PARIS (Dispatches) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi arrived at the Élysée Palace on Monday for the first stop of a European tour, shaking hands with Emmanuel Macron under the chandeliers of the French presidency while his government’s actual record at home remained conveniently out of frame.
The official line is ambitious enough. Macron’s office said the two leaders would discuss energy, transportation, economic infrastructure, water resources, and healthcare, alongside expanded military and security cooperation. 
Eight memoranda of understanding were reportedly prepared for signing in France, covering everything from investment to culture. Baghdad’s mayor even spoke optimistically about French companies modernizing the capital’s sewage and road networks.
But the guest list deserves a closer look. France is not a neutral party in West Asia. It is a Western military power with a long record of involvement in the region’s destruction.
More importantly, France has spent the past two decades embedded in the Western military architecture that has destabilized the region.
France was a major participant in NATO’s Afghanistan mission, deploying thousands of troops and losing 90 soldiers. It launched the 2011 Libya intervention with Britain, a campaign that turned the country into a failed state, spread weapons across the Sahel, and opened a corridor for jihadist groups. 
Five years later, even French leaders admitted they had “let Libya drop” after the bombing stopped.
In Iraq itself, France operates under Operation Chammal, the French component of the U.S.-led occupation, with hundreds of troops, Rafale jets, and a frigate deployed to support operations. 
A French soldier was killed in Iraq earlier this year by a drone while serving in this mission. France’s military footprint in the region is not humanitarian. It is a continuation of Western power projection, dressed in the language of counterterrorism.
So when Zaidi sits down with Macron to discuss “defense cooperation,” what exactly is he buying into? France has defense agreements with Persian Gulf states, maintains bases in the UAE, and has sold Rafale jets across the region. 
It is a major arms exporter, with 11% of West Asian weapons imports coming from French factories. France profits from the region’s instability while presenting itself as a stabilizing force.
The Iraqi army, rebuilt under American supervision for two decades, remains dependent on external support. If Zaidi is shopping for French Rafale jets to replace American F-16s, he is trading one patron for another. 
France’s willingness to sell weapons is not the same as France’s willingness to defend Iraq. The Élysée’s talk of “deepening defense cooperation” is the language of arms contracts, not alliance commitments.