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Source: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/iraq-quietly-falling-apart
Iran's Proxies Have Seized Power in Baghdad
(Foreign Affairs) Michael Knights - Iraq may look calm, but Iran's allies have achieved unprecedented control of Iraq's parliament, judiciary, and executive branch, and they are rapidly rigging the political system in their favor and looting the state of its resources. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani leads Iraq in name only. The real powers are three warlords, each closely tied to Iran: U.S.-designated terrorist Qais al-Khazali, the head of the Iran-trained Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia; former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki; and the leader of the Iran-founded Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri. The U.S. can position itself on the right side of history in Iraq if it continues to push back energetically against the worst excesses of the militias that stand behind the current government. Washington can still use its voice and unmatched financial and intelligence capabilities to weaken antidemocratic forces and give Iraq's youth, reformers, and anticorruption investigators the opportunity to defend the fragile democracy that still - barely - exists in Iraq. The writer is a senior fellow of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.