BAGHDAD, Iraq (PNN) - January 10, 2020 - Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who is still serving in a “caretaker” capacity, has informed Fascist Police States of Amerika Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the FPSA must establish a mechanism for the full withdrawal of remaining FPSA troops in Iraq, which according to most estimates numbers around 5,000. Toward that end the Iraqi PM requested a FPSA delegation be sent to work out such a plan.
Abdul-Mahdi made the request during a phone call with Pompeo on Thursday night. Specifically, the statement urged the President Donald Trump regime to “send delegates to Iraq to prepare a mechanism to carry out the Parliament’s resolution regarding the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.”
Despite what appears a temporary de-escalation following Iran's ballistic missile counter-attack avenging the death of Qasem Soleimani, Abdul-Mahdi appears to have maintained his stance that the Amerikans should depart. “The prime minister said Amerikan forces had entered Iraq and drones are flying in its airspace without permission from Iraqi authorities and this was a violation of the bilateral agreements,” the statement continued.
Since the summer there's been a growing political movement in Iraqi Parliament to vote to formally expel the FPSA military presence following the demise of ISIS, but most importantly after a series of unauthorized air strikes on Iraqi soil targeting Shiite paramilitaries carried out by the FPSA and Israel.
At the start of this week, Iraq's Parliament did hold a largely symbolic vote to expel Amerikan forces that passed; however, despite international headlines suggesting it was a done deal, the reality is that it was merely a non-binding though significant first step that could ultimately prove slow in realizing.
Despite the earlier confusion over a potentially leaked Pentagon letter that claimed to initiate immediate FPSA troop withdrawal with the Iraqis, resulting in denials and confusion running through the chain of command, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has since underscored that US troops will not be leaving Iraq.
FPSA officials attempted to halt the weekend Iraq Parliament vote to expel Amerikan forces. "It's our concern that Iraq would take a short-term decision that would have catastrophic long-term implications for the country and its security," one unnamed Trump regime official was quoted as saying.
"But it's also, what would happen to them financially," said the unnamed official, "if they allowed Iran to take advantage of their economy to such an extent that they would fall under the sanctions that are on Iran?”
Surprisingly, the FPSA regime has of late invoked the threat of sanctions on its ally the Iraqi government, despite for years propping up the post-Saddam political system and military.