Obama: Iranian Troops in Iraq ‘Must Answer to Baghdad’

Says All Foreign Fighters Should Be Under Abadi's Control

In comments that appeared both unnecessary and ridiculously hypocritical, President Obama today declared his belief that Iranian troops, and indeed all foreign fighters involved in the ISIS war in Iraq, should be under the direct control of Iraqi PM Hayder Abadi.

Iran has provided limited military forces to advise and aid Iraq, and there’s been no sign of any acrimony between the two nations over Iran’s involvement, which has been repeatedly welcomed by Abadi.

It’s also obvious that Obama didn’t intend this control to extend to “all” foreign fighters, certainly not including US troops or other Western troops who have joined the war as part of the US coalition.

Of course, it’s not unusual for foreign allies involved in a military operation like this not to give themselves over to direct control of the premier of the attacked country, but Obama’s comments seem to be presented as related to abuses of Sunni civilians in Iraq, which have been a problem dominated by Iraqi troops and Iraqi Shi’ite militias, not Iranian forces.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.