Well, colonies aren't official anymore. They're done unofficially now, and the surest sign that a place is a colony is when it is very obviously occupied by a foreign military force of a greater power which is in position to enforce the wishes of the colonizer...or else! Russia used to do that too in places like Aghanistan. Such places aren't called "colonies" anymore because the politically correct rules have changed. They're called "allies" now, generally speaking, but they are in fact colonies. Iraq is a tripartite colony (Shia section, Sunni section, Kurdish section) under the thumb of Anglo-America. They have a superficial measure of political sovereignty...just like Najibullah did in Afghanistan when the Russians were there, but they are still a tripartite colony under foreign guns. If all Anglo-American forces were withdrawn, you'd see that situation change quite rapidly as war broke out again between the Kurds, Shias, and Sunnis. Whoever eventually won would establish a new and independent Iraq, and I doubt it would be a dear friend of Anglo-America.