The conflict between America and Iran intensifies in Iraq

Source:the Economist Date:02Jan2020

I post this article, because what comes around, goes around.  Turkey is surrounded by unstable regimes

Iran would be happy to see America go, but Iraq has plenty to lose. Its army remains weak, demoralised and corrupt. Shia militias and Kurdish peshmerga are motivated and capable but have minds of their own. What is left—army commando units and the CTS, which played a pivotal role in rolling back IS—relies on close co-operation with American special forces and spies. Since 2014 America has spent $5.8bn on military aid for Iraq. That would matter less had the crisis not come at an especially delicate time. IS is regrouping in Iraq. In December a Kurdish intelligence chief told the BBC that the group had become “like al-Qaeda on steroids”, nestled in Iraq’s Hamrin mountains and flush with cash.