U.S. Occupation of Cuba and Iraq

Once the U.S. occupies a country, it is not so easy to get it to leave.

U.S. State Department in 2020 regarding Iraq:

“At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership — not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. 

Ortagus stressed that “America is a force for good in the Middle East” and that the purpose of the U.S. military presence in Iraq is “to continue the fight” against the Islamic State. She did not reference Iraq’s request.

 U.S. State Department in 1906 regarding Cuba:

I am much distressed by the events which have occurred since we left the United States to attend the conference at Rio, but I do not think there is just reason for the friends of Cuba to despair of her liberty, her independence, or her success in self-government. You will recall that the provision of the Cuban constitution and the treaty, under which the United States is now acting, provides the right “to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence,” and you will perceive in the terms of Secretary Taft’s proclamation that such is the purpose of the Government of the United States.

And as always, some in the occupied country benefit and want the U.S. to stay, while many others vocally do not. Cuba had to wait many years before the U.S. gave up its self-ordained right to send troops whenever it wanted, and even then its interference was such that it led to revolution.