What’s the New US Ambassador’s Mission in Iraq?

But the new US envoy has made her threats to the Iraqi resistance groups even before arriving in Baghdad and with her interventionist remarks she heralded a new period of destabilizing and escalatory US policy in Iraq. 

In the hearing of the committee, Jacobsen declared that Iran is the most important enemy of the US in Iraq and threatened about attacks on American bases in Iraq and that the US must be ready to carry out military strikes when necessary in order to destroy the infrastructure and eliminate some of the people who design these attacks against the American interests.

These threatening remarks did not go unanswered, and the head of the political council of Al-Nujba movement of Iraq warned the new American ambassador that the wave of attacks against American bases in Iraq will continue.

Sheikh Ali al-Assadi in an X post said: "Remarks of the new American ambassador, who practiced a directive approach to our country during the Senate session, were not new to us. But what is new is what we want to repeat to Iraqi politicians. You are taken by the US ambitions and aggression in an unconcealable situation which has put you between two positions; either you ignore our right to independence and support for national sovereignty, or you have not accepted the reality that you are unable to prevent the continued aggression of the criminal occupying America."

According to the movement's website, al-Assadi added that all should know that "our view has not changed and will not change. The US is occupying and only respects the language of force."

In his closing statement, he warned the American ambassador to " be careful, and know that in the coming days, our slaps will sit on your face, and you will know who has the last word." 

Jacobsen's records 

On January 26, 2024, Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Tracy Jacobsen to replace Alina Romanowsky as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the US to Iraq.

Jacobsen's career in the US State Department started from (2000-2003) by working at the US embassy in Latvia, and her most important positions were as ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo (2015-2012), Tajikistan (2009-2006) and Turkmenistan (2009-2006). And the responsibility of the American temporary embassy in Ethiopia is Jacobsen's last diplomatic mission. 

Also, in 2021, Jacobsen was chosen by Biden as the director of the special group of Department of State on Afghanistan and in charge of transfer to the US of Afghans who worked with foreign forces after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, which was the reason for some criticism from the opponents of her nomination as the ambassador to Iraq. 

Why does the White House send extraordinary ambassador to Iraq? 

An important point about the new US ambassador is that she is an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Iraq, a job given to a person who is entrusted with special missions of their country in other countries or international organizations and allowed to use exceptional powers for their missions. 

The only difference between an Ambassador Extraordinary and an "Ambassador Ordinary" is that the latter serves a specific purpose, while the former enjoys broad powers and is authorized to enter into agreements with the host country in the name of their government. In the same way, Jacobsen also has the experience of having the privilege of a Ambassador Extraordinary in her career and engaged in agreements after the civil war in Ethiopia, in signing pacts and in drawing the new strategy of the White House post-war. 

Giving these powers to the new ambassador raises some questions for observers. Is the US seeking to engineer political developments of Iraq or even plot an election coup as Iraq nears the early parliamentary elections? Will she lead a campaign of assassinations? Will the new US ambassador manage an economic predicament and architect new banking sanctions to hatch a crisis against the resistance groups-backed Iraqi government? Will Jacobsen work to tighten security of the US military bases and safeguard the US military position in this country as the US heads to presidential elections and amid Gaza war? 

Management of crisis; From revival of ISIS to supporting feminism and LGBTQ+ groups 

After Romanowsky, Jacobsen is the second woman serving as the US ambassador to Iraq. While her support to faminism and homosexual groups is proven, experts suggest that her choice is related to the US plans for the current Iraqi conditions. Saleh al-Aqili, an Iraqi political expert, believes that the change of the US ambassador to Iraq and the appointment of a woman as extraordinary ambassador confirms the existence of a new US strategy for Iraq, while the new ambassador, who is known to support homosexuals, will also seek to activate the sectarianism and manage the conflicts. 

"It is expected that this ambassador will be responsible for a lot of interference in internal affairs and enjoy a wider scope for influencing the political situation of Iraq in order to destabilize security and influence the culture of Iraqi society," al-Aqili said. 

The political expert added that the new ambassador will be the starting point for new US crisis-making policy in Iraq.

"The US government is mulling change of its plans to destabilize security conditions with encouraging home division and with activation of terrorist groups," al-Aqili said. 

This pessimistic view to the mission of the new US ambassador was fed by the escalatory positions of Jacobsen before her residence in Iraq. 

At a hearing Thursday before the Committee on Foreign Relations, Jacobson recalled the threat posed by ISIS to Iraq and spoke of her plans for refugees of Al-Hawl camp in Syria. She maintained that al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, which includes the families of ISIS fighters, can be a "recruitment place for terrorism." Jacobsen promised to work to close the camp and bring the women and children "more quickly to Iraq for rehabilitation and reintegration.

These suspicious positions come while since the assassination of Iran's General Qassam Soleimani and Iraq's Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis as the commanders of the operation to defeat ISIS in Iraq, the Iraqi people and politicians have been pressing for US withdrawal from Iraq for its crimes of assassination of the two anti-terror commanders. The Iraqi parliament also passed a bill calling for expulsion of the American military. But the White House defies this demand under the ruse of watching the remnants of ISIS terrorist group. 

This American policy pushes many Iraqi officials to describe the moves of the ISIS remnants as playing into the hands of destabilizing US schemes to justify its military presence on the Iraqi soil, especially that the camps and prisons in northern and northeastern Syria where ISIS and takfiri fighters are kept are operated by the US-allied Kurdish militias. Syria and Russia have repeatedly warned about intentional release of these terrorists as a security challenge related to the occupational US military presence.

Claiming her intention to help Iraqi economic situation improve, Jacobsen raised the continuation of the US control over Iraq's banking and monetary systems, adding "I will support Treasury’s important work to modernize Iraq’s financial sector and connect it to the international financial system, eroding Iran’s ability to take advantage of Iraqi banks."

The meaning of these remarks is the US embassy's plan for interference and setting up roadblocks ahead of Iraq's foreign trade for further domination over the country's banking and monetary sectors while Iran is Iraq's biggest trade partner and in addition to tremendous trade, Iran is Iraq's most important gas and power provider. Such a US plan, for its turn, can be destructive to the Iraqi government's developmental plans aimed at improving the service sector which is a key public demand. 

In general, appointing an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary is aimed at causing economic, political, and security instability and continuing policy of tension management in Iraq.