Joined
·
6,297 Posts
Adiós.....by the way we will be taking back all the tanks/planes and other **** we gave ya. :dita:The vote, after the killing of Maj. General Qassim Suleimani in a U.S. drone strike, is not final until Iraq’s prime minister signs the draft bill. But he had indicated that he would do so.
BAGHDAD – Lawmakers in Iraq heeded the demands of angry citizens and voted on Sunday to expel United States troops from the country, as hundreds of thousands of mourners poured into the streets of Iran to pay their respects to the slain leader of the elite Quds Force, Maj. General Qassim Suleimani.
The vote is not final until Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi signs the draft bill. Earlier on Sunday, however, Mr. Mahdi indicated that he would do so, having urged lawmakers to oust the United States-led coalition after President Trump ordered a fatal drone strike against General Suleimani in Baghdad.
Members of Iraq’s Parliament were divided on the demands to expel American troops. While factions that grew out of Shiite militia organizations have pushed hard for the expulsion, Sunni Muslim factions and the Kurds want the United States to stay.
The vote was 170-0 in Parliament, but many of its 328 members, primarily Kurds and Sunnis, did not attend the session and did not vote.
American troops are in Iraq “at the invitation” of the Iraqi government, according to the legal agreement between Baghdad and Washington. Presumably, if Baghdad withdrew that invitation, the United States would have to withdraw.
The body of General Suleimani, the most powerful figure in Iran after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was brought back early Sunday from Iraq, where he was killed on Friday near the Baghdad airport. Among the others killed in the attack was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, which includes at least half a dozen pro-Iranian militias.
he general’s killing unleashed calls for vengeance in both Iraq and Iran, and reinforced a general solidarity among hard-liners and moderates in Iran against the United States. In Iraq, the attack was seen as a violation of the nation’s sovereignty. On Sunday, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the American ambassador in Baghdad.
In Iran, it was viewed as tantamount to an act of war. Hossein Dehghan, a military adviser to Mr. Khamenei, told CNN that Iran’s response would include an attack on “U.S. military targets.”
As the Middle East braced for Iranian retaliation, which analysts said was all but inevitable and American officials said they expected within weeks, Tehran and Washington ratcheted up the rhetoric.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/05/world/middleeast/iran-general-soleimani-iraq.html