On Monday, President Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi agreed that the US “combat” mission in Iraq will be over by the end of the year, but US troops will remain in the country in an advisory role.
“I think things are going well. Our role in Iraq will be … to be available to continue to train, to assist, to help, and to deal with ISIS — as it arrives. But we’re not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission,” Biden told reporters alongside Kadhimi.
There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq under the umbrella of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition. It’s not clear if any troops will be pulled out of the country when the US formally switches roles. A drawdown is possible, but the announcement is being interpreted as a symbolic one by most US media outlets.
The US plan to formally change its role in Iraq was first reported last week. On Saturday, a report from The New York Times cited unnamed Pentagon officials who said the US will remove a “small but unspecified number of the 2,500 American forces currently stationed in Iraq.”
Kadhimi has been under intense domestic pressure to get US forces to leave Iraq since he came into office in May 2020. Earlier that year, Iraq’s parliament voted unanimously to expel US troops after Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad.
More pressure has been on Kadhimi since Biden bombed Iraqi militias in Syria and Iraq last month. The US carried out similar airstrikes in Syria in February. Considering the US has been bombing Iraq for 30 years, there are many elements in the country that want US troops to leave, and it is unlikely that changing the label of the occupation will placate them.
This will go down in history as the most bullshit peace deal in the annals of bullshit peace deals. There is literally no change whatsoever. With a wave of Joe Biden’s wand, 2,500 armed killers became 2,500 armed “advisors”, and the Democrats proceeded to break their own arms jerking themselves off. This seems to be Biden’s specialty. Just ask the kids in Yemen getting mowed over by his epic peace deal there. Democrats f*cking suck.
Too.
As always with Biden, ignore the splashy headlines and read the fine print.
Don’t be naive…The US is NOT going to vacate Iraq. After all, Iraq is perfectly located for the American Military to finally start that long ago planned War and Invasion of IRAN !
Only waiting for to GO Command from Israel !!
Biden seems to do very much what Trump did.
The reality may be the hawks running our policy are out of control of either President. Trump was incompetent to impose on them, and Biden has not (yet?) changed that.
When it comes to foreign policy—meet the new boss, same as old boss.
“Nothing fundamental is gonna change” J Biden POTUS candidate 2020
The U.S. built an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We can’t abandon that now can we?
So it isnt over after all…