US must stand with Iraq again

In an unprecedented spirit of bipartisan action, Republican Rep. Joe Wilson from South Carolina and Democrat Rep. Jimmy Panetta from California have introduced the Free Iraq from Iran Act, a piece of legislation that reflects what Iraqis and regional experts have called for in recent years: a determined confrontation with Iran’s malign influence over Iraq’s independence. This bill is long overdue.
For nearly two decades, Iran has intensified its grip on Iraq, making it stronger, more violent, and more entrenched. It has utilized the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a web of its allied militias to transform its neighbor into a launching platform for regional aggression, as well as an ideological playground of subjugation. The demand of the bill for suspending US assistance to Iraq if the government fails to take substantial actions toward disarming and disbanding these militias is not only warranted but essential.
Iran has skillfully taken advantage of the post-Saddam vacuum of power since 2003. Using its Quds Force and proxies such as Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, and the Badr Organization, the IRGC has successfully entrenched itself in Iraq’s security, economic, and political fabric. The militias do not report to Baghdad. They report to Tehran. Their allegiance is not to the Iraqi constitution.
What started out as so-called resistance movements have evolved into a parallel state, one that assassinates journalists for sport, blackmails political opposition, embezzles public funds, and attacks US personnel with impunity. While some of these militias are nominally part of Iraq’s security forces, they function, in fact, as state-sponsored terror groups. Beneath the illusion of national unity lies a fractured state, where loyalty is divided and foreign powers pull the strings.
The Free Iraq from Iran Act accurately identifies the root of Iraq’s instability: the intentional interference by its neighbor in the sovereignty of Iraq. It also outlines an actionable path forward, cutting off aid until the federal government takes verifiable efforts to root out these militias, and aiding Iraqi civil society as a force for countering extremism and corruption.
Iran’s presence in Iraq is not simply ideological; it is parasitic. The militias control critical border crossings, manipulate elections, siphon off reconstruction funds, and even run their own detention centers where torture and extrajudicial killings are routine.
The results speak for themselves. Iraq’s political system is paralyzed. Reforms are constantly obstructed by militia-aligned parties that owe their loyalty to foreign powers. Prominent activists who dare challenge this status quo are kidnapped or assassinated. Iraq’s youth, who led one of the most inspiring protest movements in the Arab world in 2019, have been silenced through a campaign of bullets, fear, and disillusionment.
To continue sending US aid to a government that fails to confront, and in many cases accommodates, these militias is not diplomacy; it is complicity.

Opponents of the bill will inevitably threaten that suspending aid could destabilize Iraq. Let us be clear: Iraq is already destabilized by foreign interference. US aid must no longer be a blank check. Conditionality is not punishment; it is accountability.
What Iraq needs from the US is not passive support, but assertive partnership. The Free Iraq from Iran Act rightly proposes increasing US strategic communication capabilities to expose militia abuses and support civil society.

What Iraq needs from the US is not passive support, but assertive partnership. 

Dalia Al-Aqidi

This is where American soft power can be most effective by empowering the millions of Iraqis who reject sectarianism, foreign occupation, and violent coercion.
Washington should also re-engage diplomatically with leaders who remain committed to a sovereign and democratic Iraq. The international community must stop treating militia dominance as an unchangeable reality. It is not. It is the product of sustained neglect and appeasement, and can be reversed.
If the status quo remains, there will be devastating repercussions. We already have militias from Iraq spreading their influence throughout the region, attacking US bases in Syria, firing drones at US allies, and copying the region-wide destabilizing agenda of Hezbollah and the Houthis.
These militias are not merely an Iraqi challenge, but are part of a regional IRGC network to export disorder and weaken US influence and interests.
Moreover, failure to confront them risks pushing Iraq further into authoritarianism. A generation of Iraqis is losing faith in democracy, reform, and Western support.
Each activist assassinated, each election rigged, and each militia figure elevated to public office erodes hope that Iraq will be a sovereign, pluralistic country.
The Free Iraq from Iran Act sends a strong message: The US will no longer underwrite a regime that enriches democracy’s adversaries.
This is not a question of sect or party, but of freedom from foreign control.
Iraq stands at a crossroads: One path leads to sovereignty, justice, and national dignity, the other to domination by foreign-led militias. The rule of the gun is strangling the rule of law.
The US must stop wavering. It must stand unequivocally with the Iraqi people, not with the violent proxies of their occupiers. Anything less is a betrayal.
The people of Iraq have not forgotten who helped topple their dictator, but many now believe that Washington substituted one tyrant for another. Their trust has been shattered, and their faith has collapsed. They see the US silence as complicity and aid as appeasement.
Washington must make its position unmistakably clear: We did not liberate Iraq to see it enslaved by foreign-backed militias.
The Free Iraq from Iran Act needs to be the first move toward shifting course and standing firm, once and for all, with the free people of Iraq.

• Dalia Al-Aqidi is executive director at the American Center for Counter Extremism.