Scott interviews Suadad al-Salhy about her recent piece on the proposed U.S. plan to create an autonomous Sunni state in western Iraq. This would theoretically allow the U.S. to continue to exert control in the country, preventing the dreaded “land bridge” connecting Iran to Syria and other allies in the Mediterranean. But this plan is idiotic for a number of reasons, say Scott and al-Salhy, not least of which being that America has been fighting on behalf of the Iraqi Shiites for years, and would have to turn on them to ally themselves with the Sunnis who used to rule the country. This is likely to put the U.S. troops who are still in Iraq at great risk, which al-Salhy fears in turn could be used as further justification for more intervention.
Discussed on the show:
“US seeking to carve out Sunni state as its influence in Iraq wanes” (Middle East Eye)“Was U.S. Wrong About Attack That Nearly Started a War With Iran?” (The New York Times)“The Redirection” (The New Yorker)A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm
Suadad al-Salhy is freelance journalist covering Iraq’s politics and security. She is a former Reuters correspondent who has written for Al Jazeera, Newsweek and Lebanon’s Daily Star. Follow her on Twitter @suadadalsalhy.
This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.
Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.
Scott Horton is director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California and podcasts the Scott Horton Show from this website. He’s the author of the 2017 book, Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan. Visit https://scotthorton.org