Iraq Dodges New Trump Travel Ban With Heavy Lobbying

Tillerson: New Deal in Place to Prevent Iraqi Terrorists Coming to US

After several weeks of claims that President Trump was going to issue a new executive order on his ban of people from seven Muslim majority states, the order was finally reissued today, but conspicuously with only six nations included as Iraq was surprisingly removed.

This was said to be the result of intense lobbying by the Iraqi government, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today declaring Iraq “an important ally” and insisting that a deal was now in place to prevent Iraqi terrorists entering the United States.

Tillerson praised Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder Abadi for “supporting” the ban, and while Iraqi officials expressed gratitude that they’re not banned this time around, it’s not at all clear that they are openly supporting the ban on the other nations, which includes their close ally Iran.

The ban is expected to face another round of legal challenges, like the ones which ultimately killed the last one. While the removal of Iraq may reduce some of the heaviest lobbying influence against the ban, that removing them was such a simple matter is likely to add to legal arguments that the bans are not necessary.

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.