That is not factually correct. The vote was non-binding. The proof is below from an article I read in the WSJ. So this is not my opinion, it is simply what I read and I've repeated it to you. I want us out of Iraq and the whole of the Middle East. That remains my opinion. Also, please keep in mind that Iraqi Shiites who side with Iran are currently the majority in Iraq's Parliament. They are the only ones who voted for that non-binding bill to expel the US. The Sunnis and Kurds boycotted the vote. What does that tell you? The US is concerned that Iraq is becoming a satellite state of Iran. Of course, this was entirely predicable. We kill Saddam and we upset the power balance. Iran is the biggest bully in town left, except for the US and Saudi Arabia. If it were me, I'd get us out, but you can see what is happening. It's not really all of the Iraqis that want us out. It's the 50% that are Shiite and are in bed with Iran. These are the nuances that you seem to gloss over.
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Trump Pushes Iraq, Threatens Sanctions After Vote to Expel U.S. Troops
Iraqi parliament move poses a pivotal test to American forces that have been instrumental in defeat of Islamic State
By
Isabel Coles and
Catherine Lucey
Updated Jan. 6, 2020 12:01 am ET
Iraq’s parliament voted to expel U.S. troops, after a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani Friday. Photo: ReutersPresident Trump threatened Iraq with sanctions and a bill for billions of dollars if the U.S. is forced to withdraw its troops from the nation after the Iraqi parliament, responding to a U.S. airstrike that killed a powerful Iranian general on its soil, voted in favor of expelling American forces.
The nonbinding resolution—passed Sunday with the backing of Shiite politicians—urges Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to rescind Iraq’s invitation to U.S. forces that helped rescue the country after Islamic State overran about one third of its territory in 2014.
Mr. Abdul-Mahdi called on lawmakers to back the resolution, but it wasn’t clear how he would proceed. He resigned as prime minister last year and has since presided over a caretaker government.
Mr. Trump balked at leaving Iraq without reimbursement.
Huge crowds have gathered in Iran to mourn Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, killed by a U.S. airstrike in Iraq. WSJ’s Jason Bellini explains how the death of the powerful commander has intensified anti-U.S. sentiment and emboldened Tehran to threaten retaliation. Photo: Official Khamenei Website/Reuters
“We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build,” Mr. Trump said on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida. “We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it.”
Unless the U.S. exits Iraq on a “very friendly basis,” Mr. Trump said, the U.S. “will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever.”
Mr. Trump also repeated his threat that the U.S. could target Iranian cultural sites if tensions between the two countries escalate further.
“They’re allowed to kill our people,” he said. “They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way.”
The vote in Iraq’s parliament showed how the backlash against Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s killing is weighing on relations between the U.S. and Iraq, pushing the Baghdad government into closer alignment with Tehran. It throws further doubt on the future of the 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and the campaign against Islamic State at a time the militants are seeking to regroup.
Mr. Abdul-Mahdi and politicians said the U.S. had violated Iraq’s sovereignty with its strikes targeting Gen. Soleimani, the architect of deadly Iranian shadow wars throughout the Middle East, and top Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes.
Lawmakers during and after the session chanted: “Out, out, occupier! No, no to America! No, no to Israel!”
The exact process by which the U.S. would be asked to leave was murky. In a call with the French foreign minister after the vote, Mr. Abdul-Mahdi said Iraqi officials and experts were preparing a memorandum on the legal and procedural steps to implement the resolution.
Fadhel Mohammed Jawad, a former government official, said the government can evict U.S. troops whenever it wishes because their presence in the country was based on an exchange of letters rather than a formal agreement or law.
“In any case, the constitution, laws, processes have been ignored so many times before that it really doesn’t matter to focus on technicalities,” said Sajad Jiyad, managing director of Baghdad-based think tank Bayan Center. “It’s a case of will the government be bold enough to take the initiative, or does it want to draw this out and pass the buck around?”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said pressure from Iran prompted Mr. Abdul-Mahdi and Iraqi lawmakers to act.
“He’s under enormous threats from the very Iranian leadership that…we are pushing back against,” Mr. Pompeo told Fox News Sunday. “We are confident that the Iraqi people want the United States to continue to be there to fight the counterterror campaign.”
Threats to the U.S. presence in Iraq have already undermined that campaign. The U.S.-led coalition on Sunday said it had paused the training of Iraqi security forces and support for Iraqi operations against Islamic State as it braced for new attacks.
Iran has vowed harsh retaliation, stoking fears of wider conflict across the Middle East, where Gen. Soleimani cultivated a network of proxies that could be activated to strike U.S. interests.
“Hard days and nights are awaiting them,” said Yahya Rahim-Safavi, former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a speech quoted by state television. “The Americans must leave West Asia [the Middle East] in disgrace and defeat.”
U.S. troops in IraqSource: Brookings Institution; Congressional Research ServiceNotes: Between 2012 and 2015 the Department of Defense did not publish exact troop numbers for Iraq. During this time, aresidual U.S. force remained to provide embassy security and other assistance. Numbers for 2015 and after are estimates.
In Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said late Sunday the chamber would this week introduce and vote on a war-powers measure to limit Mr. Trump’s actions involving Iran. Mrs. Pelosi said the resolution would be similar to one introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), who last week filed a measure to force debate and a vote in the Senate ending further military operations in Iran.
The measure that Mr. Kaine introduced is privileged, meaning that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) can’t block it from coming to the floor. In both chambers, a simple majority is needed for passage. However, the measure would still be subject to a presidential veto.
Mr. Trump’s comments on targeting Iranian sites came a day after he tweeted that the U.S. was prepared to hit 52 Iranian assets, including some “at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture.” Destroying cultural sites could violate international agreements, such as the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Pressed on the issue on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Mr. Pompeo said: “We’ll behave lawfully, we’ll behave inside the system.”
In a reminder of the increasingly hostile climate for U.S. troops, two rockets were fired into Baghdad’s Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and coalition troops are located, and a third landed outside of it, an Interior Ministry official said. Six civilians were wounded.
The events have demonstrated the growing power of Iran-backed groups like Kataib Hezbollah, which Iraqi security forces have been unable to prevent firing rockets at bases housing U.S. troops.
The U.S.-led coalition said it had increased defensive measures at Iraqi bases that house its troops.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Matthew Tueller on Sunday, denouncing the U.S. attack as a violation of the coalition’s mission to fight Islamic State and train Iraqi security forces.
Shiite political leaders who control a majority of seats in the Iraqi parliament condemned the killing. But some also have misgivings about the growing dominance of Iran-backed factions and see Washington as a necessary counterweight to Tehran’s influence.
Along with many Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers, they worry that a withdrawal of U.S. troops would enable a resurgence of Islamic State and lead to Iraq’s isolation.
Most Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers boycotted Sunday’s parliament session despite threats from Kataib Hezbollah, which had ordered all members of parliament to attend. The only representative of the Kurdish political parties was the parliament’s second deputy speaker.
Of the 167 lawmakers present in the 328-member parliament, all voted in favor of the motion, according to parliament member Mohammed Taqi Amerli.
“The next step for us as the parliament is to monitor how the government implements this bill,” said lawmaker Mohammed Shoya al-Sudani, adding that it must begin immediately.
Other pro-Iranian lawmakers said their next move would be to shut down the U.S. Embassy.
Before the vote, a senior State Department official said the U.S. had been working with its allies in Iraq to prevent its taking place, characterizing the killing as supporting the sovereignty of Iraq against Iran.
The Iraqi government faced a choice, the official said, as to “whether they want to be an Iranian satellite state or whether they want to be a sovereign nation-state of good standing in the international community.”
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated sharply after American officials blamed Kataib Hezbollah for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor. The U.S. struck back at the militia, killing more than two dozen of its members in multiple airstrikes near the Iraq-Syria border.
Supporters of Kataib Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups then stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, prompting the U.S. to send military reinforcements.
U.S. officials said the strike on Gen. Soleimani was part of attempts to deter imminent attacks against American personnel in the region.
In his address to parliament on Sunday, Mr. Abdul-Mahdi said he had been due to meet Gen. Soleimani at 8:30 a.m. on the morning he was killed as he left Baghdad International Airport.
Mr. Abdul-Mahdi said Gen. Soleimani was carrying Iran’s response to a message Iraq had conveyed on behalf of Saudi Arabia aimed at easing tensions between the two countries in the region. The prime minister didn’t disclose the exact content of the message.
—Dion Nissenbaum and Jessica Donati contributed to this article.
Write to Isabel Coles at isabel.coles@wsj.com and Catherine Lucey at catherine.lucey@wsj.com |
