Last month, US President Donald Trump reaffirmed that he planned to pull all troops out of Iraq as soon as possible. Accordingly, General McKenzie issued a statement quoted in the media, "In recognition of the great progress the Iraqi forces have made and in consultation and co-ordination with the government of Iraq and our coalition partners, the United States has decided to reduce our troop presence in Iraq from about 5,200 to 3,000 troops during the month of September."  He added he is quite certain that the Iraqi Security Forces has ability to operate independently and to deal with the continuing threat of IS, which once controlled huge portion of Iraq. These troops will be repositioned in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Central Asian Republic and Germany as well as at choke points.  

Meanwhile, in the new development, there were reported of increased US drones targeting against Yazidis and other Kurds in northern Iraq including elements of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The locals of the affected areas claims that it was sort of show of forces as they never saw drones flying at low flight, visible to the necked eye. Interesting, these are the same Kurds, which had protection of Washington since decades and US had been protecting and patronizing. Many a times, US also issued statements for the independence of Kurdish areas. Locals of Iraq in various localities said that US, all these years empowered Kurds and pro-Iran elements in Iraq to make it their second home so that there is balance of power between Arab Muslims and non-Arab centrifugal forces, who is establishing a different identity of nationalities from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Pakistan. The US F-16 Fighter aircrafts and drones have become a constant feature to mix it with Turkish operations in Libya and Syria. In fact, an attempt is being made to malign Turkey for every attack in Northern Iraq.

If we recall, MQ-9 Reaper drone fired missile at Baghdad International Airport at the convey of General Qassim Soleimani, Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander  when he was planning to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in Baghdad. However, despite the fact that neither his dead body nor any concrete confirmation was there, it is widely believed that General Qasem Soleimani  along with members of his convey were all killed and turned into ashes. In reaction, the Iraqi parliament passed bill urging the government to cancel the request for help it presented to the international coalition. US claimed that Iran launched ballistic missile attack at two Iraqi military bases hosting US forces.

An Iraqi former military officer who retired last year said on the condition of atomicity, “It is a game plan knitted by apparent two enemies i.e. the US and Iran, whose military commanders collaborates against Turkey. American equipment is used to attack Kurds areas to create hatred against the Turkish forces in various countries of Middle East.” He added, Iran based Kurdistan elements, US-settled Iraqis, Iranians living here and other nationalities living in Iraq are destined to play a crucial role in regime change in Iran, in the near future. He said, “Threats to Iran and Turkey for regime change should not be taken lightly.” There is, no doubt, as the moves are being unfolded on world chess board, the Western players have this time planned to target Turkey and Iran for the Government (regime) changes to build strategic partners and allies in Istanbul and Tehran.