Iraq: The Withdrawal of the USA forces is a Decision of sovereignty
The Iraqi army confirmed that the decision to withdraw US forces from Iraq is “a decision of sovereignty and includes all Iraqi lands, including the Kurdistan region, as it is part of Iraq.”
The Iraqi Media News Agency quoted the spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, as saying in a statement on Friday that Iraq submitted requests to the United Nations to withdraw the USA forces from Iraq after its victory over the terrorist organization “ISIS”, according to a memorandum presented by former Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari to end the work of the international coalition led by Washington, stressing that Iraq will not have any “financial and political commitment” after that.
Khalaf pointed out that any movement of the international coalition at the level of air sorties through Iraqi airspace is not carried out only after the approval of the Iraqi government.
He underlined that the attacks of the American forces on the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization units ( PMU) in the city of Qaim in Al-Anbar province last December and its brutal aggression carried out on January the 3rd near Baghdad airport, which led to the martyrdom of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani , the head of the Quds forces and Iranian Revolutionary Guard as well as Deputy Head of the Popular Mobilization forces , Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and their comrades accelerated the demands to withdraw the USA forces .
The Iraqi high-rank military official indicated that the number of foreign forces in Iraq was less than 6 thousand for the alliance as a whole, while the number of Americans is about 5.000 and their presence was limited to camps, not bases.
He said, “The NATO mission has been in Iraq since the year 2005, and we have informed them of the framework within which they are moving and their presence will be far from building military bases within a new mechanism which the Iraqi government prepared for them.”
Khalaf had confirmed on Thursday that Iraq had not given approval to resume the operations of the USA army in the country, as the Iraqi government announced on Wednesday its refusal to sign an agreement to keep American forces in Iraq, indicating that it would support the vote of the Iraqi parliament that demands the withdrawal of the USA forces from the country.
The Iraqi parliament voted on january the 5th with an absolute majority on a decision which obligates the Iraqi government to end the foreign presence in the country after the USA crimes carried out against high-level Iraqi and friendly military headquarters and leaderships.
Rawaa Ghanam