In recent weeks, the Iraqi political landscape has resembled an old television screen that has lost its image balance. The statements made by the leaders of the Coordination Framework, which includes Iranian parties and militias, reveal the fierce struggle for the position of prime minister without hesitation. This has been a trademark policy in the Green Zone since 2003. Iraq alone has financial strife, sectarian strife and strife fuelled by resentment and hatred, and this list is constantly growing.

Those who rely on American promises forget that it was their doing that led to continuous failure. As for Mark Savaya’s statements about a new Iraq free of militias, they are merely empty threats while the ongoing US–Iranian policy of mutual support in Iraq remains in place. Nevertheless, let us wait and see if Trump’s new policy in Iraq is the solution Iraqis are looking for to reclaim their hijacked country.

This is how colours overlap. Lines blur. Political figures emerge without clear features. Everything moves slowly, as if time in Baghdad were testing its ability to stretch. Nevertheless, there is the roar of the street: Where is the country headed? How long will politics continue to exhaust the people?

The scene does not require a vivid imagination. All that is needed is to observe the daily statements made by Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Nouri al-Maliki and even Mohammed al-Halbousi. They speak with false confidence, as if we were watching a play whose ending the audience has known for a long time. The parties talk enthusiastically about ‘reform’, but then return to the seats they have occupied for more than two decades, unwilling to compromise on anything. The government promises ‘strategic plans’. But these plans are born without legs. They can barely walk. Then they evaporate.

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