Iran Press/America: The assassination of high-level Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassim Soleimani by a US drone on the road to Baghdad International Airport on Friday 3 January enraged political leaders in Iraq, who demanded an end to US presence in their country, US counter-terrorism partners on the ground were left unprepared for the Iraqi reaction, as the Donald Trump administration had never discussed the possibility that Iraq would oust US troops.
This new layer of chaos is surfacing just as the coalition has suspended its counter-ISIS operations inside Iraq in the wake of a decision by Iraq’s outgoing prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, to ask US troops to leave the country.
In response, Brig. Gen. William H. Seeley III wrote a letter about “repositioning forces over the coming days” to the Iraqi ministry of defense. The letter leaked to social media on Monday.
“We respect your sovereign decision to order our departure,” Brig. Gen. Seeley stated.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper sought out reporters at the Pentagon and informed them that there had been no “decision to leave Iraq.”
Iraq’s backlash began after Trump chose to kill top Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani, the head of the elite IRGC Quds Force, from a menu of military options in December.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had reportedly lobbied President Trump for months to kill General Soleimani who, according to Abdul-Mahdi, was traveling through Iraq on an official diplomatic mission when he was assassinated in a US drone strike in the early hours of Friday morning, 3 January.
Top Iraqi military commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also assassinated during the drone strike, and this has also greatly angered Iraqi officials who are seething with resentment about the totally lawless US behaviour.
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