi government and a foreign occupier - Iran. "Free, free Iraq," they shouted, "Iran get out, get out." The protests are part of a developing revolt against efforts by Iran to project its power throughout the Middle East. Saad Eskander, former head of the Iraqi National Archives, said the protesters were fed up with corruption and the Shiite militias, some of which have evolved into mafias running extortion rackets. The struggle is between those who have profited handsomely since the American invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, and those who are struggling and look on with fury as the political parties, some with ties to Iran, distribute payoffs to the well-connected. As the U.S. retreated from Iraq after 2009, Iranian-linked parties extended their networks inside the government. Iran helped form militias to fight ISIS, and by 2018 they become so powerful that political parties linked to Iran became the kingmakers in the government. It was Iranian Maj.-Gen. Qassim Suleimani who brokered the deal that created the current Iraqi government.