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EmailJun. 22, 2015
According to a report in Bloomberg View, the US military is sharing a base in Iraq with Iranian-backed Shiite militias, who have killed American soldiers in the past. Some have expressed concern that this puts American soldiers at risk since it allows the militias to spy on US operations at the base. Senate Armed Services Chairman, John McCain (R-AZ), has denounced the sharing of the military base, declaring, “It’s an insult to the families of the American soldiers that were wounded and killed in battles in which the Shia militias were the enemy.”
US air support has aided Shiite militias, allowing them to take over areas conquered by ISIL. Because the lines between the Iraqi Security Forces and the militias are blurred, weaponry provided to Iraqi forces sometimes ends up in the hands of the militias, who have been accused of perpetrating atrocities against the Sunni population. In its annual report on terrorism, the State Department asserted that Iran’s support for terror is “undiminished” and noted that many of the Iranian-backed Iraqi militias “have exacerbated sectarian tensions in Iraq and have committed serious human rights abuses against primarily Sunni civilians.”
The militias are led by the leader of the Iraqi Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who is a close associate of Quds force head Qassem Suleimani and is believed to have planned the bombings of the US and French embassies in Kuwait in the 1980’s. Al-Muhandis was sanctioned in 2009 by the Treasury Department for destabilizing Iraq. Many of the Iranian-backed militias have also been fighting alongside Assad’s forces in Syria. This is an inherent contradiction in US foreign policy since the Obama administration has indicated that the Assad regime has lost its legitimacy and must step down to make way for a political transition.
The revelation that the US is now sharing a base with Iranian-backed militias is likely to confirm the fears of US Gulf allies who believe that the emerging deal with Iran signifies a strategic realignment of US policy in favor of Iran. Moreover, the development gives the appearance that the US is facilitating Iranian expansionism. A senior administration official admitted to Bloomberg that “Iran is ushering in a new Hezbollah era in Iraq, and we will have aided and abetted it.”
