Iraq as a nation has always been a Western fiction. It was an imposed confederation of Kurds, Christians , Sunni and Shi’ite Arabs. Political dissent ad disintegration was prevented by the brutal tactics od the dictator Saddam Hussein ad his thus. After the Bush invasion the divisions became apparent and violent. Saudi financed Sunni Arabs under the ISIS banner fought the Kurds and destroyed the Christian communities. They almost defeated the Shi’ites who were saved by Iranian support of their militias. It is these Shi’ite militias that essentially control Baghdad. America is wasting their time , blood and money remaining entangled in this cesspool.
[Iraq as a nation has always been a Western fiction. ]
All countries are militarily-constructed fictions welded together by force. Iraq was in part the Ottoman vilayet of Baghdad for as long as the Turks could hold the empire together. But it wasn’t Turkish any more than the Raj was English. In time, conquered territories may assume the language and customs of the metropole. But it’s not a given. The British put Iraq together in its present configuration because they figured this was the best way to avoid the immediate beginning of large-scale war, as the parties fought over territory. Start them out in one territory, to begin with, and there’ll be less fighting, and no call for the British Army to have to jump in, at significant cost in men, equipment and provisions.