Iraqi Protestors Want to Keep American Troops in Iraq
Published January 16, 2020
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Iraqi anti-government protesters celebrate outside their protest tents in Baghdad's Tahrir Square following news of the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards top commander Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. strike on his convoy at Baghdad international airport on January 3, 2020. (-/AFP via Getty Images)
President Trump has tweeted support for the thousands of protestors who have already been killed or imprisoned. His message was simple, “DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTORS.”
This comes on the back end as millions of Iraqis gathered in Tahrir Square to protest Iran and the non-binding parliamentary vote. We all wait with bated breath to see what sort of violence they will be met with by PMF and pro-Iranian militias paid to disrupt the protestors.
Just yesterday Iraqi journalist Ahmed Abdul Samad was brutally murdered for his coverage of protests against Iranian militias and pro-Iran government members. We must recognize the sacrifices and dedication of the protestors in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen who all need their voices heard by the world.
Iraq’s protestors, who are in the street to keep American troops in Iraq, have been also protesting against Iranian influence over the Iraqi political system since October 2019.
These protestors, also known as “Tishreen Revolution,” will continue their civil disobedience and oppose Iranian corruption of Iraq’s political system.
The Iranian regime (through the PMF and other militias they control) has attempted to use snipers, knife attacks by operatives running through the crowds, tear gas, boiling water, and beatings to kill off key protestors in the al-Jadriyah area, and yet, the protests continue.
In April 2016, the Sadrist Trend had sit-in protests that spread across the barricades and into the Green Zone. Then, they stormed government building and vandalized the Iraqi Parliament building to protest Iranian influence.
In Nasiriyah and Basra over the past few months, similar anti-Iranian protests have flared up. The protestors even interrupted oil production in the Basra Province and tore down and burned pictures of Ayatollah Khomainei in the Basra International Airport.
These actions resulted in the PMF deploying their militia thugs to suppress the protestors using the militias Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which were trained, equipped, and funded by Iran’s Quds Force, and their former commander, Qassim Soleimani.
These protests were directed at the Prime Minister, Adil Abdul-Madi, who eventually succumbed to the will of the people and submitted his resignation. Soon after, Iran attempted to appoint another Iranian proxy, Basra governor Asaad al-Eidani, to be Prime Minister.
Then, on December 26, 2019, President Barham Salih submitted his resignation and sought protection in Sulamaniyah within the Kurdish Region and headquarters for his political party, due to death threats he received from Iranian militias for not appointing their Iranian puppet.
In fact, using the Iraqi protestors as political cover, President Barham Salih stated that the reason for his denial to appoint the Iranian puppet, was because the Iraqi street protestors would not have approved.
Immediately after the eradication of the Obama designated terrorist, and former Quds Force commander, Qassim Soleimani, Iraqi Members of Parliament came under immediate threat of death by Iran, since Soleimani’s death weakened Iran.
It was these credible threats of violence against the Iraqi MP families, and their preservationist instincts that culminated in the January 6 non-binding vote to expel the 5,000 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq.
This vote and process is not in line with the 2005 Iraqi Constitutional outline on how laws can be enacted.
It bypasses the Iraq judiciary system’s right to review all laws introduced to parliament.
It does not provide a first draft reading to parliament that should result in a 4 day pause as members of parliament come back with recommendation and changes to the draft.
It did not have the second draft reading that should have seen a further 3-day review to make final changes to the proposed law.
It should then go to the president for sign-off before final stages.
These are the first stages that would be required in order to abide by the Iraq constitutional process in order to achieve an enforceable law by the Iraqi government.
And then, after these processes are followed, it must be announced and formally published by the government owned media al-Waqa’I al-iraqiyah.
Many of these processes are outlined in articles 59, 60, 61, 65, 80, and 93 of the Iraqi Constitution.
Then, once the process is finalized it must sit with the court for 30-days and if no one with constitutional reasoning can protest the bill then it will go to law.
Much like the faux loyalty displayed in Saadam’s parliamentary “public purge” in 1979, or the half measured attempted response by the Iranian regime in its “Operation Martyr Qassim Soleimani” this sham parliamentary vote, like the 15 missiles, fall short of its target and bypasses all of the processes required.
While many Americans are aware of the vote in Iraq to expel U.S. troops, but many are not aware that on the announcement of the news on January 6, that protestors in the southern city of Nasiriyah set fire to the PMF headquarters in protest to the non-binding vote held by pro-Iranian political parties. The protestors did not decry the American people, and in fact were chanting “out out Iran!”
In the coming days, look for more protests from Iranians and Iraqis to storm the streets to demonstrate further their distrust and rejection of government actions. This will be met with strong resistance as violence targets protestors through proxies and masked attacks. These attacks and assassinations will undoubtedly be directed, and in some cases, carried out by Iranian Quds Force members. We will see Iraq’s Hezbollah and PMF continue its push for a pro-Iranian Prime Minister, likely Qusay al Suhail. I feel that the resolve of protestors is only now going to be truly tested as Iran grows weaker and becomes more desperate.