I see no problem with having a stable supply of Oil and military bases within a country which is democratic and has the power of refusal to MNF demands, and in light of the politics which came about after the fall of Saddam, the ability of MNF to impose demands on the Government of Iraq, has not been as effective as one might presume.
Of course Saddam wasn’t a threat to Turkey, he was making sure the Kurds didn’t get any wild ideas about aspiring to their own independent state, so naturally they’d be opposed to him being overthrown.
We could have fixed the oil supply to Iraq ,fixed the water supply and the electricity.
Because a fixed position compared to an area of pretty much decentralised oil producing centres and electricity centres can be defended the same as building a US Embassy.
Which will either be handed over to competent Iraqi military forces or used to train Iraqi security forces further. There are bases in Korea, my country, Germany, Japan, Okinawa yet no one complains about those bases being ‘US Colonialism’
Pity that, considering no one ever advocates, Iraq the Model, Iraqi Pundit or the Mesopotamian blogs, all of which come out of Iraq. Two sides to every story.