From the BBC:
“Iraq military bases: US pulling
out of three key sites”
The US army is pulling out of
al-Qaim and two other key military bases in Iraq in the coming weeks. The
decision to leave three of its eight bases in Iraq is a sign the US is looking
to dramatically reduce its footprint in the country. It comes amid heightened
tensions with the Iraqi government and Iran. A ceremony will take place this
week at al-Qaim, where the US will formally hand over equipment to the Iraqi
army to help it ensure security in the area. It will end any US presence along
the Iraqi side of the border with Syria. The base is built on the ruins of one
the Iraq's oldest train stations, near a tiny town of the same name along the
Euphrates river. The area was the first place in Iraq to fall into the hands of
the Islamic State group (IS) in 2014 and one of the last taken back by Iraqi
forces in November 2017. After the victory against IS in the area,
Iranian-backed militia groups took control of both sides of the border. Although
Iraqi security forces have also had a presence around al-Qaim, it is now mainly
under the control of one of those militia groups, the Popular Mobilisation
Forces (PMF), I have travelled to al-Qaim with US forces twice in the past two
years and have witnessed how the atmosphere around the base has gradually
changed. In December 2017, both Iraqi and US flags could be seen flying as
US-led coalition and Iraqi forces worked together to fight IS. At that time,
PMF-affiliated groups, especially Kataib Hezbollah and al-Tofof Brigades, both
with close ties to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), were also
fighting IS on both sides of the border. It was an uncomfortable situation for
both sides but they had a common enemy to defeat. The Iraqi army acted as a
go-between, often co-ordinating parallel operations against IS.
'We will make them leave': But during my last trip in December 2018,
the mood in the area had changed dramatically. Iranian-backed groups had become
part of Iraq's official security forces and were gaining power. That year only
one flag was flying at al-Qaim, the Americans had taken control of the base.
But outside the base, roads were littered with PMF flags and billboards
picturing Iran's supreme leader, a man some PMF groups think of as their
religious leader and commander. US convoys had to pass through PMF-controlled
checkpoints to travel to their artillery base on the Syrian border. But the PMF
started to make their opposition to the presence of US troops in Iraq clear,
saying they were able to handle any threat from IS alone. Kataib Hezbollah
accused the US of attacking its bases near the Syrian border, something the
US-led coalition repeatedly denied. "We will make them leave if they don't
want to leave," a Kataib Hezbollah commander who called himself Abu Ameneh
told us in an interview at the PMF's headquarters in Baghdad. The US killing of
Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq earlier this year further
destabilised the fragile dynamic. Gen Soleimani, the head of the elite force in
the IRGC, was killed on 3 January in a US drone attack near Baghdad airport,
along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq's PMF. It led to
a vote in Iraq's parliament to expel all foreign forces, especially the
Americans, from the country. US officials say they have been planning to leave
areas like al-Qaim since last year because of the reduced threat from IS but
concern for the safety of US and coalition forces has accelerated the move.
Spate of attacks: A senior US defence official told the BBC
that the proximity of Kataib Hezbollah to the base was "a key factor
within the calculation of the decision to move forces elsewhere". The US
also plans to withdraw from Qayara Airfield West, known as Q-West, and Kirkuk. Qayara
was the base used in the US-backed operation to take back Mosul from IS. Both
bases have been hit by rocket attacks in recent months. A US contractor was
killed in a rocket attack at Kirkuk on 28 December. The attack was blamed on
Kataib Hezbollah and was followed by US air strikes against the group's
headquarters in both Syria and Iraq, which killed 25 people. At least 25 rocket
attacks, unleashing more than 160 individual rockets, have hit US bases in Iraq
since October 2019. Last week, two attacks on the Taji base killed three
coalition members, and severely wounded two members of the Iraqi security
forces. However, the retaliatory attack by the US on locations that the
Americans say were Kataib Hezbollah ammunition storage facilities killed three
Iraqi army personnel, two local police officers and one civilian. The attacks
soured relations between the Americans in Iraq and the country's army, their
hosts and original partners in the fight against IS. In an unusual move, the
Iraqi Joint Operation Command, the control centre for all military activity in
Iraq, issued a statement blaming both sides but backing up parliament's vote to
ask the Americans to leave. The official number of US troops in Iraq has been
estimated at up to 5,200. It is not clear how many troops will be redeployed
following the three base closures, as some will be moved to other operational
bases within the country. The future of these remaining troops is not certain.
The US hopes its relationship with Iraq's security forces is far from over, but
many in Iraq think America has outstayed its welcome.
^ At this point Iraq is a Failed-State
despite the efforts of the US and our allies. Iraq is plagued by corruption from
every level of Iraqi society, militias loyal to Iran, ISIS and it may be better
to just leave the country and let whatever happens happen there. The Iraqis
complain about the US being there and so maybe they will change their tune once
the Iranians and ISIS take over again and are much worse then we ever were. ^
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51914600
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