Biden to discuss a possible full US troops’ Iraq pullout
Suspects to make confessions on TV: Official; armed drone targets base; Kadhemi, Biden to discuss a possible full US troop pullout tomorrow
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi announced on Saturday the arrest of a “terror cell” behind a Baghdad market bombing that killed dozens and was claimed by the Daesh militant group.
The atack sparked revulsion and renewed fears about the reach of Daesh, which lost its last territory in Iraq ater a gruelling campaign that ended in late 2017, but retains sleeper cells in remote desert and mountain areas.
The bombing took place on Monday at Al Woheilat market in Sadr City, a Shiite suburb in the capital, and officially killed 30 people, excluding the direct perpetrator.
“We have arrested all the members of the cowardly terrorist cell that planned and perpetrated the atack,” Kadhemi said on Twiter, “and they will be put before a judge today.”
The prime minister did not specify the number of people arrested, but a source at the interior ministry said the suspects were anticipated to make televised “confessions,” a common occurence for major crimes in Iraq.
Meanwhile, an armed drone targeted a military base in Iraqi Kurdistan that hosts American troops, without causing casualties, the Us-led coalition said on Saturday.
It was the latest in a spate of atacks on US military and diplomatic facilities in Iraq.
Iraqi Kurdish media outlets said the atack targeted a base at Al Harir, 70km northeast of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region.
US interests in Iraq have been hit by 50 rocket and drone atacks so far this year -- assaults Washington consistently blames on Tehranbacked factions operating within Iraq’s Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary alliance.
The Iraqi Resistance Coordination Commitee on Friday threatened to continue the atacks unless the US withdraws all its forces and ends the “occupation.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi will meet US President Joe Biden on Monday to discuss a possible full US troop withdrawal from his country.
“If there is no significant announcement on the withdrawal of troops, I fear that the pro-iran groups may. increase atacks on the US forces,” Iraqi researcher Sajad Jiyad said.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, already in Washington for several days, has assured Iraqi media that “the talks will successfully establish a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces.”
But US media outlets have only pointed to a “redefinition” of the troops’ mission.
Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq specialist at the University of Chicago’s Pearson Institute, believes there will be no “radical change” in the US position.
The Biden-kadhemi meeting may cosmetically be “shaped” to help the Iraqi premier alleviate domestic pressures, “but the reality on the ground will reflect the status quo and an enduring US presence,” he said.
Mardini points to “political costs” for Biden to authorise a full withdrawal of US troops, stemming from the catastrophic “legacy” of the 2011 withdrawal, which created a vacuum exploited by Daesh during their lightning 2014 offensive.
“The last thing that the US would want would be to quit Iraq and find themselves a few years later facing a return by Daesh,” according to one diplomatic source.
Kadhemi is also grappling with other crises three months ahead of a general election that threatens his tenure.
Severe electricity shortages, endemic corruption, a spate of murders of activists blamed on pro-iran armed groups, the coronavirus pandemic and diminished oil revenues have all stoked renewed instability.
Kadhemi will therefore also seek to secure a sotening of secondary US sanctions relating to Iran when in Washington, to help Iraq honour crucial transactions with its neighbour and tackle the power crisis, according to Jiyad.
“The prime minister’s visit (to Washington) is inextricably tied with his electoral campaign,” according to Mardini.
“It’s part of an effort to shore up international and regional support” to help him revive a faltering domestic political base, he added.
Most of the American troops deployed in the coalition, which helped defeat Daesh in Iraq in 2017, were withdrawn under former US president Donald Trump.