Here we go again! Hasn’t the American administration learned from past mistakes in the Middle East? Remember supporting the former dictator, the Shah of Iran, against the Iranian people who suffered terribly under his regime. Remember the flimsy excuses given by Bush Jr. to invade Iraq based on false intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s supposed “weapons of mass destruction”. Remember how the American occupation of Iraq and failure of subsequent Iraqi governments led to the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIL) and subsequent years of terror in the region.
Now, we have an American President ordering the assassination of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who the Trump administration claimed to pose a “clear and present danger.” One can always ask “why now”? Seems all too convenient as a distraction for a President who is smack in the middle of the impeachment process. Now, U.S. and NATO forces and Westerners in the region are at real risk from Iranian reprisals. The Iraqi parliament has voted to kick American and foreign forces out of the country, despite Trump’s threats of placing stiff sanctions on Iraq and making the Iraqis pay for the al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq. This important base hosts many U.S. troops and was a strategic key in the war against ISIL. Indeed, the U.S.-Iranian conflict may have just opened the door for the reemergence of ISIL in the region which is a much greater threat to everyone. Remember that Iranian-backed forces fought against ISIL in Syria.
The actions by Trump carried out by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper may have just complicated what is already a dangerous situation in the region. As was the past case in Iraq and Afghanistan, the current administration appears to have no strategy to deal with the likely escalation of U.S.-Iranian conflict that will most definitely follow. Iran on the other hand has been given an opportunity by the American actions to distract the Iranian people from recent protests and uprisings within Iran against the regime driven by the country’s poor economic conditions. In addition, the Iranian regime now has an excuse to recommense its nuclear arms program by withdrawing from the current accord which, under Trump, is no longer recognized by the U.S.
Canada, which has hundreds of military and other personnel in the region, has helped in the training of Iraqi security forces. With the recent events, they have been told to stand down. The Americans have unfortunately paused their counterterrorism operations and are now focused on ensuring their security on bases throughout the region. Some retaliatory moves by Iran are bound to happen, leaving Westerners throughout the region in a very dangerous position. Trump’s further threats of potential reprisals, military or economic, may only add to what is already a very volatile situation. Indeed, I would advocate that all Canadian personnel be withdrawn immediately and entirely from the region, in particular from Iraq. Once again, why should Canadians pay with their lives for U.S. mistakes in the region?
FROLITICKS 