The latest downward turn in Trump’s spiraling foreign policy week: drafting sanctions against an ally
Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images The Iraqi government experienced the full volatility of the Trump administration’s foreign policy over the last 24 hours or so. On Sunday, the president responded to the Iraqi parliament’s vote to expel U.S. troops with the threat of sanctions. “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charged them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever,” Trump said. “It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.
For a brief window on Monday afternoon, it appeared as if the United States respected Iraqi sovereignty after the gross violation of the strike last week that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and an Iraqi military official. Multiple reports addressed a letter from the Department of Defense to the Iraqi government announcing a full withdrawal of U.S. troops for the first time since the 2003 invasion.
The latest turn downward in Trump’s spiraling foreign policy week took place on Monday night, when the Washington Post reported that senior administration officials are already in the process drafting sanctions against Iraq. In summation, in well under a week, the U.S.
“I’m astounded by what’s even being discussed,” Peter Kucik, who served in the office of the Treasury Department that implements sanctions, told the Post. “You don’t typically use force against your allies. We are threatening to use extreme coercive policy tools against countries with whom we are allied.” Then again, administrations don’t typically declare the end of a 17-year war by accident.
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