Iraq Row Over Presence of US Troops to “Monitor” Iran

Safaa Khalaf

Posted on 7dnews.com , 07 Feb 2019.

In Iraq, Shi’ia parliamentary forces are planning to pressure the government into amending or canceling the security agreement between Washington and Baghdad (SOFA), signed by the latter in 2011 and based on the framework of the US withdrawal agreement post-2003.

The divided Shi’ia forces justify this step, which Washington considers as “provocative” and a move reassuring for Tehran, by saying that the US’s increased influence in Iraq has become “worrying”, especially in the Sunni region to the west of the country.

Although the demands to end the US presence in Iraq came from the Shi’ia bloc that is heavily backed by Tehran, the move was subjected to a form of political bidding. The Shi’ia bloc, backed by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, submitted the law to the House of Representatives, who in turn have yet to discuss it.

  MP Faleh Khazali, a member of the Iranian-backed al-Bina party, said “the former parliament has collected signatures and issued a parliamentary decree that forces the government to accept the presence of foreign forces on Iraqi soil.”

Khazali, who is originally from Basra, questioned Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi about the number of US troops in Iraq and their deployment locations, as well as the presence of Turkish troops in the north of the country. He stated that “the increase in the US forces and suspicious movements in Iraq led us to prepare a legal list and collect signatures in order to amend the security agreement with Washington (SOFA).”

In late November 2008, the United States signed two comprehensive agreements with the Iraqi government (then under former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki) under what was called the “strategic framework for the friendship between the US and Iraq,” which had a security annex called “SOFA” (Status of Forces Agreement) that was around 40 pages long. The law that is intended to abolish these two agreements was only two pages long and contained only 9 items.

These papers could be viewed as a “revolutionary” law that is meant to destroy the relationship between Washington and Baghdad. In an interview with 7Dnews, Shahu al-Qura Daghy, advisor for the New Iraq Centre for Research, said that “it is purely a political matter related to an allegiance to Iran. It has nothing to do with Iraq’s best interests.”

After the fall of the city of Mosul in June 2014, Baghdad came under threat of a large-scale invasion from Isis. In an attempt to stop the expansion of this extremist organization, the Shi’ia grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called for a “Jihad” fatwa to fight off this threat. This was quickly employed by the Iranian-backed militias as an excuse to expand their military influence in Iraq. The Iraqi government, in turn, summoned an international coalition led by Washington to help it fend off Isis. The Americans have since been keen on a continuous presence in Iraq.

  The western region of Iraq, which borders Syria, is witnessing a struggle between the Iranian-backed armed factions and the US forces over influence. The US maintains six major bases in the area, the largest of which is the Ain al-Assad station in the Anbar desert, which President Trump regards as his country’s main “Iran watchdog” base.

MP Sabah al Saadi, who submitted to the House of Representatives a law to remove US forces from Iraq, rejects Trump’s tweets and sees them as “a violation of national sovereignty and an exploitation of Iraqi territory in order to threaten other countries.”

During the holiday period this past December, Trump visited the Ain al-Assad base and met the US soldiers stationed there, all the while refusing to meet with any Iraq official or to visit Baghdad. According to Reuters, in an interview with CBS last Sunday, Trump said that “Washington has spent a fortune developing the Ain al-Assad base, it’s not reasonable to abandon it (…) One of the motives behind my desire to keep it is because I want to monitor Iran somehow because Iran is a real problem.”

Sunni and Kurdish forces support keeping the US troops inside Iraq, which suggests that parliament will not pass the proposed law.

Al-Qar Daghy, an expert in Sunni and Kurdish affairs, told 7Dnews that “there is no consensus among the Iraqi political parties regarding this situation. The Kurds support the existence of the US in Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government sees Washington as a strategically.” He added that “Sunni forces do not support laws like this one that are against their interests.”

The situation in Baghdad seems complicated. The government, headed by Adel Abdul Mahdi, is fragile and weak, unable to take firm decisions. It is currently facing public anger over the collapse of the country’s services and the dilemma of Iranian policies aimed at exerting Iran’s full influence over Iraq.

“The US strategy is to re-focus and be present in Iraq to help the country rely on itself with respect to its energy and economy files, and to monitor Iran. Washington will not easily address these demands,” said al-Qar Daghy.

  MP Khazali, on the other hand, said that “the removal of foreign and American forces from Iraq is an urgent priority. We must arm and support the Iraqi armed forces in order to stabilize the region and prevent the emergence of terrorist groups in Iraq so we can persuade Washington to withdraw.”

  Iraqi sources told 7Dnews that the number of US troops in the country ranges from 9,000 to 14,000. Trump’s withdrawal plan from Syria will also soon require the transfer of around 2,000 American soldiers into Iraqi territory.

  “There are objections to the demands for the US to withdraw its forces from Iraq,” al-Saadi admits, calling on the Iraqi government to “take measures that restrict all foreign and US forces within Iraq’s territory.”

On the other hand, Ankara maintains around 18 military and intelligence bases in Iraq’s north, but the opposition to its presence seems dim compared to the intensity with which certain forces are attacking the US existence in Iraq.

  Al-Qar Daghy explains this by saying that “Baghdad needs Turkey as it does not have the ability to expel any foreign troops. Turkey is fighting the PKK in Kurdistan, and Baghdad needs Ankara for its infrastructure and its water. Turkey cannot be pressured to withdraw its forces (…) Turkey is able to apply pressure on Baghdad much more than the opposite”.