Iraqi lawmakers demand US pull troops out of Iraq following Trump visit

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The Hill @thehill37m37 minutes ago
Iraqi lawmakers demand US pull troops out of Iraq following Trump visit http://hill.cm/fw3MTHR

Iraqi lawmakers demanded one day after President Trump made a surprise visit that the U.S. remove its troops from the country.

Politicians on Thursday slammed Trump's visit as arrogant and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and called for a vote to expel any U.S. military presence, according to The Associated Press.

“Parliament must clearly and urgently express its view about the ongoing American violations of Iraqi sovereignty,” said Salam al-Shimiri. The lawmaker, who is loyal to the populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, built a platform on curbing U.S. and Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs, the AP noted.

Trump’s visit “violated several diplomatic norms,” he added.

read: https://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/422962-following-trump-visit-iraqi-lawmakers-demand-us

from washingtonpress.com:

The Associated Press reports that Trump failed to meet with a single Iraqi official during his trip to the country, during which he spent a total of 3 hours on the ground. He spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Abdul-Mahdi via phone and they reviewed security issues as well as Trump’s much-maligned recent announcement that he will be pulling American troops out of Syria where there are battling ISIS.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to warm over the appearance of frosty tensions by announcing that Abdul-Mahdi had accepted an invitation to visit the White House in the coming year. But, the AP adds, the office of Iraq’s Prime Minister declined to say if he would accept Trump’s invitation. He invited Trump to visit Baghdad.

Abdul-Mahdi’s office added that “differences in points of view over the arrangements” stopped the two leaders from meeting in person during Trump’s meeting, which certainly sounds like the American president simply couldn’t be bothered to meet with his Iraqi counterpart on his terms. Either that, or Trump’s team was simply too incompetent to facilitate the meeting. Both explanations of the incident are troubling.

read: https://washingtonpress.com/2018/12/26/the-associated-press-just-revealed-a-disturbing-incident-during-trumps-visit-to-iraq/

[Iliyah]

1. Our corporate media is saying

nothing about it, only "praises" him and wifey for photo ops.

Sad.

[Yosemito]

2. He went there to sign MAGA hats

Which is in violation of department of defence rules prohibiting military engagement in political activities.