Monday, January 6th, 2020
Stephan: We have spent almost two trillion dollars, had thousands of Americans killed and wounded, as well as tens of thousands of Iraqis. Over the past thirty years we have destroyed Iraq as a functional state, and what do we have to show for it. Well, let's start with this.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mahdi.
Credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty
The Iraqi parliament passed a resolution Sunday calling on the government to expel U.S. troops from the country in response to the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and the leader of an Iraqi militia on its soil.
Between the lines: A senior Iraqi government official told Axios’ Jonathan Swan that the actual expulsion of U.S. troops is far from a certain outcome. This is a resolution and the prime minister who must sign it has already resigned, the official said.
- “This is a temporary victory for the parties which are pro-Iranian,” they added. “But it’s also a clear message from the Sunnis and from the Kurds [who didn’t vote] and from some Iraqi Shia for the Americans to tell them we want you to stay in Iraq.”
The big picture: The legal basis for the U.S. presence in Iraq is that it comes at Iraq’s invitation. This vote does not formally revoke that invitation, but it is a step along […]
