Alwaght- In the US foreign relations, there is a principle asserting that due to the decentralized political power in the federal system, the foreign policy's responsibility is divided between the government and the Congress.
Although the Congress exerts its influence in the foreign policy through the four ways of lawmaking, declaration of war, approval of foreign pacts, and approval of the proposed Foreign Secretary candidate for the post, in many foreign policy cases, the lawmakers— especially the senators— engage in diplomatic activities. Since Ukraine war, they several times visited Kiev and met with Ukrainian officials. This diplomatic activism can work in line with the government policies, as the case is with Ukraine, or work in conflict with the government policies like their meetings with NATO allies while Trump was attacking the military bloc.
While the Ukraine crisis rose to be the top obsession of the US foreign policy in recent months, this did not distract the senators from West Asia developments and the challenges Biden administration is facing in this region.
West Asia issues have always been a focus of American foreign policy in the past decades, and as a result, congressional lawmakers have been more sensitive to the policies and performance of the White House in this region.
After the scandalous American fleeing from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, as two areas of competition of Washington and its regional and international rivals that challenge its presence in the region, are the two countries where the US interests are subject to main threats in the long term.
Meanwhile, the Republican Senator Lindsay Graham, who is a fierce critic of Biden's foreign policy and specifically opposes the talks to rivave Iran nuclear deal, in a high-profile visit to Iraq met with senior officials including the prime minister, president, and parliament speaker. The essence of his demands is continuation of the US-Iraq cooperation in various areas, especially in military area.
Iraq's key place in US regional strategy and the expulsion law challenge
The US regional strategy in West Asia during the past two decades has mainly been resting on three key factors of controlling energy resources, protecting the security of the Israeli regime, and terrorism. Meanwhile, the role of military presence in the region, particularly in Iraq, is of great importance to maintain the pillars of this strategy and the interests of Washington, as in all four American administrations since the occupation of Iraq, despite some fundamental differences on the regional strategy, there is not much difference on the necessity of continued military presence in Iraq and playing a role in the oil sector of this country.
Ukraine war once again brought to surface the significance of control over energy hubs as a key factor in managing international conflicts and course of global developments in the competition among world powers. Iraq is a country with huge energy resources and it is interesting to know that amid Ukraine war, it largely filled the void caused by the decreased oil supplies even more than Saudi Arabia as world top oil producer. Only in last month, Iraq's oil revenues reportedly reached $11 billion and its exports to the US were 326,000 barrels per day, slightly less than Saudi Arabia's exports of 345,000 barrels. Naturally, the emphasis on economic cooperation means more American presence in Iraq's oil production sector and also the return of petrodollars to the American banks through increasing the export of goods to the Iraqi consumer market.
From another aspect, Iraqi developments are of great importance to the security of the Israeli regime. Iraq's presence and participation in the Axis of Resistance, on the one hand, helps to stabilize the security conditions in Syria and strengthen the resistance groups in Lebanon and Gaza as anti-Israeli front's forerunners, and on the other hand, to expand Iran's regional influence and foil the Arab-Israeli normalization and coalition plans.
But the US is troubled by the Iraqi parliament's bill on expulsion of the foreign forces from the county. Washington is striving to find a way bypassing the law and legitimizing its military bases there. Meanwhile, the Americans are regaining their hope about getting Baghdad's consent for an advisory and training role in Iraq as PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi shows no seriousness about implementation of the parliamentary bill which gave the Americans until December 31, 2021, to withdraw from Iraq.
Another point is the US feeling of threat from Iraq's developments and the tendency of Iraqi elites and strategists to cooperation with China toward which practical steps have been taken in the past few months. Receiving $10.5 billion in Chinese finances for several projects, including construction of heavy oil refinery, Iraq has been the most important target of the infrastructural investments of China's Road and Belt Initiative in West Asia in 2021. Also, since a 2019 agreement with Baghdad under previous PM Adel Abdul Mahdi, the Chinese seriously stepped in Iraqi oil sector. Additionally, Beijing plans for investment in 78 Iraqi oilfields. Al-Faw oilfield, for example, was given to a consortium of Chinese companies for an operational cost of $7 billion.
As a conclusion, the fear and hope the American politicians have about the Iraqi developments and performance of Iraqi officials remain the Achilles heel of the Iraqi independence and national sovereignty in the face of Washington's interventions.
