U.S. threatens to close Embassy in Baghdad?
Note: Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi of the Republic of Iraq Before Bilateral Meeting 20 August 2020 Excerpts … Attacks on U.S. presence have heated up, hostilities increased in Iraq and protests have gone worldwide since the assassination of Iran General Qassem Suleimani, Jan 3 2020.
Q PRIME MINISTER KADHIMI:: Mr. President, the end of the militia roles in Iraq — it’s one of the very important issues to stabilize the country in Iraq. How America is going to support ending the militia role in Iraq and —
PRIME MINISTER KADHIMI: (As interpreted.) The United States helped the — helped Iraq enormously in defeating ISIS and also in toppling the Saddam Hussein regime. We are working on building a strong relationship that is based on joint interests between Iraq and the United States, that is based on economic interest for the better future of the Iraqi people and the United States people.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: When I got to — when we came into office, ISIS was running rampant all over Iraq and Syria. And we knocked out the — 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate. But the Obama administration did a very, very poor job. They were running rampant all over. And we came in and we did a real job, and we got rid of that, and that was a good thing.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. There have been 32 attacks — there have been 32 attacks in the last 10 months on U.S. interests in Iraq, particularly in the Green Zone and U.S. military bases. How are you going to help Iraq to halt these attacks by pro-Iranian militia and to hold these people accountable?
And, sir, if I may also, there was some reporting that the U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraq totally in three years. Is this true?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: So, at some point, we obviously will be gone. We’ve brought it down to a very, very low level. We deal — where there are attacks, we take care of those attacks, and we take care of them very easily. Nobody has the weaponry we have. Nobody has the — anything — of what we have. We have the finest, the greatest military in the world. When somebody hits us, we hit back hard than they hit us. So we handle it.
US Threatens to Close Embassy in Baghdad
By VOA News
The United States is threatening to close its embassy in Baghdad amid frustrations over attacks by Shi’ite militias.
News organizations quoted U.S. and Iraqi officials Sunday as saying U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iraqi leaders in recent days that the embassy would close unless Iraq worked to stop attacks on U.S. military and diplomatic sites.
Pompeo has not discussed the matter publicly, and a State Department spokesperson declined Monday to comment on the secretary’s conversations with foreign leaders.
But the spokesperson told reporters the United States “will not tolerate threats to our men and women serving abroad.”
“We have made the point before that the actions of lawless Iran-backed militias remain the single biggest deterrent to stability in Iraq,” the spokesperson said. “It is unacceptable for Iran-backed groups to launch rockets at our embassy, attack American and other diplomats, and threaten law and order in Iraq.”
The United States has demanded Iraqi action before, saying in January that Iraq has an obligation to protect U.S. diplomatic facilities in the country.
That message came weeks after the U.S. military responded to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq with an airstrike that killed Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, outside the Baghdad airport.
The strike sparked a round of protests in Iraq, with demonstrators, and several Iraqi lawmakers, objecting to the U.S. action as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and calling on the government to expel U.S. troops.
The U.S. forces are in Iraq to advise and assist Iraqi forces in their missions against Islamic State militants. The Pentagon announced earlier this month the U.S. troop presence would drop from 5,200 to 3,000.
NOTE Attacks on U.S. presence have heated up, hostilities increased in Iraq and protests have gone worldwide since the assassination of Iran General Qassem Suleimani,