The statement issued by the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, announcing the summoning of the US chargé d’affaires and handing him a “strongly worded” protest note, as reported by Reuters, appears in the balance of realpolitik closer to a performance of sovereignty in a country that does not possess the actual tools of sovereignty. A state that cannot control armed factions within its own borders, nor prevent drones launched from its territory, inevitably finds itself in an extremely fragile position when it tries to address a superpower in the language of protest.

The talk of a “firm and solid stance in preserving sovereignty” seems detached from a reality documented daily in the Western press: sovereignty fragmented between Washington, Tehran, and the factions; and a state trying to look like a state while its security decision-making slips through its fingers.

Iran-backed factions launch near-daily attacks on US interests inside Iraq, without the government being able to deter them, as documented by reports from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which describe Iraq as “caught in the crossfire” between two forces trading blows on its soil, while the government is “losing control of the trajectory of events” as the mutual attacks on its territory continue.

At the same time, the militias operating under the umbrella of the al-Hashd al-Shaabi........

© Middle East Monitor