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Iraqi Prime Minister Asks U.S. to Start Talks on Troop Withdrawal U.S. Says It Won’t Discuss Withdrawing Troops from Iraq, as Iraq’s Leader Requested
(about 3 hours later)
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of Iraq said on Friday that he had asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to send a delegation from the United States to prepare for the withdrawal of American troops from his country. WASHINGTON — The State Department on Friday rebuffed the Iraqi government’s request to begin discussions on pulling out troops, saying that any American officials going to Baghdad during a state of heightened tensions would not discuss a “troop withdrawal,” as the Iraqi prime minister had requested. Instead, discussions would be about the “appropriate force posture in the Middle East.”
Iraqi lawmakers voted on Sunday to expel United States forces, after an American drone strike in Baghdad last week that killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, a top Iranian commander. The killing caused widespread outrage in Iraq, and its consequences continue to ripple through the Middle East. The statement from Washington was a direct rebuttal to Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of Iraq, and was certain to add to the friction between the two nations.
In a Thursday evening phone call, which Mr. Abdul Mahdi’s office said Mr. Pompeo had initiated, the Iraqi prime minister said he had objected to dual violations of his country’s sovereignty — referring to both the American attack and the retaliatory missile strikes by Iran on bases in Iraq. The prime minister said earlier on Friday that he had asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to send a delegation from the United States to discuss steps for the withdrawal of the approximately 5,200 American troops from his country, in the aftermath of a deadly American military strike ordered by President Trump that many Iraqis say violated their country’s sovereignty.
Iraqi lawmakers voted on Sunday to expel United States forces after the American drone strike that killed 10 people in a two-car convoy — Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, a top Iranian commander, four of his Iranian aides, and five Iraqis, including a senior militia leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Mr. Abdul Mahdi has not signed the bill yet, but had been criticizing the American troop presence in Iraq since a series of recent actions by the United States military.
The killing caused widespread outrage in Iraq, where neighboring Iran has great influence, and its consequences continue to ripple across the Middle East. Iraqi officials said the United States had violated the sovereignty of their nation, both with that attack and with airstrikes on Dec. 29 on five sites in Iraq and Syria that left at least 25 members of the militia dead and at least 50 wounded. Those American strikes were in response to the killing of an American contractor in Iraq in an attack by local militias supported by Iran.
In a Thursday evening phone call, which Mr. Abdul Mahdi’s office said Mr. Pompeo had initiated, the Iraqi prime minister said he had objected to dual violations of his country’s sovereignty — referring to both the American drone strike of Jan. 3 on a convoy outside Baghdad International Airport, where General Suleimani had arrived on a flight from Damascus, and retaliatory missile strikes by Iran early Wednesday on bases in Iraq that house American troops. The missiles damaged equipment but caused no deaths or injuries.
“Iraq is keen on keeping the best of relations with its neighbors and its friends in the international community,” the prime minister’s office said in the statement.“Iraq is keen on keeping the best of relations with its neighbors and its friends in the international community,” the prime minister’s office said in the statement.
Iraq’s priority is to “fight terrorism,” according to the statement, including violence from the Islamic State, the militant group that tore through the region before being routed with support from Iranian-backed militias and a coalition of Western forces last year. Iraq’s priority is to “fight terrorism,” according to the statement, including violence from the Islamic State, the militant group that tore through the region before being routed with support from Iran and a coalition of Western forces last year.
United States forces have been stationed in Iraq, and to a lesser degree in Syria, as part of that operation. There are currently around 5,200 American troops in Iraq. The State Department spokeswoman, Morgan Ortagus, released the statement Friday that pushed back against Mr. Abdul Mahdi’s request.
The vote to eject the American forces was nonbinding and nearly half of the members of the Iraqi Parliament — primarily those representing ethnic Kurdish and Sunni Muslim minorities — did not vote. But there was no doubt of Mr. Abdul Mahdi’s support for the measure, because he quickly drafted a bill calling for the troops’ withdrawal. “Our military presence in Iraq is to continue the fight against ISIS and as the secretary has said, we are committed to protecting Americans, Iraqis, and our coalition partners," she said. “At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership — not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East.”
Ms. Ortagus did not give more details on what the Trump administration considered to be an “appropriate” posture.
She added that a delegation from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was at the State Department on Friday to discuss the alliance’s role in Iraq, “in line with the president’s desire for burden sharing in all of our collective defense efforts.” On Tuesday, NATO said it was withdrawing some trainers from Iraq who had been working with Iraqi soldiers fighting the Islamic State.
“There does, however, need to be a conversation between the U.S. and Iraqi governments not just regarding security, but about our financial, economic, and diplomatic partnership,” she said. “We want to be a friend and partner to a sovereign, prosperous, and stable Iraq.”
Ms. Ortagus said Thursday that Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Abdul Mahdi had spoken by telephone. In a brief summary of the call, she said Mr. Pompeo “reiterated the United States’ condemnation of the Iranian regime’s launch of ballistic missiles into two sites on Wednesday in Iraq that host Iraqi, American and coalition forces working together to defeat ISIS.”
Mr. Pompeo stressed that the United States “will do whatever it takes to protect the American and Iraqi people and defend our collective interests,” she added.
The summary of the call did not mention the request for a delegation to discuss troop withdrawal.
United States forces have been stationed in Iraq, and to a much lesser degree in eastern Syria, as part of that operation. President George W. Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein, and the American military has been at war there ever since. Mr. Trump has strongly criticized Mr. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and made campaign promises in 2016 to withdraw troops from the region.
But on Sunday night, he said he would impose “very big sanctions” on Iraq if it expelled American troops.
The vote on Sunday to expel the American forces was nonbinding, and nearly half of the members of the Iraqi Parliament — primarily those representing ethnic Kurdish and Sunni Muslim minorities — did not vote. But there was no doubt of Mr. Abdul Mahdi’s support for the measure, because he quickly drafted a bill calling for the troops’ withdrawal.
In his statement on Friday, the Iraqi prime minister said that American forces entering the country and drones flying over Iraq did so “without a permission from the Iraqi government.”In his statement on Friday, the Iraqi prime minister said that American forces entering the country and drones flying over Iraq did so “without a permission from the Iraqi government.”
Mr. Pompeo’s office confirmed that the two had spoken, and in a statement, the American secretary of state said that he “reiterated the United States’ condemnation of the Iranian regime’s Jan. 7 launch of ballistic missiles into two sites in Iraq that host Iraqi, American, and coalition forces working together to defeat ISIS.” Since the drone strike, several top American officials, including Mr. Pompeo, have said Mr. Trump ordered the killing of General Suleimani because the Iranian general was planning an “imminent attack” on American personnel or facilities. But those officials have not revealed any details of the intelligence showing such an attack in the works. Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday after a classified briefing in Congress by the top officials that they had heard little, if anything, that was new in the discussion.
An initial readout of the call from the State Department did not mention the request for a delegation to discuss troop withdrawal. Some Pentagon and State Department officials have said that the threat reports in recent intelligence did not point to anything unusual, and that American agencies are always aware General Suleimani has plans in the region.
Edward Wong and Falih Hassan contributed reporting. Last Friday, Mr. Pompeo was the first administration official to say there was intelligence showing an “imminent attack.” But since then, he has made opaque statements on the definition of imminence. In an interview on Thursday with Fox News, he said the United States did not know when or where the hypothetical attack would have taken place.
“There is no doubt that there were a series of imminent attacks that were being plotted by Qassim Suleimani, and we don’t know precisely when and we don’t know precisely where, but it was real,” he said.
Mr. Trump ran for president in 2016 on promises of pulling troops from the Middle East and Central Asia, but he has been adding troops to the Persian Gulf region since tensions with Iran rose after he withdrew in May 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. At the end of December, Mr. Trump ordered 4,500 more troops to the Middle East, to add to some 50,000 already there. Some units were sent to Baghdad in the aftermath of protests by Iraqis at the American Embassy on Dec. 31 and the killing of Mr. Suleimani days later.
Edward Wong reported from Washington, and Megan Specia from London. Falih Hassan contributed reporting from Baghdad.