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A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 28 december 2018

Furious Iraqi lawmakers demand US troop withdrawal

PHILIP ISSA al-Asad could be used for
Associated Press U.S. air strikes inside Syria.
BAGHDAD (AP) — President The suggestion ran counter
Donald Trump’s surprise trip to the current sentiment of
to Iraq may have quieted Iraqi politics, which favors
criticism at home that he claiming sovereignty over
had yet to visit troops in a foreign and domestic poli-
combat zone, but it has cy and staying above the
infuriated Iraqi politicians fray in regional conflicts.
who on Thursday demand- “Iraq should not be a plat-
ed the withdrawal of U.S. form for the Americans to
forces. settle their accounts with
“Arrogant” and “a vio- either the Russians or the
lation of national sover- Iranians in the region,” said
eignty” were but a few ex- Hakim al-Zamili, a senior
amples of the disapproval lawmaker in al-Saidi’s Islah
emanating from Baghdad bloc in Parliament.
following Trump’s meeting U.S. troops are stationed
Wednesday with U.S. ser- in Iraq as part of the co-
vicemen and women at alition against the Islamic
the al-Asad Airbase. State group. American
Trips by U.S. presidents to forces withdrew in 2011
conflict zones are typically after invading in 2003 but
shrouded in secrecy and returned in 2014 at the in-
subject to strict security In this Jan. 6, 2016 file photo, Qais Khazali, the head of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq, speaks vitation of the Iraqi gov-
measures, and Trump’s was to his followers during a rally in Basra, Iraq. ernment to help fight the
no exception. Few in Iraq Associated Press jihadist group. Trump’s visit
or elsewhere knew the U.S. ceived presidential faux- the men and women with a nation, and declared: was the first by a U.S. presi-
president was in the coun- pas was failing to meet the U.S. military that Islam- “We’re no longer the suck- dent since Barack Obama
try until minutes before he with the prime minister in a ic State forces have been ers, folks.” met with then-Prime Minis-
left. break with diplomatic cus- vanquished, and he de- The abruptness of his visit ter Nouri al-Maliki at a U.S.
But this trip came as curb- tom for any visiting head of fended his decision against left lawmakers in Baghdad base outside Baghdad in
ing foreign influence in state. all advice to withdraw U.S. smarting and drawing un- 2009.
Iraqi affairs has become a On the ground for only troops from neighboring favorable comparisons to After defeating IS militants
hot-button political issue in about three hours, the Syria, He said the U.S. was the occupation of Iraq af- in their last urban bastions
Baghdad, and Trump’s per- American president told once again respected as ter the 2003 invasion. last year, Iraqi politicians
“Trump needs to know his and militia leaders are
limits. The American occu- speaking out against the
pation of Iraq is over,” said continued presence of U.S.
Sabah al-Saidi, the head of forces on Iraqi soil.
one of two main blocs in Supporters of the popu-
Iraq’s parliament. list cleric Moqtada al-Sadr
Trump, he said, had slipped won big in national elec-
into Iraq, “as though Iraq tions in May, campaigning
is a state of the United on a platform to curb U.S.
States.” and rival Iranian involve-
While Trump didn’t meet ment in Iraqi affairs. Al-Sa-
with any officials, he spoke dr’s lawmakers now form
with Prime Minister Adel the core of the Islah bloc,
Abdul-Mahdi by phone. A which is headed by al-Saidi
planned meeting between in Parliament.
the two leaders was can- The rival Binaa bloc, com-
celed over a “difference manded by politicians and
in points of view” over ar- militia leaders close to Iran,
rangements, according to also does not favor the U.S.
the prime minister’s office. Qais Khazali, the head of
The visit could have unin- the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl
tended consequences for al-Haq militia that fought
American policy, with of- key battles against IS in
ficials from both sides of northern Iraq, promised
Iraq’s political divide call- on Twitter that Parliament
ing for a vote in Parliament would vote to expel U.S.
to expel U.S. forces from forces from Iraq, or the mi-
the country. litias would force them out
The president, who kept to by “other means.”
the U.S. air base approxi- Khazali was jailed by British
mately 100 kilometers (60 and U.S. forces from 2007
miles) west of Baghdad, to 2010 for managing sec-
said he had no plans to tions of the Shia insurgency
withdraw the 5,200 troops against the occupation
in the country. He said Ain during those years.q