Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Iraq over the weekend, meeting with Iraqi Kurdish officials and reassuring them of US support going forward. He also spoke briefly with Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi by phone.
The visit focused on assuring the Kurdish forces of US support going forward after the ISIS war. This assurance probably would have meant more, had Iraq’s central government not already reacted to a Kurdish separatist referendum with a military invasion, and the US not chosen to ignore that offensive.
The Pence visit is likely to also annoy the central government, however, as they reported that they were “unaware” of Pence’s visit, and Pence conspicuously avoided Baghdad during the trip, taking time only for a phone call to the PM.
Other recent US visits to Iraq have raised tensions with the central government, with the sign that the US considers meeting government officials a very low priority, and goes into Iraq unwelcomed and without informing officials.
This Pence fellow is loathsome.
Yes he is, Solly. He and DJT are total opposites when it comes to the Middle East. Pence claims to be a Christian, yet he doesn’t follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Warmongering totally goes against true Christian teaching. He knows our troops don’t belong in the ME; he knows DJT wants to bring them back home; yet, he practically does what Bonkers Bolton had done in his 3 years in office (he’s been calling for a war on Iran for that long).
I guess Jesus was ok with sanctions. And enabling the systematic starvation of thousands upon thousands.
The ONLY way we can send anybody to our colonies is by doing so in secrecy. That’s how secure Iraq is after16 years. It would have been nice to send Pence over there with plenty of fanfare and little security and hope for the “best”.
Pence: US supports Iraqi Kurds, but stabs the Syrian Kurds in the back…..!