Abdullah Nahed Abbas-researcher
Introduction
Perhaps the relations between the two neighboring countries Iraq and Jordan are among the most confused relations, as there are many commonalities between the two sides, mutual interests, and an urgent need for each other, and at the same time there is an intersection in strategic aspects and regional alliances, especially after 2003, and what each side wants from the other, the common interests between the two countries have not created in his strategic identity.
We may not exaggerate if we say that Iraq has no strategic identity, as its governments mostly do not know what they want, and its foreign policy decision suffers under the weight of the radical political fluctuations that Iraq is witnessing from time to time, which has led to the loss of many important and influential Iraqi papers on its fate and survival, whether those that connect it with the Jordanian side, or those that connect it with other neighbors, and the whole world, foreign policies are only an extension of internal policies, and there is no separation between them, and strategic identities are made and built inside the country, and then it goes abroad to reflect the internal vision pursued by the state and wants to transfer it to reality.
Those interested in Iraqi strategic affairs may know, as Iraq is classified among the semi-geographically confined countries, or even completely confined, due to the size of its small sea view, which extends for a few kilometers, about (60) km, which does not fit its geographical size, nor its interests or aspirations. This geographical fate has forced Iraq to calculate every step it takes with extreme accuracy, in light of multiple and difficult geographical neighborhoods, governed by contradictory interests, which often differ from Iraqi interests, and at the same time neighboring countries are investing in Iraq’s weakness, namely: its geopolitical fragility, represented as a land-based country suffering from a small sea view that does not fit its size, and therefore it constantly needs this neighborhood, and this need sometimes pushes it to give up some of its gains to spend part of its interests, especially those related to access to the Seas, the outside world.
Geopolitical fragility and rulers: the complex of possible and impossible
A number of researchers have pointed out that Iraqi decision makers, in the modern Iraqi state that was established in 1921, realized the extent of the dilemma that the country suffers from at the geopolitical level, represented by the lack of a suitable Sea outlet to Iraq, so they sought to find solutions to this difficult historical impasse, it is difficult, because of its connection with geographical constants, which is almost impossible to change, and the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 may be based in part on this endeavor aimed at overcoming the geopolitical fragility of Iraq, but the invasion, the Iraqi army withdrew from Kuwait and the country retreated; because of that incalculable and ill-considered decision, which ignored that other countries and The dominant party in the international system, led by the United States of America, will not be satisfied with changing the parameters of countries by force, especially in an important region such as the Arabian Gulf region, moreover, the invasion of other countries is rejected, at all levels, whatever the justifications and justifications.
During the royal era, the Iraqi Prime Minister (Nuri al-Said) tried to find peaceful and diplomatic solutions to this complex problem by resorting to the presentation of federal or unitary projects, such as the Fertile Crescent project, or the Hashemite union, with his belief that the Hashemite Union project, in particular, may constitute an economic burden on Iraq, on the basis that Jordan is an economically poor country, which will lead to the decision-maker to look for such projects, it can The noose was loosened from Iraq, up to the invitation of Kuwait to join this union, but the coup/revolution against the Iraqi monarchy in July 1958 ended this project.
