The US is bullying Baghdad into blocking Iran from its airspace, but Washington is helping send arms to Syria too

Three of the Senate’s most hawkish members visited Iraq on Wednesday to threaten Baghdad with damaged relations with Washington if it continues to allow Iran to send weapons to the Syrian government over Iraqi airspace.

Sens. John McCain, Joseph Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham sat with the Iraqi foreign minister and other officials to pressure them to block Iran from making weapons deliveries to the embattled Syrian regime over Iraqi airspace. But Iraqi officials came back demanding evidence of this accusation.

An Iraqi government spokesman said Iran has told Baghdad the flights to Syria are only delivering humanitarian aid, adding that the burden of proof is on the US to prove Iran is shipping weapons.

“Bottom line, this kind of problem with these Iranian overflights can make it more difficult to proceed with the Strategic Framework Agreement in the manner that the prime minister and we would like to see happen,” Lieberman told reporters in Baghdad. “So I hope this is cleared up quickly.”

Even as the US sent three of its most belligerent war hawks to Baghdad to get Iraq to stop being complicit in alleged arming of the Assad regime, Washington continues to be complicit in sending arms into Syria as well – except to the criminal rebel militias instead of the regime.

What gives the US and its allies the right to send aid and weapons to the Syrian opposition, while such actions are prohibited for Iraq or Iran, is not clear. The same hypocrisy holds in almost every case of international relations. What is acceptable and just for America, is cruel and nefarious for its enemies.