According to news reports, the US State Department announced\nthat in response to the continued attacks on US diplomatic personal and assistance\nmissions in Iraq it was offering a reward of $3 million for information about\nthe perpetrators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This seemed weird. Our\npeople are in Iraq have been subjected to continuing attacks. In fact, Lockheed\nis withdrawing their staff supporting the Iraqi Air Force F-16s. Washington has\nrepeatedly asked PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi to stem this problem. Nothing happens. The Iranian-backed Iraqi militias (who\nreceive their salaries from the Iraqi government) grandly state they will\nexpand such attacks until the US military leaves. Iraq at one point arrested a\nfew militia members but soon released them presumably due to militia threats to\nthe government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so we offer a reward for information about those\nresponsible? Huh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thought this might have been fake news. I checked the State Department press releases\nand found nothing. The State Near East Bureau\nhad no such announcement. The Rewards for Justice site had no announcement. Maybe\nit was fake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I checked the sources of the articles that carried this\nstory\u2014the first articles appeared in Arabic press. It turns out they were quoting a twitter announcement\nby the Rewards for Justice program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure enough, you look up the RFJ twitter account and they really are offering money (and have an\nimbedded video) for information about attacks on US presence in Iraq.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n (see: https:\/\/twitter.com\/Rewards4Justice\/status\/1402997633702981632<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, we are so disturbed about these attacks that we quietly\noffer $3 million for reports about attacks on the US. Is that the best we can do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n First of all, it will generate all sorts of useless responses.\u00a0 When the Iraq Survey Group was pursuing WMD evidence in 2003-5 in Iraq, someone had the idea of offering rewards for tips.\u00a0 Well more tips than could ever be checked out came in.\u00a0 Useless.\u00a0 Some were just misguided.\u00a0 Somebody would see something that looked weird (like the cryo bottles for a SAM missile) but wasn\u2019t WMD.\u00a0 More damaging, tipsters would provoke raids against somebody they had a grudge against. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But worse, it is the responsibility of the government of\nIraq to provide protection. They can\u2019t\nor won\u2019t. The government cannot control the militias they fund. Clearly Iran has more control than Baghdad\nand is even upgrading their ability to hit the US with attack drones like those\nused by the Houthis in Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, in response the US issues an Arabic twitter statement\nasking for information\u2014and offering a reward. \nIs that the best we can do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s difficult not to conclude that Washington is unwilling to address the source of the attacks\u2014Tehran–so as not to upset the nuclear JCPOA talks in Vienna.\u00a0 This repeats the approach of the Obama Administration.\u00a0 The highest priority was the JCPOA and all other issues were subservient to that goal.\u00a0 Iran seems to understand this and take advantage of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Where this leaves Iraq remains a sad question. And where does this leave the US, or do we just leave?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to news reports, the US State Department announced that in response to the continued attacks on US diplomatic personal and assistance missions in Iraq it was offering a reward of $3 million for information about the perpetrators. This seemed … Continue reading (Google translation: Oh loyal people of #Iraq, cowardly terrorists attack US diplomatic missions in Iraq and then rush to hide among the civilian population. America is offering a reward of up to $3 million for information on planned or past attacks against US diplomatic facilities. Text us via WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal.)<\/pre>\n\n\n\n