US Occupying Forces Should Be Evicted from Iraq and Syria ASAP

Iraq’s parliament is once again trying to vote on a bill to expel all foreign occupying troops from the country, and has singled out US troops in particular as needing to leave.

News ID: 444967

Date: 20 May 2019 - 07:59

RNA - The bill is expected to pass fairly easily. The argument is that the war on terror is over and the US can’t use Iraq to launch a war on Iran or any other country in the region.

The bill by the legislature in Baghdad comes as Washington has plans to set up military bases and increasing its troops in the country, and is currently engaged in expanding its Ain al-Assad military base in Western al-Anbar province.

"The US troops stationed in US' Ain al-Assad air base in Heet city to West of al-Anbar province have already started operations to expand the air base," the Arabic-language al-Malou'ma news website reported. It noted that the operations to expand Ain al-Assad air base has taken place concurrent with arrival of US military vehicles and equipment to the base, and said that the expansion of Ain al-Assad will include some major sectors of airport to the South of the base.

Meantime, the Saudi Okaz newspaper quoted some Iraqi parliamentary sources as also saying that Washington intends to increase the number of its troops in Iraq. It said Washington has informed Baghdad that it is going to set a new military base for its new troops.

This was all expected. Unlike what Washington would like to claim, the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq – or Syria - won’t allow ISIL to rise again, despite the many alarm bells from status quo establishment thinkers. There is even less likelihood ISIL will ever gain any particular advantage from the withdrawal of US troops for several key reasons.

First, the Iraqi army continues hunting them down. Second, people hate ISIL - along with their Qaeda offshoots - and will continue hating them. And finally, Iraq wants to rebuild itself and this could only happen if occupying troops leave the war-torn country. However, Trump appears to be signaling to Iraq that he does not intend on leaving the region. That does not mean, however, that he needs to leave any ground troops in Iraq fighting the remnants of ISIL. There is no reason to remain active in the country, and so long as there are members of the US armed force on the ground there, there will be chaos and concern for everyone.

Also hope burns eternal in Washington that by effectively dismantling Syria - illegally occupying Syria’s territory along with much of its oil resources - Washington can pressure President Bashar Assad to step down. However, the government in Damascus is equally more secure today than at any other point since the war erupted. Meaning, all US occupying forces should also leave Syria; something that should have never taken place as it is completely illegal since the US army is in the country neither at the invitation of the Damascus government nor under any UN mandate.

As is, a continuing American presence in Iraq goes against international law and what the international civil society wants, which is troop withdrawal. The decision by Trump and the Pentagon to stay the course means there will be plenty more violence, and not just because of the seemingly permanent US military presence there.

The US plans to create a string of bases as staging areas for a permanent occupation of the region on the pretext of fighting terror. And there is no end in sight to the US at war, both because the War Party has found the permanent enemy (terror), and because except for the Iraqis and their lawmakers no one at the United Nations is willing to stand up to it.

This is while the botched Iraq war and the bogus war on terror only brought immense, atrocious, sustained loss of life and chaos to the people of Iraq and the rest of the region. From their standpoint, all foreign occupying troops must leave. Permanent occupation only advances the aims of those who profit from the circumstances - US military contractors and their regional proxies.

No doubt democratic Iraq is in peace with itself and its neighbors. So it is past time for the Iraqi community to robustly push for an end to the US occupation since security and stability are crucial for the development of the war-torn country and for the advancement of regional peace and security.

The world is witnessing that Washington’s cynical militarism is a threat upon the Middle East where the Military-Industrial Complex profits and innocent civilians die. As long as this continues, the endless war on terror which justifies permanent occupation will never end.

According to Fars News Agancy, many years of occupation and terror have taught us that permanent occupation of Iraq will make things worse. It is evident that these forces have been desperately trying to maintain America’s supremacy in the chessboard of regional politics with little success and many lost lives. All this suggests that only when foreign occupying forces are gone, will peace and security return to Iraq and the greater region.

The same argument could be made about Syria. The real problem is the deeply flawed strategy the US has had from the very beginning of its unwarranted intervention and occupation. The strategy is based on the illusion that the US can send in troops and occupy a nation to allegedly fight terrorism and dictate orders to the central government or topple it, when in reality the United States' allies created, sponsored, trained, armed and funded the ISIL (also known as ISIS or DAESH) in the words of former US Vice-President Joe Biden.

Plus, there are the usual geo-political and economic motivations at work. We see where that strategy led in Iraq - to nothing but disaster. If anything, things will equally grow worse in Syria. It is a disaster now and will continue to be a disaster for as long as American occupying troops stay there.

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