Iraqi parliamentarian: Iraqi sovereignty is red line and there is no going back to decision to remove American forces.
Member of the Iraqi Parliament, Aqeel Al-Fatlawi, stressed the necessity of taking the necessary procedures to preserve Iraqi sovereignty, stressing that the decision to remove American forces is irreversible.
Al-Ahed News Agency quoted on Thursday, Al-Fatlawi in an exclusive interview, saying: “Iraqi sovereignty is a red line and the government must take a firm stance by rejecting any foreign presence on Iraqi territory.”
“The decision to withdraw American forces from Iraq has been decided, and the issue is a matter of time for its implementation,” he added, pointing out that “the removal of foreign forces, especially the American ones, is extremely important because it represents a national vision supported by a popular position that rejects the presence of those forces.”
According to a report, Up to 88 Iraqi lawmakers submitted yesterday, a proposal for a draft law, requiring the end of the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, after repeated U.S. attacks against Iraqi security forces.
Falih al-Khazali, a member of the Iraqi parliament, said in a press conference that, the proposal was signed by 88 lawmakers from the Coordination Framework, the largest parliamentary alliance and an umbrella group of Shiite parliamentary parties.
He explained that, the reason for submitting such a proposal“is that, U.S. forces continue to violate Iraqi sovereignty through repeated attacks on some headquarters and leaders of the (paramilitary) Hashd Shaabi Forces, which are considered part of the Iraqi armed forces.”
Al-Khazali stressed that, there is no need for the presence of foreign forces in Iraq because there are enough Iraqi armed forces and security services, responsible for defending the country.
The U.S. forces carried out strikes on the positions of the Iraqi Hashd Shaabi forces over the past weeks, killing and wounding dozens, the most recent of which was on Jan 4, when a drone bombed the headquarters of the Hashd Shaabi’s 12th Brigade in eastern Baghdad, killing the brigade commander, his assistant, and one of the fighters.
Those strikes came, in response to dozens of drone and missile attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, since Israel launched its Gaza campaign.
