War

Matthew Petti | 5.2.2025 11:35 AM

Why does Washington find it hard to beat Iranian influence? According to the State Department, it's because the U.S. doesn't use "political violence" in Iraq, a country that the U.S. famously invaded and occupied in 2003.

"Iran uses levers of power that we refrain from using (political violence, bribery) and has economic and cultural relationships we cannot replicate," says the State Department's Iraq Familiarization Course slideshow from 2020 and 2021, which it just released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), along with several hundred pages of other training documents.

This message isn't propaganda for public consumption; it is an internal statement of the State Department's line. Part of mandatory training for employees stationed at the U.S. embassy and consulates in Iraq, the slideshow is a window into what the U.S. government tells itself about its role in the Middle East. The line that "we refrain from using political violence" is a sign that American leaders........

© Reason.com