Behind the lines: The riddles of Baghdad

Who is killing Iraqi demonstrators and who is firing at US bases?

Last week, five rockets were fired at the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq’s Anbar province. The base is a facility housing US troops. Ain al-Asad is something of a symbol for the 5,000-strong US presence in Iraq. President Trump visited the base last year, spending the day after Christmas with troops stationed there. Vice President Mike Pence was also there in late November, for Thanksgiving.

Two days later, Katyusha rockets were fired at the Balad airbase, 70 kilometers north of Baghdad. Again, this is a base where US forces and contractors are stationed.

There were no casualties in either attack. They were the latest in a string of similar incidents which have taken place on US facilities in Iraq since the beginning of the year.

These attacks have a number of things in common, other than that they are directed at US personnel and facilities: they appear to be intended for now to send a message rather than to cause injuries or fatalities among US troops. They are also notable in that no force or organization has taken responsibility for them…

ACTUALLY, THE answer is very clear. The riddle is why it has taken so long for the facts to be acknowledged in both Baghdad and Washington.

The evidence suggests that in both cases, the perpetrators are the Iran-backed Shia militias who today constitute the strongest and most potent political and paramilitary force in the country.

With regard to the attacks on US bases, the indications have been plain throughout the year that with the ISIS threat now set back, the Shia militias have been gearing up to seek to expel the US presence from Iraq.