U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq:Not Everyone Is Celebrating

The cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is beginning to heat up — just as the U.S. presence in the region is weakening.

The joy of America’s complete troop withdrawal from Iraq by the end of this year is also accompanied by worries for both sides: A significant weakening of the U.S. presence in the region just at a time when the cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran appears to be heating up must be giving many U.S. strategists a few sleepless nights. And in Iraq as well, some are recalling the words of Saddam Hussein’s ex-Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz that Barack Obama was “leaving Iraq to the wolves” — by which he meant Iran.

But even the many Iraqis, who, despite their knowledge of Iran’s influence and awareness of the realities of politics and economics, still demanded a complete U.S. withdrawal, are less than enthusiastic with the U.S. decision. An overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria could cause regional turbulence and possibly even a decision by radical Sunni elements to start a civil war. That would encourage jihadis to expand hostilities into Iraq, which they never really abandoned.

But most uneasy at present are the Iraqi Kurds. Their relations with Baghdad are stretched to the breaking point. The Kurds fear that the Iraqi government could use the pretext of a Turkish offensive in northern Iraq to deploy troops where currently there are only Kurdish Peshmergas. That’s another cold war that could get hot very quickly.