Iraq 0
6 December 2019

A senior U.S. diplomat remarked that “for several months, the Iraqi people have led a patriotic quest for genuine reform and transparency in government. The have gone to the streets to raise their voices for a just government with leaders who will put Iraq’s national interests first… Iraqis are fed up with economic stagnation, endemic corruption and mismanagement”. He added that “Iraqis have paid a steep and bloody price for the malign influence of Iranian regime. Tehran claims it is exporting ‘revolution’. It is increasingly clear to us and the people of the region, however, that the theocracy’s top export is corruption and repression”. The senior diplomat further maintained that “the U.S. government will work with anyone in the Iraqi government who is willing to put Iraqi interests first… But we see in the process of establishing a new government or determining who the next prime minister will be that Qasem Soleimani is in Baghdad working this issue. It seems to us that foreign terrorist leaders, or military leaders, should not be meeting with Iraqi political leaders to determine the next premier of Iraq”. “This is unorthodox and it is incredibly problematic, and it is a huge violation of Iraqi sovereignty”, he continued.

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