Iraq
Reports
![DATE IMPORTED:February 10, 2001Bulgarian customs officers make a test on 321 packages of high-purity heroin which was found at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing with Turkey, February 10, 2001. Bulgarian customs seized almost 190kg (420 lb) of heroin onboard a Turkish truck destined for Germany. Bulgaria, [which borders Romania, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Yugoslavia], lies on the so-called Balkan route for smuggling drugs from Asia to western Europe.](https://i1.wp.com/www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/turkey_drugs_001.jpg?w=234&crop=0%2C13px%2C100%2C134px&ssl=1)
John R. Allen
Chair, Security and Strategy
Distinguished Fellow in Residence - Foreign Policy, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence
No vetting system is perfect, but if you look at those who have been arrested for suspicions of being linked to the Islamic State, for example, the vast majority have been American citizens.
At bottom, it sends the message that America sees Iraqis as untrustworthy, That they are not our partners. It reinforces Trump’s idea of taking their oil; that we don’t view them as allies but something much less than that.