In response to the call by Shia Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for a “million man march” on the streets of Iraq to protest U.S. occupation, the Iraqi people more than doubled his request in their widespread display for peace on Friday.
Sadr asked for it. Today's the day. Baghdad now#Iraqmillionmanmarch #Iraq pic.twitter.com/9xPLS29U5q
— Logiko Iko (@IkoAfortiori) January 24, 2020
Sayed Sadiq al-Hashemi, who runs the Iraqi Center for Studies, estimated that over 2.5 million Iraqis took place in the protest. Anger over U.S. occupying forces has unified the nation besieged by factionalism since the illegal war conducted by the globalist Bush administration removed dictator Saddam Hussein from power.
“Pompeo keeps going on about respecting Iraqi sovereignty. Well Iraqis want you out of their country,” said Lebanese-American journalist Rania Khalek, who believes that the drone strike on Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani has resulted in a sharp uptick in anti-American sentiment across Iraq.
“Whenever a couple hundred people protest against Iran, it trends on twitter. Yet when hundreds of thousands in Iraq protest against the US? No trending,” she said.
Western media sources have largely blacked out or underreported news of the Iraq protests that show the foreign policy status quo in the Middle East coming unglued.
Truly is remarkable, more than million Iraqi across the nation gathered together to rise against the US and Zionist regime. This is the real voice of the nation who support #resistance against the enemy’s aggression. #ابو_مهدي_المهندس #العراق #iraq #IraqMillionManMarch pic.twitter.com/hCaf3sbUDo
— zehra (@zehrafahd) January 24, 2020
Banners in #English to help the world understand their message, millions of Iraqis on the streets today to demand full US forces withdrawal from #Iraq ???????? #IraqMillionManMarch #ثورة_العشرين_الثانية_2020 #ثورة_العشرين_الثانية pic.twitter.com/Rof02uRwpW
— ????????Iraq & Middle East Updates (@IraqLiveUpdate) January 24, 2020
President Donald Trump campaigned on bringing the troops home and called the war in Iraq the greatest blunder in U.S. history, but now his administration refuses to bring the troops home. Trump has even proposed a ransom of sorts to the Iraqis, demanding a cash payment in order to remove troops while threatening devastating economic sanctions.
“We’ve spent a lot of money in Iraq,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington D.C. after spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build. … We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it.”
“We will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever,” Trump added. “It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”
The Pentagon has confirmed that Trump’s repeated pledges to bring the troops home were just bluster, as the troop surge that has occurred over the past eight months will continue indefinitely.
“I’m not sure how long you’re going to stay in the theater. We’ll work that out as we go ahead. Could be quite a while, could be less than that, just don’t know right now,” US CENTCOM commander Gen. Frank McKenzie told sailors and Marines aboard the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship on Thursday.
“You need to be ready because I may need to employ you on very short notice and on some very difficult missions,” he added – making sure the troops are ready for full-blown war at any moment’s notice.
It appears that Trump has been completely Neoconned, and any chances of an “America First” foreign policy are looking grim. The unified people of Iraq will not receive any favors from the Trump administration as they struggle for peace and independence.
