US military withdrawal will spell disaster for Iraq, US President Donald

Washington/Baghdad: US President Donald Trump has warned, ‘US military withdrawal from Iraq will be the worst development for Iraq in the time to come. Iran will spread its wings in Iraq following the US military withdrawal and that will not be in anybody’s interest.’ The Iraq parliament had passed a resolution to expel the US military from Iraq, following the assassination of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis of the Iranian armed group by the United States. US President issued a spate of warning after this and he seems to have, once again, lambasted Iraq over the subject on Tuesday.

Nearly 5,000 US soldiers were deployed in Iraq as a part of the international force to counter the terrorist organisation IS. The Iraqi parliament passed a resolution on Sunday that the military agreement in this regard should be prematurely terminated and the US soldiers should be asked to leave the country. The Kurdish and Sunni leaders staged a walkout from the parliament in support of the US military deployment in Iraq.

But the interim Iraqi Prime Minister appealed to the US military to leave the country by quoting this resolution passed by the parliament. Infuriated with this decision of the Iraqi parliament, President Trump warned of imposing harsh sanctions against Iraq. He has threatened that the sanctions will be so severe that the sanctions against Iran will appear moderate in comparison.

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mahdi responded by saying, ‘US military has violated the sovereignty of our country by carrying out attacks in the country. Therefore, there is no option other than the US military withdrawal. This historic decision has been taken with due consideration for the sovereignty of Iraq.’

The Iraqi Prime Minister also stated ‘Iraq has played its part to perfection, in the counter-terrorism war. But if Iraq suffered in the process, this sector and the world will suffer a major loss.’ US President Trump expressed annoyance over the Iraqi Prime Minister’s reaction.

President Trump pointed to the anti-Iran demonstrations in Iraq and said ‘The withdrawal of the US military from Iraq will help Iran spread its wings in Iraq and this is exactly what the Iraqi people don’t want. The Iraq people do not expect Iran to be running the Iraqi government.’

President Trump once again lambasted Iraq, ‘The United States will withdraw from Iraq in the future, but the time is not right for that, just now. As and when the United States will withdraw from Iraq, it will ensure recovery of all the money spent by it on building all the airbases and the biggest embassies in the world. Otherwise, the United States will not exit from Iraq.’