Just a few days ago the plan was for the U.S. to retain control of oil and gas fields in eastern Syria and the Al Tanf base in the south. Everyone wins - except for people in Syria.
It isn't going to work out that way.

It's easy to forget that Iraq had it's own Arab Spring movement in 2012-2013. It's easy to forget because after the massacre at Hawija it spiraled out of control. The Iraqi government tried to brutally suppress the Sunni protesters, and Sunnis fought back in what grew into an insurgency, and then ISIS seized control of the Sunni insurgency before anyone could grasp the catastrophic consequences.

For weeks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly hinted that Israel was behind recent deadly airstrikes against bases and munitions depot belonging to Iran-backed militias forces in Iraq.
Yet Washington played dumb. I mean really, really dumb.

The neocons in Washington are playing checkers, while Moscow is playing chess.
There is no strategy to help Russia gain influence in the Middle East. It just works out that way because of Washington's incompetence.

Yemen

While the attacks on the oil tankers is almost certainly total bullsh*t, there have been attacks within Iraq that the American media has curiously ignored. These attacks are most likely real.
A couple days ago it was at a coalition military base.

The warmongers in the Trump Administration are gearing up to attack Iran.
In many ways they are using the same script as was used in 2002-2003 for the invasion of Iraq.

President Trump has been banging the drums for war with Iran, but British Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika didn't get the memo.

The Trump Administration made it perfectly clear: no more waivers on Iranian sanctions. No exceptions.

Happy days are here again. Blackwater has returned to Iraq.

...at least I think so.

A Morning Consult/Politico poll from January showed that while a plurality of Americans supported the decision to withdraw from Syria, 59 percent of those who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 opposed it, with 26 percent supporting. Compare this to a whopping 76 percent of Trump voters who support withdrawal. Only 14 percent oppose.

This is an astounding role reversal regarding the stance of both major parties on war and peace.

This might be the most ominous essay that I've ever written.
It appears that the Trump Administration has decided to use the most ridiculous and transparent lie imaginable to justify a war of regime change with Iran.