A major partisan divide has formed around President Trump’s handling of the situation in Iraq, with several Democrats blasting recent US airstrikes and troop deployments, and some in the GOP lining up to voice support.
Massachusetts Senator and Democratic 2020 hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday took aim at the president for a US bombing raid ordered on an Iraqi militia over the weekend. American officials accused the group – Kataib Hezbollah – of carrying out a rocket attack on a US base with Iranian backing, which killed one American contractor, though they have yet to offer any evidence for the claims of responsibility.
“Trump’s reckless decisions to walk away from the Iran deal and now to launch airstrikes in Iraq without Iraqi government consent have brought us closer to war and endangered US troops and diplomats,” Warren said in a statement online.
We should end the forever wars, not start new ones.
The US air raid left 25 Iraqi fighters dead and prompted a heated demonstration at the US Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday afternoon, in which militiamen and ordinary citizens breached the front gate of the embassy complex, smashing windows and scrawling anti-American slogans on its walls.
Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) – who sponsored a bi-partisan bill with Kentucky Republican Rand Paul to prevent an “unauthorized war” with the Islamic Republic earlier this year – also weighed in to slam Trump’s response to the unrest, which included the deployment of a Marine task force and attack helicopters to defend the embassy.
“At a volatile time, the Trump administration’s reckless escalation and miscalculation are endangering US citizens & pushing us closer to unauthorized war in the Middle East,” Udall wrote in a tweet, adding “Congress needs to step in and stop it.”
At a volatile time, the Trump administration’s reckless escalation and miscalculation are endangering U.S. citizens & pushing us closer to unauthorized war in the Middle East. Congress needs to step in and stop it. https://t.co/JujQRbMSo6
Democratic presidential candidate and Southbend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg joined his fellow lawmakers on Twitter to attack the president for “mood swings” and making “policy by tweet,” arguing his actions in Iraq only served to put US “national interests in harm’s way.” Far from the most dovish Democrat vying for the 2020 nomination, however, Buttigieg accepted that the policies were a response to “Iranian aggression,” despite disagreeing with them.
Escalated tensions across the Middle East now put our diplomats, military, and ultimately our national interests in harm's way.
The world needs steady and clear-eyed American leadership—not mood swings, unstable decisions, and policy by tweet.
Across the aisle, some Republicans were far more supportive, fully endorsing the commander-in-chief’s recent moves. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) credited Trump with “very solid work” and hailed the Marine deployment as a “decisive action” needed “in a time of crisis,” insisting there was “zero question” about who was behind the rocket attack on the US base.
.@realDonaldTrump deserves credit for responding decisively to the Iran proxy attack of our embassy in Iraq. Very solid work.
One of Trump’s biggest boosters as of late, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), also lavished praise on the president after a meeting to discuss the tense situation in Iraq, accusing Iran of threatening “American interests” and warning that they do so at their own risk. Comparing the embassy siege to a lethal attack on a US diplomatic facility in Libya in 2012, Graham urged for “no more Benghazis.”
As to Iran: They continue to threaten American interests at their own peril.
In the latest US response, the Pentagon announced a deployment of some 750 paratroopers to neighboring Kuwait on Tuesday evening, which Defense Secretary Mark Esper said could be mobilized in days to “protect our people and interests.” Though few lawmakers have yet weighed in on the new deployment, the battle lines in Washington appear to already be drawn.
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December 31, 2019 at 06:22PM
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US President Donald Trump has said that the US is not gearing up for war with Iran, adding that he prefers peace to war. It comes just hours after the US leader upped the ante, making a pointed threat against Tehran on Twitter.
With simmering tensions between Tehran and Washington flaring up over the attack on the US embassy in Baghdad, which the US blamed squarely on Iran without providing any proof, there have been growing fears that another war of words could spiral into something far more violent.
In an apparent attempt to diffuse the tension, Trump said late Tuesday that he does not foresee a war actually breaking out between the US and Iran.
“War with Iran? I don’t think that would be a good idea for Iran...I like peace...I don’t see that happening,” Trump said speaking to media as he arrived at the grand ballroom at Mar-a-Lago for a New Year bash on Tuesday night.
Teheran has vehemently denied all the allegations that it is somehow complicit in the unrest sparked by the US airstrikes that killed 25 members of the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah over the weekend.
The American sorties have drawn ire from the Iraqi government, calling the bombing a violation of the country’s sovereignty as well as of militiamen and ordinary citizens who flocked to the US embassy in Iraq to protest the airstrikes.
Protests turned violent on Tuesday as demonstrators attempted to storm the compound, and saw US attack helicopters being scrambled to scatter the protesters after they reportedly breached the front gate.
In the wake of the attack, the Pentagon announced that it would send 750 paratroopers to the Middle East “immediately” in response to the incident, which will be followed by “additional forces.” Washington has repeatedly invoked the “Iranian threat” to beef up its military presence in the region, having deployed some 14,000 troops to the Middle East since May 2019 in addition to about 60,000 already stationed there.
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December 31, 2019 at 04:51PM
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has named the alleged masterminds of the attack on the US embassy in Baghdad, calling them “terrorists” and pinning blame squarely on Tehran for inciting the siege.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday evening, hours after the US embassy in Baghdad was nearly ransacked by members of the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah, protesting the US airstrike that killed 25 of their own over the weekend, Pompeo posted photos purporting to show the alleged perpetrators of the failed storming attempt.
“The attack today was orchestrated by terrorists – Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and Qays al-Khazali – and abetted by Iranian proxies – Hadi al Amari and Faleh al-Fayyad. All are pictured below outside our embassy,” Pompeo wrote.
The attack today was orchestrated by terrorists – Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and Qays al-Khazali – and abetted by Iranian proxies – Hadi al Amari and Faleh al-Fayyad. All are pictured below outside our embassy. pic.twitter.com/2QfGGrfmDd
The photos accompanying the post show the crowd outside the US embassy on Tuesday, Pompeo claimed, arguing that the four militia leaders were mingling with the protesters.
The top US diplomat did not produce evidence to support the claim that any of the photographed individuals played a role in stirring the unrest itself, which was originally sparked by the US bombing raid and drew outrage from the Iraqi government and citizens alike.
Pompeo then attempted to make a distinction between “the legitimate efforts of the Iraqi protesters” opposing the government in Baghdad and those behind the embassy attack. While the protests against pervasive corruption and the government’s failure to provide better living conditions for Iraqis have rocked the country since October and saw bloody clashes between security forces and demonstrators, Pompeo did not miss a chance to point a finger at Tehran as the main culprit behind Iraq’s internal political woes, arguing that the corruption was “exported there by the Iranian regime.”
Today’s attack against the U.S. Embassy should not be confused with the legitimate efforts of the Iraqi protestors who have been in the streets since October working for the people of Iraq to end the corruption exported there by the Iranian regime.
Tehran has flatly rejected the allegations that it fanned the unrest, slamming Washington’s “audacity” to blame Iran for protests triggered by American airstrikes, which the Pentagon claimed were in retaliation for an attack on a US coalition base near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
Iraq’s economy and infrastructure were left in shambles after two decades of intermittent war and sectarian violence following the 2003 US invasion, which also took a heavy toll on the average citizen, leaving many without the most basic services, including access to clean water.
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December 31, 2019 at 04:29PM
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US President Donald Trump has taken a swipe at his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, highlighting a series of heated protests unfolding across France over a hot-button pension reform and poking fun at the Paris climate deal.
From his perch on Twitter, President Trump shared a brief video clip showing a line of parked cars set ablaze in Paris on the cusp of the New Year on Tuesday, adding only a simple caption:
While the motive behind the sizable (and likely quite expensive) car-b-que remains unknown, the arson comes amid mass demonstrations around the country in opposition to an overhaul of the French pension system, which in some cases have erupted into violent street clashes with riot police. Trade unions and other labor organizations have organized mass strikes and walkouts over the proposal, which the government insists will simplify the pension system and ensure it is “fair.”
The wave of anti-pension reform demonstrations follows another protest movement sparked last year by a fuel tax hike, the 'Yellow Vests,' who have continued to stage mass actions intermittently ever since. The two groups joined forces over the weekend in a joint protest to voice discontent with Macron’s government.
At President Trump’s direction, Washington ditched the Paris climate accord in 2017, a multilateral agreement among the majority of the world’s nations dealing with greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental issues. Dismissing it as “draconian,” Trump has repeatedly mocked Macron about the deal since the US withdrawal, once even suggesting the accord itself was responsible for the country’s ongoing unrest.
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December 31, 2019 at 03:06PM
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Some 750 paratroopers from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division are already on their way to Kuwait, and more may soon follow, after the US embassy in Baghdad was stormed and nearly taken by angry Iraqi militiamen.
The 82nd’s alert brigade has been ordered to deploy on Tuesday evening, Fox News reported citing multiple Pentagon officials, shortly before Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed it.
"The United States will protect our people and interests anywhere they are found around the world," Esper said, announcing the deployment.
...and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today. The United States will protect our people and interests anywhere they are found around the world.
— Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper (@EsperDoD) January 1, 2020
The initial force has already departed Fort Bragg, North Carolina on board C-17 transports. The Immediate Response Force (IRF) consists of an estimated 4,000 soldiers of the 82nd Deployment Ready Brigade (DRB), whose three battalions can be fielded within 96 hours if needed.
Hundreds of members of the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah stormed the US embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, chanting “Death to America” and setting the entrance checkpoint on fire. They were protesting the US airstrikes that killed 25 of their members over the weekend, in what the Pentagon said was retaliation for last week’s rocket strike at a US base in Kirkuk that killed one contractor.
The militia withdrew after a task force of some 100 US Marines, accompanied by attack helicopters, showed up to reinforce the embassy. US President Donald Trump has blamed Iran for the attack and openly threatened Tehran with a “big price” to pay.
There are currently 60,000 US troops in the Middle East at the moment, of which some 5,000 are in Iraq. Almost 14,000 of those have been added since May 2019, with the Pentagon citing a rising “threat” from Iran.
In May 2018, the Trump administration unilaterally repudiated the nuclear deal negotiated with Tehran in 2015, and imposed sanctions intended to destroy the Iranian economy. Despite Trump’s campaign rhetoric about ending US involvement in endless foreign wars, his advisers have repeatedly called for what amounts to regime change in Tehran.
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December 31, 2019 at 02:22PM
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