Iraqi PM Abadi says the US is
not to be trusted. Really? Really?
His comments are the
sort of thing that can increase the danger for US, or other foreign troops,
working to help save Iraq's beleaguered government. His comments are the
sort of thing that can increase the danger for US, or other foreign troops,
working to help save Iraq's beleaguered government.
· raqi Prime reporters in the Shiite
holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, on Monday.
Stringer/Reuters Stringer / Reuters
View Caption View Caption
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday he wouldn't allow
any foreign troops into the country to help retake territory lost to a Sunni
Arab uprising being led by the so-called Islamic State.
His comments were widely reported.
But
the following remark arguably didn't get sufficient attention: “We don't need
foreign combat troops. And there is no
country in the world which would be willing to fight here and give you back
your land even if they were asked to," he said . .
Mr. Mr. Abadi's
comment is in stark contrast in recent history.
In
2011 his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki
, who
hails from the same Shiite Islamist Dawa Party, effectively kicked the US out of the country
. Under the terms of a 2008 Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)
signed by President George W. Bush, the US had to leave the country by 2012
unless a new arrangement could be made.
Recommended: How much do you know about the Islamic State?
Recommended:
How much do you
know about the Islamic State?
A key for the US Demand in Iraq - as it is pretty much everywhere -
That was US Troops would be exempt from prosecution, Iraqi. Mr. Mr. Maliki refused, and off the US went,
honoring its promise to respect Iraq's sovereignty.
Maliki
refused, and off the US went, honoring its promise to respect Iraq's
sovereignty.
Test your knowledge How much do you know about the Islamic State?
Test your Knowledge How much do you
know about the Islamic State?
The complete drawdown of US forces helped set the stage for Iraq's
resumed civil war under Maliki's sectarian leadership that put the boot on the
necks of much of the country's Sunni Arab population, especially the tribal
fighters who, with US support, helped turn the tide against the Islamic State's
predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq.
But now Abadi has effectively said that if given a chance the US
would have designs on Iraqi territory. But now Abadi has
effectively said that if given a chance the US would have designs on Iraqi
territory. His comment that foreign help is not needed is risible - the failures
of the Iraqi army in Mosul and Anbar provinces show that. But his comments,
while popular in Iraq, could further endanger any US troops there. But his comments, while popular in Iraq,
could further endanger any US troops there.
Though IS is the biggest problem in Iraq, the jihadis have
company. The proliferation of Shiite militias since 2003, some of which have
been allowed to infiltrate the police forces, is a major reason for public
distrust of the central government. Both the military and the cops have engaged
in extortion and worse of the civilian population. But the Shiite militias
frequently go one better.
. Consider this story from Agence
France-Presse's Ammar Karim , Which Recounts how a female relative
of Kurdish Iraqi Deputy Prime of Minister Roz Nuri Shaways was kidnapped by the
powerful Shiite Asaib Ahl al-Haq ("League of the Righteous") in Basra
last month. Her captors brought her from the southern city to Baghdad
's Karrada neighborhood (immediately across the Tigris River from
the International Zone) but on Monday evening she managed to escape, after
prying a window open with a spoon.
She quickly alerted police, which said her captors had been
seeking $ 1.6 million in ransom from her family. Then, the real trouble started:
"We initially thought that the
kidnappers were an extortion gang but by the time reinforcements arrived, a
large number of militiamen showed up," another police officer told AFP. "They said that the policemen should hand back the hostage or would
all be killed."
The men from Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which has ties to Iran and has been
fighting alongside police and army forces against IS jihadists, then blocked
off the street with their sport utility vehicles.
Police had to send in an armoured
personnel carrier to smash through the militia's roadblock and were met with a
deluge of gunfire.
. This is the
environment that a few hundred US military advisers and diplomats are operating
in, not in the badlands of Anbar but in the heart of Baghdad. And hatred for
the US runs fairly deep among the country's Shiite militias, as AFP reported,
citing a policeman in Baghdad.
"Those militiamen never respect our checkpoints and we
have been having increasing trouble with them lately," said the officer at
a nearby post who gave his name as Ali. "We do not have the necessary
support from above to deal with them.
We get official orders to stop them from moving freely and
carrying weapons but there is no way we can implement such decisions," the
officer said.
You would think that Abadi, who is reliant on US weapons, training
support, and airstrikes to hold off IS, would try not to inflame anti-American
sentiments in Iraq. But apparently not.
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