Skip to content
January 29, 2023
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
  • Discord
Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

From Venezuela and made by Venezuelan Chavistas

Primary Menu
  • News
  • Opinion
  • About us
    • About us
    • Who we are – Becoming a Volunteer
    • Editorial guidelines for contributors
    • Our Sources
      • Venezuelan Sources
      • International Sources
    • Contact us
  • Categories
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Security and Defense
    • International
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe
      • Oceania
      • US/Canada
    • Latin America and ALBA-TCP
      • South America
      • Central America and the Caribbean (+Mexico)
    • Ideology-Commune-Labor
    • Health-Education-Sport-Culture-Technology
    • Solidarity and Social Movements
    • OT Specials
  • Support Us
Light/Dark Button
YouTube Channel
  • Home
  • News
  • US Military Rejects Iraqi Demand, Offers Partial Withdrawal: Report (Occupation Army?)
  • International
  • News

US Military Rejects Iraqi Demand, Offers Partial Withdrawal: Report (Occupation Army?)

February 17, 2020

The US military has offered senior Iraqi security officials plans for a partial withdrawal of troops from Iraq, reneging on an earlier promise to leave the Arab country, online news website Middle East Eye (MEE) reports.

It cited unnamed sources as saying that a meeting was held in great secrecy between the two sides in the private residence of the Canadian ambassador to Jordan in Amman last week.

A representative of the US military told the Iraqis that Washington was prepared to leave positions in or near Shia-majority areas, such as Balad airbase which houses US personnel about 80 kilometers north of Baghdad.

The Iraqis were told that Washington could even consider reducing its troops in the capital Baghdad, the report said.

However, the US side categorically dismissed withdrawing from Ain al-Asad, the biggest US airbase in Anbar province.

“We cannot even start talking about withdrawing [from Ain al-Asad]. Withdrawal is out of the question,” the US representative said.

RELATED CONTENT: China, Iran and North Korea Are Almost Encircled by 500 US Military Bases

Ain al-Asad airbase came under missile fire from Iran last month, in response to the US assassination of top Iranian commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Baghdad international airport on January 3.

About 5,300 American forces are deployed across Iraq. Two days after the assassination, the Iraqi parliament approved a motion, calling for the withdrawal of all American forces.

Later on January 9, former Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi called on the United States to dispatch a delegation to Baghdad tasked with formulating a mechanism for the move.

According to a statement released by the Iraqi premier’s office, Abdul-Mahdi “requested that delegates be sent to Iraq to set the mechanisms to implement the parliament’s decision for the secure withdrawal of (foreign) forces from Iraq” in a phone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

He said that Iraq rejected violation of its sovereignty, particularly the US military’s violation of Iraqi airspace in the assassination. The US State Department bluntly rejected the request the following day.

Angered by the Iraqi parliament’s vote on January 5, US President Donald Trump threatened the Iraqis with “sanctions like they’ve never seen before” if American troops were asked to leave.

On January 10, he suggested blocking some $35 billion of Iraqi money “right now sitting in an account” in the United States.

Last week, Iraq’s two leading Shia parliamentary coalitions of Sairoon (Marching Towards Reform) and al-Fatah (Conquest) renewed their calls for the withdrawal of American forces from the Arab country.

RELATED CONTENT: US Announces Three New Bases in Iraq After Iraqis Demand Full Withdrawal

Calls have grown in Iraq for the US withdrawal since last December, when Trump made an unannounced visit to Ein al-Asad airbase.

The trip sparked a wave of condemnations from Iraqi political leaders, with some of them demanding a swift expulsion of American forces.

Recently, Trump ordered to withdraw all American troops from Syria and half of them from Afghanistan, but said he had no similar plans for Iraq.

The US, backed by the UK, invaded Iraq in 2003 claiming that the former regime of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

No such weapons, however, were ever found, and the invaders withdrew from Iraq, after nearly nine years of a military campaign that cost tens of thousands of Iraqi lives.

Leading a new coalition of its allies, the US returned to Iraq in 2014, when the Daesh terror group unleashed a campaign of destruction in the Arab country. Many reports, however, said US operations largely spared the terrorists and led, instead, to civilian deaths and inflicted damage on Iraqi infrastructure.

Iraq’s armed forces, backed by mainly Shia volunteer forces, subsequently managed to liberate all Daesh-held areas thanks to military advisory assistance from neighboring Iran.

Baghdad declared the end of the anti-Daesh campaign in late 2017.

 

Featured image: This handout picture received from the US embassy in Iraq on December 31, 2019 shows American soldiers taking position around the embassy in Baghdad after a protest against fatal US strikes on Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). (By AFP)

Source URL: PressTV

 

Want More?

Don't want to be a victim of the Algorithm?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER WITH ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VENEZUELA

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

orinocotribune
Website | + posts
  • orinocotribune
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/orinocotribune/
    Protesters in New York City condemning the brutal murder of Tyre Nichols by five Memphis (TN) police officers. Photo: Party of Socialism and Liberation.
    January 28, 2023
    Protests Across US After Footage Released of Tyre Nichols' Murder by Police
  • orinocotribune
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/orinocotribune/
    Photo composition showing Peruvian repressive forces shooting at protestors (Photo: Ernesto Benavides/AFP) blended with an image of a Peruvian protester holding a banner with a cartoon of Dina Boluarte stained in blood and a caption reading "asesina" (murderer). Photo composition: Orinoco Tribune.
    January 27, 2023
    Bolivia Rejects De Facto Peruvian President's Claims of Foreign Interference
  • orinocotribune
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/orinocotribune/
    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk (left) and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (right) shaking hands at Miraflores Palace. Photo: Presidential Press.
    January 27, 2023
    President Maduro Meets UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at Miraflores Palace
  • orinocotribune
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/orinocotribune/
    Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel (left) and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (right) with the country flags of their counterparts beside them and a drawing of Simón Bolívar in the background, during their meeting on Thursday, January 26. Photo: Presidential Press.
    January 26, 2023
    President of Cuba Meets President Maduro in Venezuela (+CELAC)
Tags: Adel Abdul Mahdi Iraq Occupation US Imperialism us military aggression us troops US war on peace

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Continue Reading

Previous Previous post:

More Than 1,100 Former US Department of Justice Officials Tell William Barr: Resign Now! ‘

Next Next post:

Ignoring the Links Between “Man Camps” and Violence Against Indigenous Women

Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter

We keep your data private and share your data only with third parties that make this service possible. Read our Privacy Policy.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

NEWS: Most Viewed 72 Hours

Calendar

January 2023
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Dec    

Categories

OPINION: Most Viewed 72 hours

We are on Telegram


Receive our news directly in your cellphone or PC, join us on our TELEGRAM channel: https://t.me/OrinocoTribune1

 

Download TELEGRAM, click the link above and then press the JOIN button.

We are on Discord


Now we are also on Discord you will be able to follow our every move and interact with our team.

Join us by clicking here



All our work is free to use and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

We are on Reddit

If you are more into REDDIT, join our Orinoco Tribune Community.

 

Just click below and then click JOIN
https://www.reddit.com/r/OrinocoTribune/

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
  • Discord
Copyleft, No rights reserved.