Bush Administration Codifies “Enduring Relationship” With Iraq

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George Bush has repeatedly said that if the Iraqis were to ask us to leave Iraq, we would. At a May 2007 press conference, for example, the president said, “We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation… If they were to say, leave, we would leave.” Nevermind the fact that most Iraqis have long supported an immediate American withdrawal.

According to a White House fact sheet released this morning, the embattled Iraqi government that would be seriously endangered by an American pullout has asked for—surprise!—the exact opposite.

Iraq’s leaders have asked for an enduring relationship with America, and we seek an enduring relationship with a democratic Iraq….

The fact sheet also says the U.S. and Iraq will (1) seek another year-long U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, and (2) hammer out what the long-term future of American-Iraqi relations looks like. Spencer Ackerman believes that this means “the administration will work out the terms of the U.S.’s stay in Iraq in order to, at the very least, seriously constrain the next administration’s options for ending the U.S. presence.” No mention of the “enduring bases” we started building years ago, but if there was ever a question of those bases’ legitimacy, they’re now settled.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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