Stealth Annexation

Adam Rawnsley has the story:

Iraqi and Shia militia forces have been taking back ground from Islamic State, pushing the jihadist fighters out of much of the town of Tikrit.

But in a sign of Tehran’s growing military presence in the Iraq, Iranian weapons were a nearly ubiquitous sight in images and videos coming out of the offensive to take the mostly Sunni city.

Ever since Islamic State shocked the region with its capture of Mosul last summer, Iran has opened up its arsenals and flooded clients, proxies and friends in Iraq with arms and vehicles.

Now, as Iraqi forces have brushed off their American advisers during the push into Tikrit, Iranian weapons — and advisers — are helping to spread the Islamic Republic’s influence.

Now that the Iranians are in, who is going to make them leave? The Iraqis? Us? Don’t be silly — as I’ve been forced to remind you on several occasions now, the Obama Doctrine is objectively pro-Iranian.

Iraq’s fate was sealed in 2011, when the Obama Administration sabotaged its own Status of Forces Agreement negotiation. Iraq died last year, when ISIS invaded. The only question remaining is how much of non-Kurdistan Iraq will Iran annex, and will the annexation be de jure or merely de facto?