Snip:
The US military has completely withdrawn from Iraq, DPA reported on 27 September, citing an Iraqi government official.
All US combat troops and logistical support forces have left the country, the official told the German news agency on Sunday.
[…]
Before the withdrawal, US forces had reduced their presence in Iraq, which first began with the illegal invasion of the country ordered by former president George Bush in 2003.
US forces were stationed in Erbil in the Kurdish autonomous region, at a base near Baghdad Airport, and in the Green Zone, a fortified area of the capital home to the parliament and US embassy.
if this gambit actually worked and russia got balkanized, ukraine would become a permanent base to keep the region in chaos. it would be the only democracy in eastern europe.
I remember the sudden appearance of a bajillion secessionist movements on Wikipedia the week Russia invaded Ukraine.