Iraqi Lawmakers Vote to Expel U.S. Troops as Iran Mourns a Slain General
The vote in Parliament, after the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani of Iran in a U.S. drone strike, is not final until Iraq’s prime minister signs the draft bill.
Credit…Hossein Mersadi/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Alissa J. Rubin, Steven Erlanger and
BAGHDAD — Lawmakers in Iraq voted on Sunday to urge the government to expel United States troops from the country after the United States ordered the killing of the Iranian leader of the elite Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, on Iraqi soil.
The decision came as hundreds of thousands of mourners poured into the streets of Iran to pay their respects to General Suleimani, the most powerful figure in the country after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The vote is not final until Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of Iraq signs the draft bill. But since he drafted the language and submitted the bill to Parliament, there was little doubt he would sign it. Mr. Abdul Mahdi had urged lawmakers to oust the United States-led coalition after President Trump ordered a fatal drone strike against General Suleimani in the Baghdad airport.
Members of Iraq’s Parliament were divided on the demands to expel American troops. While factions that grew out of Shiite militia organizations have pushed hard for the expulsion, Sunni Muslim factions and the Kurds wanted the United States to stay.
American troops are in Iraq “at the invitation” of the Iraqi government, according to the legal agreement between Baghdad and Washington. Presumably, if Baghdad withdrew that invitation, the United States would have to withdraw.
RT/Moscow: Iraq’s parliament has voted to have foreign troops removed from the country, heeding a call from its caretaker prime minister. The move comes after the US assassination of a top Iranian general and a commander of Iraqi militia.
The resolution, which was passed unanimously, instructs the government to cancel a request for military assistance from the US-led coalition, which was issued in response to the rise of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). With IS supposedly defeated, Iraq will not need foreign troops to fight the jihadists and can close its airspace to coalition aircraft.
The Iraqi government must work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, airspace or water for any reason.
According to Press TV, some Western military presence may remain for training purposes. The resolution says Iraqi military leadership has to report the number of foreign instructors that are necessary for Iraqi national security.
At the same time, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said that Baghdad had turned to the UN Security Council with complaints about US violations of its sovereignty.
Speaking at an emergency parliament session on Sunday, Iraq’s caretaker PM Adil Abdul Mahdi said the American side notified the Iraqi military about the planned airstrike minutes before it was carried out. He stressed that his government denied Washington permission to continue with the operation.
Despite the internal and external difficulties that we might face, it remains best for Iraq on principle and practically.
Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Force, were killed by a drone strike as their convoy was leaving Baghdad International Airport on Friday morning.
The interim prime minister said after the incident it was clear that it was in the interest of both the US and Iraq to end the presence of foreign forces on Iraqi soil. Mahdi said Soleimani was on his way to meet him when the US airstrike killed the Iranian general.
Influential Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stated in a letter that Iraq should go further and shut down the US embassy.
Washington claims the assassination of Soleimani was an act of self-defense justified by his planning of attacks on American citizens. Tehran called it international terrorism and vowed to avenge the popular military officer.
In the wake of the attack, the US advised all American civilians to leave Iraq. US-led coalition troops in Iraq have also suspended all training operations and hunkered down at fortified bases, bracing for retaliatory strikes.
and from Sputnik News:
The reports emerge as the US-led coalition fighting Daesh* in Iraq has said that it has suspended its fight against the terror group amid increased attacks on US personnel.
The Iraqi Parliament has passed a resolution to demand the termination of all the foreign troop presence in the country, Sky News Arabia broadcaster reported.
During an extraordinary session convened on Sunday, the legislative body also voted to terminate the agreement with the US-led coalition fighting Daesh.
“The government commits to revoke its request for assistance from the international coalition fighting Islamic State due to the end of military operations in Iraq and the achievement of victory,” the resolution read. “The Iraqi government must work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, airspace or water for any reason.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi earlier requested that parliament order the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, Sky News Arabia broadcaster reported, as Iraq’s parliament began its extraordinary session.
The Prime Minister said that both Iraq and the US are interested in terminating the foreign troop presence in the country.
The head of the Iraqi government believes that the foreign troop pullout would be beneficial to the country. He also recalled that US-Iraqi relations did not suffer despite the absence of foreign troops in the country in the period 2011-2014.
“Despite the internal and external difficulties that we might face, it remains best for Iraq on principle and practically,” Abdul Mahdi told parliament in a speech.
He added that there are two options available regarding the withdrawal of US-led coalition troops. The first would see their immediate and complete withdrawal, the second would order foreign military personnel to leave gradually.
“As Prime Minister and senior commander, I recommend the first option. Despite the external and internal difficulties that we may encounter, this option is fundamentally better for Iraq … It will help reorganise relations with the US and other nations, maintain cordial relations on the basis that territorial sovereignty is respected, and allows for no interference in internal affairs,” Mahdi remarked.
Hezbollah Leader on US Troops in the Region
Echoing the Prime Minister’s words, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the end of the US troop presence in the region, including military bases, navy ships, and military personnel would be a fair punishment for Soleimani’s killing.
Nasrallah specified that this measure should not include civilians in the country as the punishment should be directed at the institution that implemented the killing of Soleimani.
Soleimani’s Killing
Abdul Mahdi also said that the United States informed Iraq about the plans to target the commander several minutes before the attack. He added that the Iraqi authorities gave no such permission.
The Prime Minister revealed that he was scheduled to meet with Soleimani the same morning the general was killed in an airstrike in Baghdad. According to Abdul Mahdi, the Iranian general was expected to deliver a response from Iran to ‘a Saudi message’.
In the early hours of Friday, Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of an Iraqi Shia militia group, were among those killed by a US drone attack near Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani and al-Muhandis were blamed by Washington for organizing demonstrations at the US Embassy in Baghdad on 31 December.
US President Donald Trump said the recent strikes were a preemptive, defensive move to prevent war. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned that Tehran will take revenge for what it views to be a heinous crime.
and Press TV:
Iraqi lawmakers have unanimously approved a bill, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country following the assassination of Iran’s top military commander, Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
On Sunday, the legislators used an extraordinary parliamentary session to vote on a resolution requiring the government to press Washington and its allies to withdraw their troops from Iraq.
The lawmakers, citing Articles 59 and 109 of the Constitution and in line with their national and regulatory responsibilities as representatives to safeguard the security and sovereignty of Iraq, had earlier signed a four-point bill as follows:
Firstly, the central government in Baghdad is obliged to cancel its request to the US-led military coalition, which was purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist on the grounds, now that military operations have ended in the country, and victory over Daesh has been achieved. The Iraqi government should, therefore, put an end to the presence of any foreign troops and prevent the use of the Iraqi airspace.
Secondly, the government and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces must announce the number of foreign trainers they need, along with their locations, responsibilities, and duration of their contracts.
Thirdly, the Iraqi foreign minister, on behalf of the government, must turn to the United Nations and the Security Council to file a complaint against the United States for violations of Iraqi sovereignty and security.
Fourthly, the Iraqi government has been required to conduct a thorough investigation into the recent US airstrike in Baghdad and inform the parliament of its results within seven days from the date of the approval of this bill.
Finally, the plan comes into force once it obtains the parliamentary approval.
On Saturday, the leader of a powerful political coalition in Iraq’s parliament said US forces will be driven out of the Iraqi territory following the vicious, cowardly US operation.
The leader of a powerful bloc in Iraq’s parliament says Iraqis will expel US troops from the Iraqi territory.
“We offer our condolences to the adherents of Hashd al-Sha’abi and all Iraqis over the martyrdom of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, General Soleimani and a number of young valiant men. This is the path of martyrdom, and we hereby declare that we will continue to tread it. We have no reservations whatsoever in this regard,” Hadi al-Ameri, who is the head of the Fatah (Conquest) Alliance, told reporters as he participated in the funeral ceremony for the fallen heroes in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Saturday.
“We will defeat Americans and drive them out, as we did earlier in the face of Daesh. We will expel Americans right before Iraqis’ eyes as they will be frustrated and humiliated.”
“We will press ahead with this struggle. We don’t have any option but to fully restore Iraq’s sovereignty,” added Ameri, who is also the secretary-general of the Badr Organization.
An Iraqi parliamentary bloc, which represents the PMU or Hashd al-Sha’abi, says recent Israeli acts of aggression are “a declaration of war” on the Arab country.
Back on August 27 last year, the Fatah Alliance called for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, following a series of airstrikes targeting Hashd al-Sha’abi forces in the country that have been blamed on Israel.
The parliamentary bloc said it held the United States fully responsible for the Israeli act of aggression, “which we consider to be a declaration of war on Iraq and its people.”
The US, backed by the United Kingdom, invaded Iraq in 2003 claiming that the former regime of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons, however, were ever found.
The invaders withdrew from Iraq, after nearly nine years of a military campaign that cost tens of thousands of Iraqi lives.
The US “aggressive” act in assassinating senior Iranian and Iraqi commanders will intensify anti-American sentiment across the Arab country, political analysts say.
Leading a new coalition of its allies, the United States returned to Iraq in 2014, when Daesh unleashed a campaign of destruction in the Arab country. Widespread reports, however, said the Washington-led operations largely spared the terrorists and led, instead, to civilian deaths and inflicted damage on the Iraqi infrastructure.
Iraq’s army troops, backed by volunteer Hashd al-Sha’abi forces, managed to liberate all Daesh-held areas thanks to military advisory assistance from neighboring Iran.
Baghdad declared the end of the anti-Daesh campaign back in 2017.
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I’m entirely in agreement with bringing all our troops home.
Usually, who shouts a lot and loudly, his real actions are very small. In my personal opinion, if ALL the world community sharply condemns the actions of the United States (I emphasize – all and sharply!) and involves the world media, international authorities, the UN, etc. then it could be achieved due to resonance and having met the resistance of the world community, some sanctions, closure of bases, etc. Americans will settle down. And now it’s a shaking of the air. If the Americans are not pressed against the wall, they will quickly pull up their friends from Britain and smash Iran and everything that moves in Iraq into dust, if needed. They just throw tomahawks, or maybe even smth stronger. The United States has extensive experience with this and opportunities. And on earth they will not fight there – not fools. And the Muslim world can only arrange local attacks on any US missions and facilities. Sorry, but the US is too far away. And to trample the USA in the dust only my country is able. Americans will crush any other country like partridges. Using the right of the strong in the Wild West. They do not care and spit on the decisions of all international institutions. Only Israel is nearby. It may get real troubles if the control of the situation will be lost.
Another tactic is needed here. And necessarily collegial. One by one, the Yankees will break everyone there.
“Abdul Mahdi also said that the United States informed Iraq about the plans to target the commander several minutes before the attack. He added that the Iraqi authorities gave no such permission.”… and why didn’t the Iraqi authorities call General Soleimani and tell them to scatter. It is a pitiful thing to watch these bitches of the US try to get their 20 pieces of silver and avoid accountability… Sodom Arabia much?
“According to Press TV, some Western military presence may remain for training purposes. The resolution says Iraqi military leadership has to report the number of foreign instructors that are necessary for Iraqi national security.”…… All remaining troops should be required to wear an electronic locator beacon at all times… Kind of like a house arrest ankle bracelet.
As if this is going to keep them out..
Maybe, if embassy gets shut like the cleric asked, that would be more significant..
International law is not compatible with this type of US government. Hyperdemocracy will eat itself alive.
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