The incompetence of the "team" appointed to run Iraq (under the inept procunsul Bremer) is on record. You can read 'Imperial Life in the Emerald City' and confirm it.
But for colossal stupidity, the notion of the Trump "team" telling Iraq where and how to get electricity is world class. The Olympics don't give out such medals, but shouldn't there be a platinum disc for Donald inscribed: 'for arrogance, stupidity and incompetence, your latest Iraq policy wins first prize'.
GW Bush didn't know the division between Shi'a and Sunni branches of Islam. Is Donald aware that Iraq is a very hot place? Is Mar a lago cooled by virtuous voltage? There is so much to learn, I don't think the current POTUS has enough time. How is he able to find advisors as dense as he is?
5
Iraq is Iran now, do we have anyone watching the fort? Anyone?
1
This kind of strategy was so fantastically successful with Cuba -- creating an impoverished nation for decades, but one that stuck to its guns in telling us to stick it -- that why wouldn't we try it here? I am no foreign policy guru, but my sense is the regional economic interdependence has a better chance of contributing to regional stability than some old white man cold warrior "us or them" mentality. Not that there aren't issues with Iran - support for terrorists, meddling in other countries, funding foreign wars, ruled by a racist theocracy -- which fascinatingly is what they say about us -- but we have seen how trying to shut out and isolate doesn't really work. Ask Putin. Or Kim.
Remember those days when Iraq produced oil, gas and energy in abundance, enough to export it and still have ample supplies at home?
When no one in Iraq had to suffer and starve?
Yes, that was under Saddam Hussein and before the US "liberated" Iraq for not being part of the attacks in 9/11.
This reminds me of an old Soviet Union joke:
"Daddy what did we have before Socialism liberated us?"
"Everything my son, simply everything".
Looks like the US still does not understand the consequences its foreign policies and illegal wars have on the region and its people.
If the US wants Iraq to stop buying energy from Iran, it is the duty and responsibility of the US to provide energy to Iraq as a replacement.
After all, as an occupying force even the usual rules of war say so.
2
Iraqis should know by now that "understanding" ground realities is not our strong suit.
Replacing Iranian power and natural gas will take years? Iraq has its longest border with Iran? So what?
We are "shock and awe" America. We demand. You listen. Got it? Just look at all the success we already have delivered to you Iraq (and AKA Tom Friedman wisdom, how "transformative" to the Middle East our invasion of your country has been). Listen and we'll do more of the same.
10
So the US utterly destroyed most of Iraq’s infrastructure in an illegal invasion and now it wants to dictate to Iraq who it should and should not buy electricity from. The arrogance knows no end.
77
This is ludicrous. Seems every other country on Earth has got the memo except the US. Why are we still trying to isolate Iran? We've spent the past two decades undercutting each other in the Middle East instead of making common cause against a shared enemy. We talk about democratic values, yet in many ways the Iranians are LESS conservative than the Saudis.
20
Why the endless US hostility to Iran? The Shah and embassy hostage thing was over a generation ago. Is this US policy an example of 'tail wags dog'? It is never wise for a major power to let a minor power run their foreign policy. We can support our minor allies without letting them drive the bus.
7
“Why the endless hostility towards Iran” you ask, simple, Iran is one of the very few countries in the world that is not obsequious towards the US. When the US says “jump” a proper country asks “how high?”
10
@Mark Bau I understand your feelings, but you need to understand my point. The US should not let minor, but highly valued, allies dictate its policy. I would say exactly the same if Australia were having some difficulties in their corner of the planet.
1
Iraq is a sovereign state; time to kick the Americans out.
Then sue for compensation, reparations for all the horrific carnage and damage the purveyors of democratic regime change have caused.
And turn in the names of all the war criminals for prosecution at the ICC.
19
We destroyed their infrastructure with our ill-begotten war and now are trying to dictate who they can get energy from! And all because Trump broke an agreement with Iran because he's itching for a war of his own in the Middle East. That's rich, Trump. And bloody dangerous.
17
Donald, please stop bullying other countries into submission to your caprice...unless you have a hopeful message to improve Irak's lot, and others that believe Iran remains faithful to it's promise not to advance his nuclear ambitions, and in need of energy sources not available otherwise.
1
US is unreliable now, Iraq can look at Syria or Afghanistan to see where US *allies* stand.
SAD.
4
Imposing drastic economic and financial penalties on Germany after WWI was a major part of what support Hitler's rise to power.
It was the innocent civilians that were punished the worse.
But I guess history is not part of a reality show script.
11
Just another example, as if we needed one, that the good people of Iraq did not understand when we told them we were invading them so they could be free, and independent, and sovereign, and make their own decision, we didn't mean for them to actually do those things.
One would thing, with their own appreciation of history, they could have looked around and figured out what was going on.
10
Who exactly is making USA policy?
It isn't the Donald, who retreats to watching Fox TV for 60% of his day.
6
This will be the rational for our next foreign war. Problem is, no one will care until it is too late. We are still getting the government we deserve. Unfortunately this is not the government the rest of the world deserves.
7
Our policy is insane. Iraq surely cannot rely on our country's protection over the long or short run. (How have things been working out for the last sixteen years?) But Iran will be their neighbor forever. As the article points out, cutting off imports could be economically and politically disastrous for Iraq.
The Trump Doctrine: The U.S. dictates, the rest of the world pays the cost.
8
Remember when Bush the Younger assured us that the Iraq War would "pay for itself" because we'd crank up Iraq's oil wells and refineries? Guess that didn't work out. I wonder whether Hillary Clinton thought about that when she voted to support Bush's invasion of Iraq.
8
Amazing that in this day and age Iraq is buying gas from Iran at $ 0.75/MMBtu ! the same exact molecule is trading at 2. to 3.0 at Henry Hub in the US - whichis a historical low over the last 6 years or so. Typically at 6 to 10 USD a MMBtu - so 75 cents/MMBtu is truly a give away non market price. Maybe thats another intervention point - giving away state resources at fire sale prices for political and relationship building exercises while your countrymen starve and work three jobs !
I never doubted that Bush the Younger was the dumbest President ever:
"Does that make W the dumbest president ever?"
The only "smarts" W ever showed lay in his ability to get many Democrats (Hillary Clinton, for example) to back him on the Iraq War.
2
We live in an Alice in wonderland country, where incompetence is not only accepted, but actively encouraged. trump, bolton and the rest of the clowns are determined to destroy any rational policy, agreement or law that hold our world together. The repubs in congress should be brought up on treason charges for allowing this to go on as long as it has. We don't have a democracy any longer...it has officially crossed over into a kakistocracy.
9
Iraq should abandon the U.S. and align itself with Iran. NO ONE can count on the U.S. For anything.
11
We all know that it's Israel that is pushing for this war on Iran like they already did when Israeli "intelligence" told us Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which they did not. Now we are bullying Iraq again, by telling them they can't get their energy from Iran. I have never been less proud to be an American.
24
Iraq pays in something other than US$. End of story.
4
Let's sell Iraq fuel at a subsidized rate (cheaper than they get it from Iran). The U.S. is now an energy exporter; we have plenty. That hurts Iran, improves our relations with Iraq and puts Americans to work.
2
@Jonathan Katz:Iraq and Iran are border Shiite buddies and US companies are in business to make money not give it away to Israel's enemies. While Israel has at least 300 nukes aimed at Iran, iran according to Pentagon has zero nukes and can't even make their own planes. Iran has well over 10,000 Jews living peacefully there now how many Iranians live in Israel?. Funny how those two countries have advanced population and still can't get along - how sad.
9
@Larry - The death toll from the Iran - Iraq in the 1980's war was over a million killed. Pesky details.
2
@mkm:Yes if you remember that was our buddy then Saddam who was a Sunni versus Shiite Iran. Now Iraq is Shiite just like Iran - Pesky details.
1
Listen up, Iraq - we know we destroyed your infrastructure and ability to deliver energy to your citizens when we stupidly invaded you for no reason, and threw your country and in fact the whole region into chaos and utter poverty for more than a decade, but that is NO REASON for you to get power and fuel from whomever is willing to sell it to you, especially Iran.
So be good little conquered people and do as the mighty United States tells you to do, OK?
Have we ever steered you or anyone else wrong about anything?
52
Gotta love the USA...always throwing its weight around, and its military, trying to run the world while its own infrastructure collapses, its president is a lifetime white collar criminals, its elections are rigged, its environment is being trashed, and mass shootings are so commonplace they're rarely mentioned.
The bully of the world, the USA, refuses to be governed by the World Court or most international treaties.
The USA invades, occupies, tortures, bombs and kills in Iraq after lying about Iraq's role in 9/11 (it had no role) and no tries to tell Iraq what to do as Iraq is in ruins.
Our country is the #1 in arrogance and hubris, the most dangerous empire ever.
41
@Steve Davies I guess your somewhat truncated list of the indicators of American specialism helps explain the chants of USA USA that so elevated the state of the union speech last week. If one recent event crystallized the depths to which we have collectively sunk, this was it! If the adage that every country gets the leader it deserves holds true, lord help us.
10
The Americans destroyed the Iraqi infrastructure in the war and pushed the country not to award a contract to Siemens but instead give it to General Electric „for multimillion-dollar power generation deals“.
„Senior American officials had warned Mr Al-Abadi, then prime minister, that signing the deal with Siemens would put Iraq‘s relations with the United States at risk, Bloomberg reported“.
What relations?
Looks like they only concern American economic interests and neither the Iraqi population nor a solution to the wider difficult situation in the Middle East.
13
We are indeed become the mob boss at the global level: folks don't comply with our wishes because of any moral authority or respect for the American way; they do so merely because they are scared of reprisals. Precisely how your local mob boss operates.
20
Good going George W. Bush!
You overthrow the government of Iraq based upon the lies that Iraq had a hand in 9/11 and possessed WMD's and now we find that they are an ally of our evemy Iran and a good customer to boot! Does that make W the dumbest president ever?
19
@MIKEinNYC
Dumbest probably.
Most ignorant and illiterate goes to the current one.
They're neck and neck as liars. Trump lies more frequently but Bush's lies started wars that have killed or maimed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, disrupted an entire region and cost multiple trillions of wasted dollars.
7
He was not too smart . That why the neo- conservatives could manipulate him .
3
@Steve M. Don't worry, by the time trump is done breaking everything with the help of treasonous repubs, the Iraq fiasco will look like the Grenada invasion. This is what happens to a democracy when 3/4 of the population is either willfully ignorant or blinded by their own greed and hatred. I feel sorry for the kids growing up today.
4
Amazed by the lack of knowledge exhibited by your reader's comments. I recognize this is bad form and worse, will create a target on my comment. However the sheer denial of Iranian Government funding of radical organizations combined with its militant stance against non-shia Muslims shows your readers' ignorance. You, the NYT need to educate them. Yes, Iran was victimized by the US during the military reign of the Shah. Yes the US is engaged in ways it should not be in the Middle East. But this does not excuse Iran's regional behavior and open threats against other Middle East nations. Iran wants to be a pariah. Time to stop blaming others for their behavior. It has been 40 years.
1
Yes its government and citizens fund radical and violent extremists groups, yes it is involved in conflicts in other countries and is party to atrocities and the slaughter of innocents. Yes people who read and comment in the NYT need to educate themselves better about Saudi Arabia and its aggression in the Middle East. Oh wait you meant Iran, yeah them too.
17
@Bradley it always amazes me how people that talk of how others need to be educated don't consider the possibility that they themselves may not know everything. Do you know Iran's reasons for funding radical proxies? They have no ability to project force beyond their borders and the US since the revolution has stopped at no opportunity to overthrow the government, from arming Saddam and ignoring his use of chemical weapons against Iran to backing terror movements inside Iran that have American blood on their hands and international sanctions, despite Iran being under IAEA inspections, all the while Israel gets to have a nuclear program with no inspections. The radicals Iran has supported, notably Hezbollah, had engaged in some acts of aggression against the US in Lebanon in the 1980's (embassies and troops), when Iraq was heavily involved against Iran and Iran feared that if a puppet govt was imposed on Lebanon it could pressure Syria, one of Iran's pro-Arab allies at the time. The Iranians have repeatedly tried to cooperate with the US though later on. The entire invasion of Afghanistan initially was conducted with the support of Iranian proxies on the ground. The bush administration responded by naming them as the core of an axis of evil. They agreed to a nuclear deal, which we pulled out of. They helped us arm muslims in Bosnia, and when Bill Clinton was exposed for this, he blamed Iran fully for something that was US policy.
15
@Mohamed. Very informative post, thanks.
2
I fear this will not end well.
The US has violated a UN Security Council deal by "withdrawing" from the JCPOA. Unilaterally, without the support of most allies, save a few of Iran's regional rivals. It is now trying to impose it's foreign policies on whoever it can.
In the case of Iraq, it is against its short, medium and long term interests to participate in US sanctions policy towards Iran. They may equivocate to avoid political or economic assaults by the US, but any cooperation will be short term at best.
Do Americans understand how their policy on Iran makes them look like a rogue nation?
49
@Ed A rogue President and his rogue administration are doing an immense damage to the USA all over the world...
9
Keep sanctions on Iran but end Russian sanctions? Russia has used cyber attacks on our election since 2016 and violated the Nuclear Treaty agreement for 30 yrs, according to Sen Hutchinson, but we will remove their sanctions -- if Putin says nice things about Trump. Can we indict him for being a dumb traitor already?
27
@EPMD Jared is probably negociating the amount to be paid to Trump's organisation to end those sanctions...
3
The USA continues to try to use the sovereign nation of Iraq as a pawn. This is just the latest version by the latest government in Washington, D.C. Despite having thousands of US combat troops within their borders, Iraq needs desperately to regain their full sovereignty.
11
American policy on Iraq is characterised by the blunders. Invasion of Iraq on
false pretext of WMDs was wrong and
the country hasn't achieved stability
after 15 years.American officials simply
don't understand the shiite-sunni dynamic in the region. In 1980s USA
supported Saddam Hussein against Iran.
In 2003 it overthrew Saddam Hussein
and brough shiites into power. Iran became their friend and a regional influence,quite a transformation from being an enemy. Now we clearly see the
consequences of our action and don't like it. we are trying to reverse it by pressuring Iraq and other countries.
Iran is complying with the agreement it signed and USA repudiated it, yet we
want the whole world to support our
decision. It is unlikely to be effective.
In order to harm Iran we will end up
making more enemies and dilute our
influence, whatever is left. Coercion
and threats don't win friends.
16
Our foreign policy is a total joke. I wouldnt be surprised if more countries just start ignoring any new sanctions we start pushing.
10
Haliburton must have their hands in here somewhere.
10
We have no economic or strategic interest in forcing Iraq to stop buying energy from Iran. Iran is doing nothing to harm U.S. interests, and are in compliance with the past agreement that was unilaterally abandoned by Trump. So what is the reason for this foolish policy? Like most things Washington, the corruption of money. In this case, AIPAC and the Israeli lobby, the most corrupting influence in our government.
13
Bolton is determined to start a war with Iran and as Cheney led Bush to war with Iraq ,Bolton will easily lead Trump there as Trump is ignorant and easily flattered to make decisions based on input from flatterers ala Kim,MSB and Putin. Trump rejects hard facts that go vs his distorted view of reality and if his re-election gets in trouble Bolton will easily push him into war with Iran as Trump values himself above all else despite his obnoxious hugging the flag, he;s a fraud and a liar,
36
It seems like every US decision about involvement in the Middle East is a bad one.
Can’t we leave these people alone to get on with their lives?
25
Give them a break. Their own infrastructure met their needs until SOMEBODY decided we needed to invade them, put their entire army and government out of work, and allow rivalries to further destroy the place.
Iran has been complying with the multi-nation treaty our current President is quitting from. Turn off his power, darken his TV and let his cellphone run out of power. Don't do it to Iraq.
41
Excellent article , however it fails to mention the why or from whence this policy of ours originates ? What’s is it’s reason and source ? Why is it at odds with the European Union nations , not to mention China , India ? Who are the thinking heads behind these suffocating sanctions ? By reading the various opinion pieces written in on line media outlets by think tank peoples such as Foundation for the Defense of Democracies , it is not too hard to see. Often it is the same power centers and people that gave us and sold us the Iraq war , and gave Iraq devastation , rubble , ISIS and US returning Americans with PTSD.
9
Keep it up Donald, you may, singlehandedly, unite the three major religious sects in the Middle East against a common enemy, the United States of America. Suunis hate us because the initial invasion overthrew their rule in Iraq. The Kurds hate us because we've abandoned them to Turkish aggression after they've helped us countless times in the area and now we expect Shiites to abandon their religious allies because of phony borders set up by the west almost a century ago. All while keeping the country in the dark for our benefit and our benefit alone. No one else in the immediate region or the greater world backs these sanctions except Israel and they're as distrusted as we are. Mission Accomplished?
27
@Rick Gage. It’s truly astonishing that every day the Trump team of arsonists does the exact opposite of what is rational, intelligent or moral.
3
Way to go guys! Keep making Trump look like the foreign policy fool he is!
2
America was rightfully outraged by political interference from Russia.
So why aren't they outraged when America interferes in the politics of other countries.
It seems that Russian interference is exactly what America needs and deserves.
8
"Iraq’s energy production and grid capabilities have lagged since the American-led invasion of 2003, and blackouts in cities are common, even with the current purchases."
Bush/Cheney bombed Iraq's power plants to turn off the lights and reduce their defense capabilities.
Now we complain when they buy electricity from their next door neighbor? We have been destructive and now we're mean spirited and lacking in compassion.
On top of that, we insist on them buying billions of dollars worth of generating equipment (fossil fuel fired, no doubt) from us.
What a racket! It has all the elements of a classic mob shakedown. Some in our military industrial government have no shame. Vote them out.
13
@Steve M
The worst crimes of the 21st century so far have been the bombing and invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The worst dereliction of duty and most egregious injustice have been our failure to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators.
13
Mr. Trump's pressure on Iraq to stop purchasing natural gas from Iran is like telling a starving man outside a "Banned" supermarket not to go in and buy food.
5
I thought the Iraq war was supposed to be paid for with Iraqi energy products! Where we at now? $5 Trillion? Now they’re buying from Iran?
Great job!
5
If there were a regime change in Iran - be it peaceful or violent, how would that affect Iraq ? Would there be a flood of displaced persons ? Would the economy collapse in a manner unwelcome to Iraq too ? Would the Sunni / Shia balance change ? To think 30 years ago - Iran and Iraq fought a head-on, trenches war with poison gases while today they find common the US a common irritant or worse.
2
We are bullying Iraq and offering "protection" to them. These are organized crime tactics.
21
The schism in the Middle East is between Shiites and Sunnis. Iran is the lead Shiite nation. Iraq is majority Shiite and its government is mainly Shiite. Thus Iraq is going to ally itself with Iran rather than Saudi Arabia, the lead nation of Sunnis.
5
Geez, you fabricate a reason to attack a country, destroy its infrastructure and it still refuses to act as a proper colony. Who knew running an Empire could be so complicated?
59
Our attitude towards Iraq is precisely the sort of political bullying that has gotten us into trouble, fomenting anti-US sentiment, again and again. Do our top diplomats who come up with these policies read history at all?
Powell said about Iraq, "You break it, you bought it." Yet here we are, after demolishing the country's infrastructure, telling them they can't sign a deal with a German company for power generation, and can't buy the most conveniently available energy from Iran. Trump, Pompeo and company are idiots, pushing a policy that will not end well. China and Russia will laugh at our attempts for sanctions on Iran, and we will push Iraq into their orbit.
14