Podesta plays matchmaker for estranged US, Iraq
The United States and Iraq both hoped they’d be seeing a lot less of each other when the last American troops left the country in 2011. Instead, they find themselves in intensive couples counseling as they try to save a failing marriage of convenience that could hold the key to defeating the biggest terrorist threat […]Julian Pecquet writes for Al Monitor:
The United States and Iraq both hoped they’d be seeing a lot less of each other when the last American troops left the country in 2011. Instead, they find themselves in intensive couples counseling as they try to save a failing marriage of convenience that could hold the key to defeating the biggest terrorist threat since al-Qaeda.
With Sunni militants threatening to tear the country apart, Baghdad turned to Democratic super-lobbyist Tony Podesta early last year to encourage the US government to get back in the fight. It has been a tough sell for the administration of President Barack Obama, who had boasted of pulling the United States out of Iraq, but rapid gains by the Islamic State group (IS) over the past few weeks have forced a re-evaluation.
