Free Republic

When U.S. missiles killed Iran’s most important general and its most important militia leader in early January as they were visiting Baghdad, it looked like American forces would be kicked out of Iraq... More than four months later, not only are U.S. forces still there, but it’s clear that the killings have created space for a new Iraqi government to assert some independence from its powerful neighbor. The signs of this new approach have been building over recent months, and the ascendance last week of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to the post of transitional prime minister is the latest and most profound......

Iraq’s new prime minister has promoted a general who played a major role in crushing ISIS and who is also widely seen as a counterweight to Iranian influence. Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saadi has been named commander of Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service, which took heavy casualties during the fight for Mosul, according to the Associated Press. Al-Saadi previously served as deputy commander for the counterterrorism force, which was trained and equipped by the U.S. military. The Counter-Terrorism Service is considered the best disciplined and least sectarian element of Iraq’s military and police force. As such, it is a bulwark against Iran,...