Iraqi Parliament Votes to Expel All American Troops and Submit UN Complaint Against US for Violation of Sovereignty

Authored by commondreams.org and submitted by DaFunkJunkie

Iraq's parliament voted in an extraordinary session Sunday to expel all American troops from the country and file a United Nations complaint against the U.S. for violating Iraq's sovereignty with its assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

Ahead of the vote, chants of "No, no, America" rang out inside the hall.

"Iraq called on the U.N. Security Council to condemn the bombing and assassinations," Iraq's foreign ministry said in a statement following the vote.

Breaking: #Iraqi parliament votes for the withdrawal of all U.S forces and the "Global Coalition" from the country, & submit a complaint to the United Nations against the U.S for violating the sovereignty of Iraq. pic.twitter.com/Sb4oq4Zr81 — Mustafa Habib (@Mustafa_Habib33) January 5, 2020

As The National reported, the Iraqi parliament approved "a five-point action plan that would require the Iraqi government to end the presence of foreign troops in the country, and withdraw its request for assistance from the anti-ISIS global coalition."

"Parliament also called on the government to ban the use of Iraqi airspace by any foreign power," according to The National. The resolution still requires the approval of the Iraqi government.

The U.S. currently has around 5,000 troops stationed in Iraq.

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Speaking before an extraordinary session of parliament Sunday, Iraq's outgoing Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi recommended that the nation's lawmakers approve a measure to end U.S. troop presence in "immediately" following the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The prime minister's remarks came before Iraqi lawmakers are set to vote on a resolution to end permission for American troops to remain in Iraq.

Washington Post reporter Mustafa Salim summarized Mahdi's recommendations:

“But I want the decision to be agreed by all therefore I put to the parliament two options. 1.ending the existence of these forces immediately and start the immediate arrangements for this” 2. Set a timeline for the departure of these forces” said Iraqi PM — Mustafa Salim (@Mustafa_salimb) January 5, 2020 “I recommend the first option and keep the friendship between US and Iraq. It’s the interests of Iraq and US to Reorganize the relationship between both sides in a way keeps the sovereignty of Iraq” Iraqi PM said. — Mustafa Salim (@Mustafa_salimb) January 5, 2020

The U.S. assassination Soleimani on Iraqi soil was met with fierce condemnation from Iraq's foreign ministry and the prime minister, who called the drone strike a violation of the nation's sovereignty.

"What happened was a political assassination," Mahdi said. "Iraq cannot accept this."

In a previously undisclosed detail one observer described as "stunning," Mahdi said Soleimani was in Baghdad to meet with him about a Saudi request for dialogue to relieve tensions in the region—not, as the U.S. has claimed, to plan attacks against American forces.

WhenLuggageAttacks on January 5th, 2020 at 16:08 UTC »

If the chatter on social media is true, Trump asked the Iraqi PM to mediate with Iran on our behalf. Soleimani traveled to Iraq for that purpose, and we killed him.

That is not a good look, especially if we knew why he was there. What the actual fuck.

https://twitter.com/Mustafa_salimb/status/1213753153449086977

This is a Washington Post reporter in Baghdad, not some rando.

ETA: Here is another journalist (Atlantic, Guardian) with the same reporting: https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1213830321478737921

ETA2: And another from NPR: https://twitter.com/janearraf/status/1213823941321592834

coldandpain on January 5th, 2020 at 15:42 UTC »

Now watch Trump double down because loosing face is his worst nightmare. Effectively turning US troops into an invasion force against what should have been an ally. Good job Donald. Iran just got handed Iraq on a silver platter. You've let the russians and turks take control of Syria, alienating kurd allies, let Iran take over Iraq, alienating iraqi allies. And you're supporting the Saudi's who actually sheltered the 9-11 hijackers. In just 3 years you've reduced US influence in the entire region to a rubble. While your natural opponents are having a field day. You couldnt just find the wargraves of US soldiers who fought for the last 20 years and piss on them directly?

reg314159 on January 5th, 2020 at 15:13 UTC »

Not an expert here, but it would seem that Trump has given away influence in Kurdish held territory in Syria to Syria and who would become a renewed ISIS and has now essentially got the US kicked out of Iraq. All this with nothing in return. So essentially we walk out of the area and cede all control to Iran, Syria and Russia. Any opposing views? Am I missing something here? Serious inquiry. Thanks.