Iraq to lobby against US entry restrictions

Iraq plans to lobby against new restrictions on travel to the US by Iraqis, arguing the two countries need to preserve their alliance against Daesh, two members of the Iraqi Parliament, who declined to be identified, said on Sunday.
Trump signed an executive order barring citizens of Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen from entering the US for at least 90 days, a move he billed as an effort to make America safe from “radical Islamic terrorists.”
The Iraqi government itself has so far declined to comment on the executive order, which has caused angry reactions in Iraq, where more than 5,000 US troops are deployed, helping Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the war on Daesh.
Some members of the Parliament said Iraq should retaliate with similar measures against the US.
“Iraq is in the frontline of the war on terrorism (...) and it is unfair that the Iraqis are treated in this way,” said the Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
“We ask the Iraqi government to reciprocate to the decision taken by the US administration,” the committee said in a statement after a meeting on Sunday in Baghdad.
Popular Mobilization, a coalition of mainly Shiite paramilitary groups armed and trained by Iran to fight Daesh, called on the Iraqi government to expel US nationals.
“The Foreign Ministry will be contacting the US administration to review their decision,” said an MP who sits on the Parliament’s foreign relations committee.
The Iraqi government will “explain that Iraq as a sovereign country will be forced to reciprocate, and that would affect negatively cooperation, including military cooperation in the war” on Daesh, a second lawmaker said.
An Iraqi paramilitary umbrella group fighting against insurgents also called on Sunday for Baghdad to bar Americans from the country.
Both units from the Hashed Al-Shaabi paramilitary organization and American troops are deployed in the Mosul area as part of the operation to retake the city from the Daesh group, and heightened anti-US sentiment among militiamen could increase the danger to Washington’s forces.
“After the decision of the American president to prohibit the entry of Iraqi citizens to the United States of America, we demand Americans be prevented from entering Iraq, and the removal of those of them who are present,” the Hashed said in a statement.
The statement did not specify if the call applied to American military personnel in Iraq, and a spokesman was unreachable for comment.
The most powerful groups in the Hashed Al-Shaabi are Iran-backed militias, some of whom fought against US forces in previous years.
Thousands of American troops are deployed to Iraq as part of a US-led coalition against Daesh that has provided air support, training and other assistance to Baghdad’s forces.
Hashed forces played a significant role in halting Daesh’s sweeping 2014 offensive that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad, and later in pushing the jihadists back.
But they have also faced repeated accusations of abuses including summary executions, kidnappings and destruction of property in the course of the war against Daesh.
Trump’s decision led to the detention of incoming refugees at US airports, sparking protests, legal challenges and widespread condemnation from rights groups.
The travel restrictions, which come on the heels of repeated assertions by Trump that the US should have stolen Iraq’s oil before leaving in 2011, risk alienating the citizens and government of a country fighting against militants the president has cast as a major threat to America.
The US-led coalition is critical in the ongoing battle to wrest Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, from Daesh.
Mosul is the last major Iraqi city still under the control of Daesh.
The government announced on Tuesday that Iraqi forces have taken over the part of Mosul on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, which divides the city, and were preparing to attack the militants on the western bank.

Source: Arab News