Iraqi parliament wants US troops out of their country

Regular readers will know that, along with such right-thinking patriots as Dr Ron Paul, I am absolutely opposed to American involvement the Muslim civil wars in the Middle East.

It's not that I'm a pacifist or peacenik. I do believe in the doctrine of the "just war". It's just that I think it's foolish to waste 1000s of lives and billions of dollars on a war we can't win, in an affair which is none of our business.

So I was heartened to hear yesterday that the Iraqi parliament voted in favour of a resolution asking the government to expel US troops from their shithole country. Mostly Shiite factions voted in favour, while Kurdish and most Sunni members of parliament did not attend the session, presumably because they want the American presence in Iraq to continue.

The resolution says, "The government commits to revoke its request for assistance from the international coalition fighting 'Islamic State' due to the end of military operations in Iraq and the achievement of victory. The Iraqi government must work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, airspace or water for any reason."

Like so many resolutions passed by so many politicians in so many talking shops around the world, this resolution is likely to come to nothing. It still needs to be approved by the Iraqi cabinet, which, under their system, is not responsible to parliament. However, interim Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi voiced support as he railed against US "violations of Iraqi sovereignty."

He was referring to the US air strike on Friday which killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, near Baghdad's airport. The force has been declared an Islamic terrorist organization, and the killing of its commander -- a man with the blood of 1000s on his hands -- was intended to prevent the execution of a major terrorist attack against Americans in the Middle East, while at the same time dealing a blow to the heart of Iran's Middle East policy.

About 5,200 US troops are deployed at Iraqi military bases -- built at considerable expense to American taxpayers -- to train and support local security forces, in hopes -- faint hopes -- of preventing a resurgence of ISIS. The troops are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government as part of an US-led international coalition against the Islamic extremist group.

The usual suspects (read: Democrats) filled the airwaves yesterday with complaints about the air strike, and dire warnings about immanentizing the eschaton. (You can look it up.) At the very least, they say, Still-President Trump's action has facilitated conditions for Iran to achieve one of its main regional objectives: removing the US military from its neighbour.

And I say: GREAT! What I see here is a brilliant plan to, at long last, get America out of Iraq and perhaps the entire sandpit, without spending at little cost in lives or money, and without losing face!
Previous administrations, both Republican and Democrat, got the USA into the Middle East quagmire (giggity!), without any realistic chance of victory, or any exit plan. The Prez promised to clean up the mess left by Bush, but just spread it further, into Libya.

President Trump said he'd find a way, and was attacked for preparing to bail out, abandoning the "good" Muslims, yada yada yada. What better way to end this colossal exercise in futility than to have the people that invited America to go in to "help" them, order the US to leave. Walt says, DO IT! NOW! Leave the Sunnis and the Shiites and ISIS and Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to fight it out. And may all the jihadis get what they so richly deserve. Selah!