The Astroturf Erbil Conference

It is a measure of how badly the conference organizers and supporters misread the political landscape that Iraqi political leaders of all stripes and the U.S. military command in Iraq disavowed it.

Thanassis Cambanis comments on the astroturf conference in Erbil, Iraq that called for Iraq to establish relations with Israel. There is virtually no support in Iraq for doing this, so there was a predictable backlash against the organizers:

Furthermore, the conference highlights the unsavory role of outsiders in manipulating narratives about Iraq. The o…