Eli Lake, Columnist

America’s Opportunity in Iraq

A new government in Baghdad can make real progress if the U.S. offers the right kind of support.

October 7, 2018 at 1:00 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Cause for optimism?
Photographer: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images

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The new government in Baghdad has evoked two broad reactions in Washington: hope and dread.

My Bloomberg Opinion colleague Meghan O’Sullivan is encouraged by Iraq’s new president and designated prime minister, Barham Salih and Adil Abdul-Mahdi. Both men have longstanding relationships with the U.S. government and have played important roles in building a new Iraq from the ashes of Saddam Hussein’s tyranny.