Iraq's October Revolution

To stay with the topic of mainstream media's poorly under-reported coverage of civil uprisings presently underway across the globe, let's take a peek at Iraq. The 2019 Iraq protests, also known as the October Revolution, started October 1. Protesters want the elected government to focus on job creation and income inequality, but also, as the BBC reported,

Iraqis are not simply calling for the downfall of a leader or political party. Instead, they are calling for the end of a political system which has existed since the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 - a system which, they argue, has failed them.

They specifically point to the way government appointments are made on the basis of sectarian or ethnic quotas (a system known as muhassasa), rather than on merit. Aggrieved Iraqis say this has allowed Shia, Kurdish, Sunni and other leaders to abuse public funds, enrich themselves and their followers and effectively pillage the country of its wealth with very little benefit to most citizens.

In this the Iraqi protesters have a lot in common with their comrades in Lebanon who are also protesting a sectarian-based political system, known as confessionalism. In both Iraq and Lebanon the United States supports, and had a hand in crafting, the confessional political order,

You won't find any of this in Baghdad bureau chief Alissa Rubin's latest article, "Iraq in Worst Political Crisis in Years as Death Toll Mounts From Protests." She summarizes protester demands as the "ouster of the government, an end to corruption and a halt to the overweening influence of Iran," without mentioning a demand to overhaul confessionalism or kick out the United States from its horde of Iraq military bases.

Rubin does go one to mention the reticence in Iraq's parliament to fiddle with the confessional political order, but she makes it seem as if it is entirely Iran's doing. The only time the U.S. is mentioned is at the end of the article:

While the pace of killings in Iraq has ebbed and flowed, the attacks have become more brutal and there has been an increase in kidnappings, arrests and disappearances of protest leaders, doctors who treat wounded protesters, and journalists.

Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Human Rights Commission have called on the government to halt its lawless crackdown. Human Rights Watch has demanded that the United States and Europe to do more to censure the government.

But some Iraqis say the U.S. is exerting its influence to return Saddam-era Ba'athists to government leadership.

Why would Iraq continue to allow all those U.S. bases after the defeat of ISIS if not for outright bribery?