Violent crackdowns continued nationwide across Iraq on Thursday, with
officials imposing more and more restrictions and demonstrations
continuing to grow. At least 34 people are now confirmed killed, and over 1,500 others wounded.
One of Iraq’s first moves was to cut Internet access, and that continued into Tuesday. 70% of Internet into Iraq is blocked, and all major social media outlets are also being blocked, with officials believing they would fuel unrest.
What was initially seen as a temporary curfew in Baghdad is starting to
look a bit more permanent as well, with Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi
saying that “all vehicles and individuals are totally forbidden to move” in the capital.
The curfew has also been expanded into some nearby cities. Nasiriyah,
Amara, and Hilla are all confirmed to be in a state of curfew for the
time being as well.
Protesters have been rallying to complain about the endemic corruption
in Iraq, as well as the poor economic recovery after the ISIS war.
Previous promises by Abdul Mahdi were meant to end such protests, but
after those previous promises ended up unfulfilled, the protests have
gotten bigger and bigger.
Anyone with backpack has gone to a course on civil disobedience, where details of your preparedness kit are described and pictured. Folks just coming to protest, do not carry backpacks — just not backpacking culture.
Most American kids and young adults didn’t carry backpacks around in the 1970s, either. Now they do. It may not have been a backpack culture 20 years ago, but a quick photo search on “backpacks in Iraq” charities, UN organizations, etc. handing out large numbers of backpacks to school kids since the 2003 invasion.
As far as “not just coming to protest” if you come prepared for various situations, maybe you’ve never been to a protest. I have. The only reason you DON’T bring everything you can think of you might need is if the police already have the place cordoned off into a “free speech zone” where you’re required to go defenseless in case they want to beat you up or tear gas you.
And I was always taught that this country was a “free speech zone.” Not anymore, if it ever was.
Time for Mr. Abadi to be swinging in the main square.
The people of Iraq must long for the good old days when Saddam was in power.
I suspect the protests will disappear overnight if the Iraqi government gives the US a completely free hand to use Iraq as a staging area for an attack on Iran. Checks will be written, people will be paid off, and the streets will be relatively quiet again except for the rumble of American convoys passing through.
Yeah, there is always more to the story than meets the eye in the Middle East.
In Hong Kong, one protester shot with non-lethal round. International outrage! In Baghdad, a dozen protesters killed. International shrug.
Meanwhile the oil continues to flow out enriching the usual suspects.
Watch the US use these protests as an excuse to pour more troops into Iraq to prepare for the upcoming Iran war.
They’ll probably claim it’s all caused by ‘Iranian proxies” and start cracking down on the Shia militias. This is necessary because Iraq’s Shia will undoubtedly support Iran when the war breaks out. And the US has only 5,000 troops inside Iraq. That’s not enough to handle 150,000 Shia militiamen *and* prepare to attack Iran on the ground.
And then where will Trump be with his campaign promises when he has to start pouring troops into Iraq?
Troop levels in Iraq is not known, as trump policy is to not report how many are there (or, anywhere else), allegedly for their “protection”. More likely, protection from US voters. The agreement was 5200 odd troops. It is estimated 7000 US mercenaries (no, ain’t gonna call em contractors). Not sure if that includes the Green Zone, which the pentagon likely considers on US soil. What the numbers dont include are the air and naval assets not in Iraq, but certainly operating there. Could be 20-30,000…just guessing.
Yes, I ignored the mercenaries. But another 5- or 10,000 won’t help that much against the number of Shia militia there are.
The air and naval don’t count on the ground – just in the air. Certainly the US could start bombing the Shia militia – that’s not exactly going to help the US much. That would be essentially restarting the Iraq war – which is what is going to happen anyway if an Iran war starts.
So the US is going to need to pour maybe another 25,000 to 50,000 at a minimum. In reality, once the necessity of a ground invasion of Iran becomes clear, it will be more like 100,000. The US won’t do a ground invasion of Iran early on, but with Iraq in revolt and the Iran war going badly – as it will sooner or later – the US will have to try it.
Bottom line: It’s going to be a mess.
But for now, either the US pulls those troops out in advance of the Iran war – or they massively reinforce them. The US really has no other choices.