IRAQ; a Middle Eastern country whose oil riches are estimated to potentially be the largest in the world and which are predominantly leased to Canada, the US, UK, France, Australia, Russia and a spattering of EU countries. Nine of the world’s most powerful mercenary armies are tasked with Iraqi oil property protection; G4S, Unity Resources Group, Erinys, Asia Security Group, DynCorp, Triple Canopy, Aegis Defense Services, Defion International and Academi.

Most of these mercenaries receive funding from the US State Department.

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the toppling of Saddam Hussein, and the administration of the Coalition Provisional Authority under Paul Bremer, the US government, and by defacto, the CIA, has controlled every aspect of Iraq, including it’s oil.

Under Bremer, the B’aath Party under which Hussein ruled was eliminated, culled… its members fled persecution or were faced with assassination.   Both Sunni and Shia militia groups formed to fight the US rule of Iraq. One such group was led by Abu Musad al-Zarqawi, who later became one of Osama Bin Laden’s masterminds.

Bremer, in coalition with the CIA and an Iranian military officer, Soleimani, turned power over to Shia, Nouri al-Maliki in 2006 as Prime Minister.   Soliemani was later sanctioned by the US government for supporting the Syrian government and Assad who also worked alongside the US prior to the invasion of Iraq and suddenly now became a targeted – bad guy…

Al-Maliki fell out of favor with the US and in 2014, Fuad Masum, a Communist politician who later joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party, was secretly made President by Ban-Ki-Moon of the UN and Kurdish MP’s.   He ousted Maliki and appointed Haider al-Abadi as the new Prime Minister.

Abadi’s education and early work life was conducted in the UK, where he worked in the ‘transportation industry’. Under his rule, the once majority Shia party was quelled as he introduced more Sunni’s into the government per the US and EU advisory. But Abadi became critical of Obama and shifted alliance from the US to Russia and Iran.

This shift put a strain on US control of the oil reserves in Iraq and calls for mercenaries to destabilize Iraq’s government were ramped up. These mercenaries operate via multi-million and billion dollar contracts and became the de facto armies representing various nations across the globe including the US, Australia, Europe and Canada. The oil companies, Shell, Mobil, BP, Total, Chevron, Hess, Dragon, as well as a number from China, Turkey and Indonesia, were in competition with Rosneft and Gazprom from Russia.

Wagner Mercenaries provide the Russian government with their unchartered, unregulated army, and are most likely in Iraq as well protecting Russia’s oil interests.

Meanwhile, the acknowledged militaries are at the mercy of commands and commanders that are at the mercy of the unregulated…operating in missions that are convoluted, corrupted, and – staged.

The footprint in the Middle East, the assassination of Saddam and the subsequent rise of ISIS wreaked havoc on a plan that backfired 15 years ago with the initial invasion of Iraq. Attempting to ‘cleanup’ the mess, Syria and Yemen became the next targets as US and European interests in the Middle East erupted into chaos.

Blackmailed into the ethnic cleansing of Shiites, and anyone not Sunni, the block of power brokers including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, have invoked an all out war in the Middle East with the US and EU acting as proxy. The blackmail? To continue to allow the US control of Iraq. In return we give them Syria and Yemen. Iran is up for grabs… And Turkey?

Turkey became fearful when Assad, the US and Russia began backing the Kurds. Should the Kurds gain a foothold in Syria, Erdogan fears the Turkish Kurds, which represent roughly 20% of the population, would be emboldened and demand civil rights. Turkey is thus indirectly supporting – ISIL.

The war is far from over with continued propaganda statements of chemical attacks and bombings on civilians.   For now, some are proposing a ‘protectorate’ of forces, policed by troops from ‘many nations’ in which separate states will be imposed within Iraq and Syria housing Sunni’s, Shites, and Kurds.  

Not unlike dividing Palestine and Israel, I imagine the people of Syria and Iraq will not be too thrilled.