Iraqi officials for the New York Times: better tolerating the pressure of those calling for the remo

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[size=52]Iraqi officials for the New York Times: better tolerating the pressure of those calling for the removal of the Americans than the consequences of their departure[/size]

[size=45]Translation / Hamed Ahmed
[size=45]The walls of the American embassy in Baghdad were still burning and members of pro-Iranian groups were chanting threatening slogans from outside when Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi was trying to explain the situation to US President Donald Trump over the phone.[/size]
[size=45]According to Abd al-Hussein al-Hanin, adviser to the prime minister, Abdul-Mahdi told Trump by phone: “Iraq is between two friends, one of them is 5,000,000 miles away and the other is our neighbor 5,000,000 years ago. We cannot change geography, nor can we change history, that is the reality of Iraq. ”[/size]
[size=45]Many Iraqis were angry that the United States had violated the sovereignty of their country by launching air strikes on Iraqi soil. A series of air strikes in December that killed more than 20 members of an armed faction of the Popular Mobilization, which sparked the attack on the US embassy. An air strike in isolation from that occurred last week, killing the largest Iranian military commander and deputy commander of the popular crowd, led to a parliament vote to expel American forces from the country, with a missile attack by Iran against two American military sites in Iraq early Wednesday.[/size]
[size=45]But a senior Iraqi official said that complying with political pressure to force US forces to leave the country would be a "catastrophe" for Iraq both militarily and economically.[/size]
[size=45]The main mission of the American forces stationed in Iraq is to help fight and pursue ISIS. The Iraqi official, who refused to reveal his name, says that if these forces leave, the effect will not only be to restrict the battle against ISIS, but there will be a range of harmful consequences if sanctions are imposed and Trump carries out his threat that will include leaving the rest of the other coalition forces, leading to financial and economic difficulties .[/size]
[size=45]"Yes, there is a lot of pressure from parties with us calling for the forces to leave," the official added. But we can handle this great pressure much better than we can bear the consequences of leaving the Americans. ”[/size]
[size=45]"We are in a state of rampage in Iraq," he said. "The measures to withdraw the American forces recover part of the dignity of Iraq after the American air strikes and the violations of Iraqi sovereignty."[/size]
[size=45]Only 170 parliamentarians out of a total of 329 voted to oust US forces, with members of the Sunni and Kurdish blocs refraining from attending.[/size]
[size=45]One of the few Sunni members who attended the voting session, Ahmed Al-Jarba, raised a red flag by saying that the departure of the American forces might be in Iran's interest.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Jarba asked, "After leaving the Americans, are our neighbors our friends and our masters?", Referring to Iran, and then he said, "Are we going to hand over the wealth and decisions of our country in the hands of neighboring countries?"[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hanin said that Abdul-Mahdi's wish is that if the Americans leave, he will not return to Iran for security concerns and will leave Iraq in his condition.[/size]
[size=45]Senior Iraqi government officials, diplomats, and local officials set up different scenarios, and said that Iraq might become between Iran's arms, deprive the hard currency of the dollar, and isolate it from the West. Iraq may be deprived of its main source of dollars because its assets in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York may be frozen. As Iraq deposits oil sales there and then withdraws it as funds to pay salaries and implement contracts.[/size]
[size=45]A senior Iraqi official said, "It appears that the center of opinion and decision-making in the Prime Minister's office is heading east, and they are almost ignoring the catastrophic consequences of the way they are heading."[/size]
[size=45]However, it appears that the positive indicator in Abdel Mahdi's search for a compromise and a compromise on this issue is his request to the National Security Council to prepare a report on options related to the implementation of the parliamentary mandate. Abdel-Mahdi is an economist and worked as Minister of Finance, and it provides a background for him to realize the price of economic isolation, even if it is political pressure chasing him.[/size]
[size=45]According to a senior Iraqi official working close to the council, the council presented three options. The first demanded that US forces leave as soon as possible, an option that might at least curb the threats of pro-Iranian armed groups to attack them.[/size]
[size=45]The second option is a negotiated withdrawal that may slow down the troop reduction and withdrawal process and ultimately allow the continuation of efforts to fight against ISIS in some areas, even as forces withdraw from other regions.[/size]
[size=45]The third option is to renegotiate the terms of the agreement with the US-led international coalition, which may allow some troops to remain and also open the door for the survival of forces from other allied countries. The National Security Council recommended the third option.[/size]
[size=45]About: The New York Times[/size]


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