On Thursday, President Trump capped off a successful two-day visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi.
Even if it misidentified Kadhimi as the Iraqi president, a White House video illustrated how Trump rightly threw out the red carpet for the prime minister. This show of respect lets Kadhimi and the Iraqi people know that their partnership is valued. Kadhimi offered a similar sentiment at his Oval Office meeting with Trump. “The United States helped Iraq enormously in defeating ISIS and also in toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime,” he said. The prime minister continued, “We are working on building a strong relationship that is based on joint interests between Iraq and the United States, that is based on economic interests for the better future for the Iraqi people and the American people.”
This economic focus has salience for both nations. It addresses Trump’s concern that America’s presence in the Middle East produces only instability, death, and failed wars. But it also speaks to the crucial value that greater U.S. engagement with Iraq proffers for both nations. To that end, Kadhimi announced that he had signed a number of U.S. business deals on Wednesday. This new partnership will hopefully encourage a second-term Trump, or Joe Biden, to maintain a limited U.S. military intelligence and logistics presence in Iraq. So why the positive shift here?
Well, in large part, it’s down to Kadhimi being a very different Iraqi prime minister to those who have come before him.
In his former role as the head of Iraq’s national intelligence service, Kadhimi established a strong reputation with the U.S. military and intelligence community. Since entering office in May, Kadhimi has taken steps to consolidate Iraqi sovereignty against malevolent Iranian influence. Actions here have included very public raids on Iran’s primary proxy in Iraq, Kata’ib Hezbollah.
While Kadhimi is a political pragmatist, recognizing that some measure of stable relations with Iran is crucial to his political stability, he is a nationalist at heart. A leader who is determined that Iraq avoid Lebanon’s plight and find its politics descend into networks of corrupt sectarianism. This has won understandable respect in Washington.
After all, building a stable and prosperous Iraq is the only long-term way to match the interests of its people to the security and stability interests of the U.S. If Iran is able to turn Iraq into a puppet outpost, something its powerful Fatah Alliance allies in the Iraqi parliament also seek, it will mean only sectarian cronyism, Iran’s projection of its malfeasant interests, and reciprocal Sunni-Salafist extremism from organizations such as ISIS.
To his credit, Trump seems to have come away from this meeting with an open mind to the future American relationship with Iraq. Asked whether he would respond positively to an Iraqi request for more security assistance, he responded, “We’re there to help, and because of the relationship, we would certainly be willing to lend you the kind of support you need.” Trump added that he wanted to be “leaving a country that can defend itself.”
It’s the right tone and a positive strategic shift from some of the more unfortunate comments and policy proposals Trump has previously offered with regards to Iraq. As I say, this was a very successful meeting.
