Why Hadi Al-Amiri as Prime Minister is perfect for the US

Following the Iraqi elections, Hadi Al-Amiri is the most pro-Iranian contestant for the position of Prime Minister. With Iran already overstretched and threatened in Iraq, Hadi Al-Amiri would provide the perfect face of Iran in Iraq - a rallying cry for the people of Iraq against foreign occupation.

The United States' standing in Iraq has improved - mainly due to their withdrawal in 2011 and subsequent invitation to intervene against ISIS in 2014. But should the United States interfere too much in Iraq, it risks alienating Iraqis as it during the occupation before 2011.

This alienation is all the more worrisome after the Iraqi elections in May this year. Haider Al-Abadi is vying to return as Prime Minister with US support, but he is faced with challenges from the Sairoon and Fateh Alliances, both which finished ahead of the Prime Minister's own Nasr Coalition.

The Fateh Alliance is headed by Hadi Al-Amiri, head of the Popular Mobilization Forces and the most pro-Iranian contestant for the position of Iraqi Prime Minister. The Sairoon Alliance, headed by anti-Iranian Cleric Muqtada As-Sadr, has threatened to pull out of any coalition that does not meet its demands, demands which rule out both Abadi and Amiri for Prime Minister.

The Sairoon Alliance is not only planning on pulling out of any coalition that does not meet its demands - it would also become the head of the opposition, an unheard of development in Iraqi politics. Usually every party in the political system holds down some positions in government - for there to be an opposition in parliament would provide a challenge to the ruling elites of Iraq unlike any before.

In light of this, it would be wiser for the United States to concede the position of Prime Minister to Hadi Al-Amiri. With an opposition in parliament and enormous protests on the streets, Iraq's political landscape is changing - for Abadi to remain the figurehead of everything wrong with Iraq would leave the United States without a credible partner in the future.

However, should Hadi Al-Amiri become the next Iraqi Prime Minister, the revolutionary fervor of Iraqis would spill out not only against the corrupt, ruling elite - which has ties to both America and Iran - but also against Hash'd Ash-Sha'bi itself, the culmination of Iran in Iraq. Though the revolution would be bloody, it would signal the end of Iranian dominance in Iraq and force Iraq to lean more pro-American and more pro-Arab.

Iran has tried to both dominate and humiliate Iraq through rampant instability, corruption and terrorism. With Iran more economically isolated than ever before, now is the time for the United States to allow Iran to commit to strategic overreach in Iraq, an overreach which would end in more failure than any other Iranian venture in the region.