Remove U.S. troops from Iraq, not diplomats

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 28, 2020
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org

WASHINGTON, DC—The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. is planning to close its embassy in Baghdad, depicting the move as a response to the recent spate of rocket attacks on the complex. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:

“Rather than threaten to close the U.S. embassy to get the Iraqi government to do more about militias attacking U.S. facilities there, the United States should begin withdrawing the rest of its troops from Iraq.

“U.S. forces should have left Iraq once ISIS’s caliphate fell. Anger at U.S. forces among some Iraqis grew to violent proportions with the Soleimani killing earlier this year. That some of the Shia militias responded to the attack, and subsequent retaliatory U.S. bombings with reprisals should surprise no one.

“The maximum pressure campaign against Iran and the Trump administration’s plan to reduce U.S. forces in Iraq are in violent tension. The U.S. campaign to counter Iranian influence in Iraq is self-perpetuating and conducive to war. By stationing troops in Iraq, where Iran naturally exercises influence thanks to proximity, Washington invites attacks on its forces by Iran-backed forces. Their threat is then used a rationale for extending the U.S military stay in Iraq.

“Engaging in this coercive competition might make sense if U.S. forces had some essential reason to be in Iraq. But since they have nothing of the sort, the risk of war comes with no reward, and they should exit—not just 2 or 5,000, but all of them.”