US Ambassador to Iraq claimed this Monday that ISIS is still a threat in the Arab country, conveying that the US military intends to remain in Iraq despite demands for withdrawal.
In an interview with Reuters this Monday, the US envoy to Iraq Alina Romanowski claimed that the Islamic State terrorist group, known commonly as ISIS is still a threat in Iraq, conveying this message that the US military intends to remain in the territory of the Arab country.
“We both assess ISIS is still a threat here, much, much diminished, but nevertheless our work is essentially not done and we want to ensure that Iraqi forces can continue the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Romanowski said.
“ISIS is a common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere. That’s why the United States and Iraq share a commitment to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, including by working together to shape the future of a strong bilateral U.S.-Iraq security partnership,” she further noted.
Iraq’s demands for US withdrawal, the elephant in the room!
Romanowski’s claims that to defeat ISIS in Iraq, the US military presence is essential is in total contradiction with what Iraqi officials say on the matter.
For example, what Romanowski claimed this Monday contradicts the statements of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who has emphasized that ISIS is no longer a threat in Iraq and that US forces are no longer needed to remain in Iraq’s territory.
During a press conference early this March, al-Sudani asserted that the Iraqi government began an integrated program to improve the armament of the security forces to end the presence of foreign troops in the country.
“The justifications for the foreign forces’ existence in 2014 have ended today, and we are in the year 2024,” al-Sudani said, adding that ISIS “no longer poses a threat to Iraq’s security,” and that “the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces have improved significantly and it can now maintain security throughout the country.”
Is US a supporter of ISIS?
Several reports suggest that the US has covertly supported ISIS in Iraq to justify keeping US troops in the oil-rich country. “In 2011, US support for ISIS continued and helped the terrorist group to capture large swathes of Syria and Iraq by the end of 2014, including Raqqa and Mosul. The US then used the threat of ISIS to justify returning US troops to Iraq with the permission of the Iraqi government. The US military also occupied large parts of northeast Syria previously controlled by ISIS,” one report by the Cradle revealed this Monday.
In one of its latest attacks, ISIS claimed responsibility for Friday’s shooting at a rock concert near Moscow, in which 137 people were killed. The Russian foreign ministry accused the US of being behind the attack, using ISIS as a proxy.
The Iraqi Prime Minister is set to travel to the US this coming April to meet with US President Joe Biden to discuss the future of the US presence in Iraq. Al-Sudani is also expected to bring up the issue of Iraq’s reliance on Iranian natural gas for electricity generation, which the US tries to end by imposing sanctions on Tehran. As of this March, the US has more than 2,500 troops in Iraq.
