More Urge for Trump To Take Opportunity To Withdraw Troops from Iraq

Jan. 6, 2020 (EIRNS)—More expert writers on Consortium News, in particular, are calling for President Donald Trump to take the opportunity to further a solution to the West Asia crisis by withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Among them Jan. 5 were CIA veteran Larry Johnson and former British Ambassador Craig Murray.

Murray, after an extensive analysis of Sunni vs. Shi’a politics and conflict which is not understood or taken into account by American military planning, concluded:

“So what happens now?... Consolidating power in Iraq and finishing the destruction of ISIL in Iraq will be the wise advance that Iranian statesmen can practically gain from these events. But that is, of course, not enough to redeem national honor. Trump ... needs either to pull out troops from Iraq or massively to reinforce them.... Whether the ‘triumph’ of killing Soleimani gives Trump enough political cover for an early pullout—the wise move—I am unsure.”

The “coalition” in Iraq is now officially only protecting itself. The U.S.-led coalition announced on Jan. 5 that it was suspending both training operations and most operations against Islamic State. It said,

“The coalition has shifted its focus to protecting Iraqi bases from attack by Iranian-allied militias such as Kataib Hezbollah. As a result we are now fully committed to protecting the Iraqi bases that host coalition troops. This has limited our capacity to conduct training with partners and to support their operations against Daesh [ISIS], and we have therefore paused these activities, subject to continuous review.”