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Iraq
A US officer assists an Iraqi soldier at Camp Taji, Iraq. File photo: US Army Sargent. Cody Quinn / OIR
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An Iran-backed political coalition will push Iraqi parliament to either cancel or amend a Iraq-US security deal signed in 2008, claiming the US have demonstrated a “weak stance” while weapon depots and bases in Iraq have faced a spate of air strikes.
Ahmed al-Asadi, an MP, Fatih coalition spokesperson in Iraqi parliament, and senior leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), said that MPs from Fatih and other Iraqi parliament coalitions want to bring the Iraq-US security deal in its current terms to an end.
“We […] are planning to send an official request to the Iraqi parliament leadership in order to cancel or edit the Iraqi-US security deal that was signed in 2008,” al-Asadi told Rudaw English on Wednesday.
“We have established a committee for this matter, and the committee has already sent an official letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi,” he added.
Fatih, a pro-PMF coalition, aims to send the request to parliament leadership immediately after parliament’s summer recess. MPs have been working on the deal’s cancellation for “months,” Asadi told Rudaw English.
Demand for a halt to the agreement is due mainly to what Asadi says is a “weak US stance” regarding recent attacks on the Iran-backed PMF’s bases and weapons depots in Iraq.
The PMF, founded by a religious decree in 2014 to fight against Islamic State (ISIS), has seen its weapon depots and bases in Iraq hit by a spate of air attacks by aircraft and drones. PMF leadership have blamed Israel and the US for attacks on their bases.
Baghdad and Washington signed the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in 2008 that stipulated a complete withdrawal of US troops by the end of 2011.
The US agreed to leave a limited number of soldiers in Iraq beyond 2011 to train and advice Iraqi forces, but Baghdad’s refusal to grant US military personnel immunity from prosecution or lawsuits compelled Washington to pull out all troops.
US forces returned to Iraq in 2014 with the establishment of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (Islamic State) after the group swept across Iraq and Syria.
There are currently 5,000 American troops stationed at Iraqi bases by Baghdad’s invitation, and a US-led coalition air force have been participating in Operation Will of Victory, launched by Iraqi forces to quell a resurgence of ISIS in the north and west of the country on July 7.
Reaffirming “strong” US-Iraq security ties, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker met with Abdul-Mahdi and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi in Baghdad on Wednesday.
In a statement released after the meeting, Schenker reiterated that US military forces remain in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition by “invitation of the Iraqi government.”
“Our strong partnership with the Iraqi security forces, which respects and strengthens the sovereignty of Iraq, helps us to accomplish our shared goal of defeating ISIS,” Schenker’s statement added.
Iran-backed parties have previously called on the government to remove US forces from Iraqi territory.
MPs from the two biggest Shiite blocs in the Iraqi parliament – the Sayirun alliance, headed by firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and the Fatih coalition – vowed to table legislation demanding foreign troop withdrawal earlier this year.
By contrast, Kurdish parties in the country have argued an ongoing US presence is required to counter the threat of ISIS resurgence and to counterbalance Iranian and Shiite hegemony in Iraq.
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