In the wake of new attacks on US troops in Iraq, the administration was reassessing its strategy in Iraq. Then came the coronavirus. The number of violent attacks on US, Iraqi, and international troops and civilians by Iran-directed paramilitary groups in Iraq has escalated in the past two weeks at an alarming rate. Whether this uptick is a sign of the Iranian regime’s death
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1 Introduction The effectiveness of foreign aid remains controversial. A large literature studies how aid is spent (Werker et al., 2009); how it is absorbed in the domestic economy (Temple and van de Sijpe, 2017); and how much it ultimately stimulates growth (Dalgaard et al., 2004), improves human development outcomes (Boone, 1996), and reduces poverty (Collier and Dollar, 2
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Killing Soleimani Undermines a Drive for Democratic Reform The January 3 killing in Baghdad of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis risked pushing Iran and the United States to war. Despite an escalation in hostilities that saw Iranian missiles hit U.S. bases in Iraq, the prospect of an all-out war between the two countries ha
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To ensure that new protests, new sanctions, and new political leadership wind up helping rather than hindering Iraqi sovereignty, Washington must handle upcoming developments with great care. In the coming weeks, Iraq’s parliament may appoint a replacement for Prime Minister Adil Abdulmahdi. This is a very positive development, since the country’s sundry Iranian-backed milit
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Thirty years after devastating sanctions were first imposed on Iraq, President Donald Trump’s threat of new sanctions is a chilling reminder for average Iraqis of the pain, demoralization and hard choices they experienced amid policies of global economic pressure. In the fallout over the targeted killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Trump said this w
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