The United States is bringing its long-standing presence in Iraq to an end—a country whose fate it had shaped since 1980.
Another Withdrawal in the Series
On September 30, 2026, the US reported that it had withdrawn its military from Iraq, citing completion of its war against Islamic State* (IS). The deeper meaning of this withdrawal can only be fully appreciated by escaping the short memory the news cycle cultivates. For instance, Fox News and other mainstream outlets rushed to conceal the nearly half a century of US engagement in Iraq by reporting that the withdrawal came after a 12-year counter-IS mission. In reality, the US military had been in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that was based on a false pretext. Certainly, Washington had also been engaged in Iraq much earlier during and after the 1991 Gulf War, or even further back in the 1980s during the plot to overthrow Iran’s Islamic Republic, and the subsequent support of Iraqi military aggression against the Persian neighbor. To further signal attempts at diversion, the head of US Central Command, Brad Cooper, made a presentation as if IS was the only reason Washington was in Iraq and claimed that the Pentagon would maintain forces in Jordan to monitor the potential rise of the apparently defeated IS. This position is seriously misleading since there was no IS before the US started meddling in Iraq, even though some US Senate documents revealed that IS benefited from US funding. The US redeployment from Iraq to Jordan invites an in-depth review of its meaning and implications in the face of Washington’s maneuvers to maintain and expand control over Iraq and the region.
Anti-IS Coalition or Continuous Military Meddling Since 1980?
Citing IS’ defeat as a reason for withdrawal was unbelievable because Washington’s military interference in Iraq began decades before IS was ever formed. In fact, IS formed due to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, while a statement by US senator Scott Perry shows that Washington was funding this group and other terrorist formations. Since the US had no genuine interest in defeating IS, its redeployment in Jordan may be designed to regrow IS to create a justification for occupying the region. However, even this repositioning carries deep significance because functionaries in Washington have spent nearly half a century plotting ways of weakening and occupying Iraq and other countries in the Middle East. Also, the US withdrawal from Iraq during a war with Iran, in the context that Washington had once helped the former fight the latter, hoping to destroy both as Henry Kissinger would reveal, shows that Washington is not in an optimal position, or “a position of strength” in its own Jargon.
Pro-war voices in Washington expressed interest in occupying both Iraq and Iran in 2003. According to John Kiriakou, a CIA operative in counterterrorism, who participated in the order of battle meeting held on March 19, 2003, in preparation for the invasion of Iraq, Washington intended to enter Tehran by August of the same year. The leading proponents of the war against Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, among others, believed that both Iraq and Iran needed to be swiftly brought under US control through military devastation. With this in mind, the mere fact that the US was bogged down in Iraq for over 20 years and was unable to make a move against Iran until June 2025 represents a major failure in Washington. Additionally, the US failure to achieve any strategic objective after the second round of bombing beginning on February 28, 2026 signifies a pivotal defeat at the hands of Tehran. It also shows that whatever additional preparations Washington made between March 2003 and June 2025 to successfully invade Iran have been defeated. Meanwhile, withdrawal from Iraq means that whatever Washington achieved by invading Iraq, destroying its government and cultivating terror threats to justify its perpetual presence and using the country as a foothold for regional expansion, has been rolled back. This setback also undoes earlier actions of meddling in Iraq’s internal and regional affairs since 1980.
Meddling Efforts Since 1980 Come to Naught
Washington has actively sought and participated in attempts to destroy the region through and alongside Iraq from as early as 1980. A CIA cable from February 1980 reported how then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was planning to use Iraq’s political and military power to overthrow Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary government in its early days and install a former Iranian prime minister, Shapour Baktiar on February 20, 1980. It is possible that the CIA had hatched this plan and used Saddam as a “useful idiot”, which explains why it was circulated among top figures in the US. Additionally, the US conveniently issued nearly unreserved assistance to Saddam when he finally invaded Iran to pursue objectives close to those outlined in the CIA cable above. The Iran-Iraq war would last for eight years and devastate both countries. Washington readily supported Iraq’s war against Iran with economic and military supplies, including chemical weapons, and also sold weapons to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair, which prolonged the war and destruction in both countries. Later, in 1990, Washington’s wheeler-dealing partly misled Iraq into a war against Kuwait, before the US proceeded to bomb Iraq ostensibly to defend Kuwait. In 1990, the US ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie, implied that Washington would not interfere in what Iraq chose to do in Kuwait before Washington turned around to bomb Iraq in 1991, showing duplicity. Therefore, it can be argued that both Iraq and Kuwait were victims of US Manipulation.
Washington appears to view Iraqi territory and people as tools for geopolitical games, including fighting wars for its interests. Therefore, the loss of Iraq represents a remarkable setback, in the middle of a war in which Washington hoped to devastate Iran. After the gruelling Iran-Iraq war raging for eight years, in which Washington comprehensively assisted the former party, Henry Kissinger stated that Washington’s interest was that both countries be devastated. However, the case in 2026 is different in that Washington has already tapped out of Iraq.
* designated as a terrorist organization and banned within the territory of the Russian Federation
Simon Chege Ndiritu is a political observer and research analyst from Africa
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