ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--The presence of US troops in Iraq and taking over bases across the country violates Baghdad's strategic agreement with Washington, says an Iraqi lawmaker and member of parliament's defense committee, adding that the parliament will seriously work on the expulsion of all foreign forces.
“Agreements between Iraq and the US were on the pullout of foreign forces from Iraq after 2013," said Badr al-Zaidi, an MP and member of the parliamentary security and defense committee. "But there is another agreement about the staying of a small number of foreign forces to train Iraqi security forces."
Al-Zaidi said that US personnel were taking over many military bases in Iraq.
“Nowadays, we see Iraqi military bases filled with US troops, weapons, ammunition, and airplanes," he told the media in a press conference. "And this is contrary to the bilateral agreement between Iraq and the US."
The parliament and his committee in particular, said al-Zaidi, will seek the expulsion the US forces from Iraq.
“The parliament as a whole, especially the security and defense committee, is serious in expelling US forces from Iraq," he said. "The decision to withdraw foreign forces will be politicized not personalized, and this is vested with the parliament’s two main factions – reform and Binaa."
Anbar provincial council had earlier said that US forces had a number of military bases in the province exclusive to US troops only.
A surprise visit by US President Donald Trump to Iraq on Christmas Eve angered many Iraqi leaders who saw the an unannounced visit as an insult to their status and to Iraq's sovereignty.
