The international community is powerless to stop the genocide in Gaza, because only the US can stop it. Biden has chosen to green-light Israel's genocide on Gaza, while the international community meet for cake and coffee, and lots of hand-wringing. No one can stop Israel except Biden, and no one can stop Biden. France and Spain have repeatedly asked for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, but Biden remains unmoved. Perhaps he will be moved finally in November 2024.
Even in the face of losing the 2024 election, as Biden's support for the genocide in Gaza is bringing his electability into doubt, the White House continues to send weapons and cash to Israel in the plane-loads.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost the support of the Israelis, but in the Oval Office he can still call the shots. Netanyahu insisted on killing 25,000 Palestinians instead of negotiating for the release of Israelis held captive in Gaza. He prioritized revenge over the safety of his own people.
Earlier this month, the US assassinated a high-ranking commander in the PMF in downtown Baghdad. In response to the killing, the Iraqi government condemned it, and said the US troops must leave Iraq.
The US has 2,500 troops in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State (IS), according to the Pentagon. But, there is no sign of IS regrouping, or organizing. IS follows the same ideology as the Muslim Brotherhood, with members across the US and Europe, and Al Qaeda. Radical Islam is a political ideology that hides behind a religion. There are IS followers in New York and London, and troops stationed in Iraq are not going to matter.
The Iraqi people suffered hundreds of thousands of deaths at the hands of the US-led coalition of occupation beginning in 2003. Finally, the US left. Then in 2014, ISIS reared its ugly head, and the Iraqi government requested the US military to come back to help them defeat ISIS. Once ISIS was gone, the Iraqi parliament voted for the US troops to leave, but the US refused. Then it started to feel like an occupation, again.
With the regional stress of the US-supported Israeli attack on Gaza after October 7, the calls for "Yankee Go Home" have grown louder in Iraq, and in Syria. The troops can pack up and leave, that is easy, but what will be the long-lasting regional effect of the American support of the slaughter of mainly women and children in Gaza? Biden has lost Iraq, and is set to lose the election, and is responsible for losing the hearts and minds of millions of Arabs, across the 22 nations comprising the Arab world. Which one of those losses is the biggest for the image of America, as the home of the free?
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist
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