The president says he wants to bring home American troops. He keeps resisting diplomacy that could actually secure U.S. interests abroad.
Hundreds of Iraqis stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday in the latest sign of trouble for the Trump administration’s attempt to simultaneously thwart the Islamic State and Iran. It’s fresh proof that President Donald Trump’s reliance on saber-rattling instead of diplomacy risks greater chaos in the Middle East — and his approach threatens the gains the U.S. has made there in recent years.
Even with the immediate danger defused, along with a feared repeat of the 1979 Tehran hostage crisis, the events of the past few days suggest more danger lies ahead in Iraq, where there are currently 5,000 American troops. The president and his Senate allies Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton reacted with anger on Twitter, warning of greater U.S. action against Iran, which Washington is already subjecting to “maximum pressure.
The U.S. has little ability to shape developments after the incident, said Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think tank. Because toughness toward Iran is the Trump administration’s top priority, officials seem convinced it’s worthwhile to treat U.S. interests ― and vulnerabilities ― in Iraq as a secondary concern, a choice that makes incidents like the embassy assault more likely.
The embassy attackers were separate from nationalist demonstrators against corruption and Iranian interference in Iraqi politics who have faced violent retaliation from the government and were holding their own rally on Tuesday.
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