Winning the Peace in IraqSeptember/October 2019 163
had ejected from its ¿nal territorial stronghold, in Syria, in March
o this year, the campaign had liberated 7.7 million people at the rela-
tively modest cost o $31.2 billion. Today, Iraqi schools are open,
Baghdad’s nightlife is vibrant, and security checkpoints have been re-
moved. Last May, the country held largely free and fair nationwide
parliamentary elections. Its population is young and forward-looking,
and its government is back on its feet.
The United States has an opportunity to convert this momentum
into a long-term geopolitical gain. Unfortunately, many Americans
are so weary o their country’s involvement in Iraq that they fail to
recognize the opportunity to salvage a positive outcome there that is
far better than what anyone hoped to achieve even a few years ago.
Many U.S. ocials, meanwhile, are more focused on treating Iraq as
an arena for combating Iran. They argue that, in the aftermath o ’
defeat, Iraq has become an unreliable ally and even a proxy o Tehran.
Worse, they appear willing to sacri¿ce the U.S. relationship with
Baghdad—and put at risk the relative success that Iraq has become—
in service o their campaign o “maximum pressure” against Iran.
This approach would be a mistake. Cutting o U.S. support right
when Baghdad has managed to achieve a modicum o stability would
risk the hard-won gains o recent years, especially during Operation
Inherent Resolve. And a confrontational U.S. policy toward Iraq
would fan the dying embers o sectarianism at precisely the moment
when the country is emerging as a stable, nonsectarian democracy.
Worse, it would strengthen Iran’s hand in Iraq and provide with
the chance it needs to rebuild. The only way the United States can
achieve its goals—preventing ’ return and ending Iran’s destabiliz-
ing activities in Iraq—is by working through and with Baghdad.
A NEW HOPEIraq’s future looks brighter today than it has at any point in the past
decade. Its progress can be largely attributed to two factors: the coun-
try’s recent evolution away from Shiite-Sunni sectarianism and the
coalition’s victory over .
Iraq’s 2018 parliamentary elections marked a maturation o Iraq’s
democracy. These were the ¿rst elections in which sectarianism took
a back seat to issues o good governance and the daily concerns o
Iraqis. A range o parties formed cross-sectarian or nonsectarian coali-
tions to compete for votes; none o them emerged dominant. Instead,