Politics

US: Iraq Needs to ‘Hold People Accountable’ for attacks on Franchises

The attacks tend to occur in Shi’ite areas, suggesting they're linked to Iranian-backed militias, while those injured live nearby—i.e. they are, themselves, Shi’a.

Laurie Mylroie 2024/06/06 11:46

State Dept Spox Matthew Miller (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Iraq Washington DC State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller Baghdad Franchises Attack Hoshyar Zebari Alina Romanowski Shia US Ambassador to Iraq

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – Addressing journalists on Wednesday, State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, called on the Baghdad government to do more to stop the rash of attacks on the Iraqi franchises of US. companies.

Underscoring the difficulties that Iraq’s new leader, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, faces in dealing with this matter is the fact that initial investigations have revealed that elements within Iraq’s security services have been involved in the assaults.

The attacks began in late May, initially targeting a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in Baghdad. KFC is American. But another franchise in Baghdad that was attacked, Lee’s Chili House Restaurant, is Jordanian-owned.

Thus, there is a certain indiscriminate quality to the attacks. Those carrying them out claim they are in support of the Palestinians, but as Miller pointed out, the biggest victims are Iraqis.

The U.S. company, Caterpillar, which manufactures construction equipment, and the British Cambridge Institute were then attacked in a second wave of assaults.

The attacks tend to occur in Shi’ite areas, suggesting that they are associated with the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, who call themselves “The Axis of Resistance.”

Moreover, to the extent that the attacks result in casualties, those injured are residents of the neighborhood—i.e. they are themselves Shi’a.

There is no reliable information whether Iraqis support these attacks or not. Yet In many Arab countries, it is possible to mobilize support by adopting an anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian position. Those with long-enough memories will recall that Saddam Hussein used the same sort of ploy after invading Kuwait in 1990.

Saddam claimed then that he had attacked Kuwait in service of the Palestinian cause, and he was supported and embraced by the head of the PLO, Yasir Arafat.

Soon thereafter, as the U.S. proceeded to drive Saddam’s forces out of Kuwait, he sought to draw Israel into the conflict, firing 39 missiles at the country and using, as a missile platform, the high point of Mount Shingal in northwest Iraq, in Yezidi territory.

That effort failed. Israel stayed out of the war, and Iraqi forces were soon in retreat. So Saddam asked, “Who will fire the 40th missile?” At that point, as the war ended, Saddam was in the process of crushing the Shi’ite revolt, before he would turn north, trying to do the same to the Kurds, who fled en masse to escape what they feared would be a chemical attack.

It was that mass flight that thwarted Saddam, as the U.S. responded with Operation Provide Comfort, facilitating the return of the Kurdish population to their homes and then protecting them afterwards.

Read More: 25th Anniversary of 1991 War

Attacks on Foreign Franchises: U.S. Position

Asked about the attacks on U.S. and other foreign franchises in Baghdad, Miller emphasized two points.

One point was that the attacks hurt Iraqis, above all. They “harm Iraqi workers, Iraqi patrons, and sometimes Iraqi capital that is being employed there,” he said.

Thus, these are essentially attacks “against the Iraqi people,” Miller continued, and “we think the Iraqi government ought to take appropriate measures to respond to those attacks and hold people accountable for them.”

Asked about the implications of the announcement from Iraq’s Interior Ministry that some of those arrested were members of the security services, Miller responded, largely, by emphasizing his prior position—but he did offer some praise for the Iraqi government.

“Whenever attacks like these are carried out, whoever the perpetrator is, it is appropriate that those individuals be held accountable,” he said. “In this case, that’s what the Iraqi government is doing, and we want to see them continue to do it.”

It seems that Miller did not want to address the tricky issue of the apparent penetration of the Iraqi security services by pro-Iranian elements.

However, Hoshyar Zebari, a long-time Kurdish political figure who became Iraq’s first post-Saddam Foreign Minister and then served as Iraq’s Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, tweeted about the issue on Tuesday.

Noting the reports “that the perpetrators of these attacks are members of the security services themselves,” Zebari concluded, “The biggest victim is the government.”

Attacks on Foreign Franchises: Iraqi Media

Already last week, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, warned in a tweet, “These attacks put Iraqis' lives and property at risk, and could weaken Iraq's ability to attract foreign investment.”

That view was echoed in the Iraqi paper, Shafaq News, on Wednesday.

“The current wave of attacks on foreign enterprises in Iraq has shaken investor confidence,” it wrote, “with strategic analysts warning of far-reaching consequences for the country’s economy and international relations.”