Thousands of protesters protested in Iraq on Friday January 10 against interference from Iran and the United States, both of which carried out recent strikes in the country, threatening to plunge the country into chaos. In Tahrir Square in Baghdad, as in several cities in the south of the country, thousands of Iraqis marched with cries of "No to Iran! No to America! " in processions of unprecedented scale for weeks.
In recent days, on social networks, calls have been urging Iraqis to relaunch the social movement started on 1st October. From the night of Thursday to Friday, clashes broke out between demonstrators and police in Kerbala, 100 km southwest of Baghdad, while activists were arrested in Basra, in the south of the country.
For over three months, Iraqis have been denouncing their leaders, whom they accuse of being "Incompetent" and "Thieves". Iraq is the twelfth most corrupt country in the world, according to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Transparency International.
Ending Tehran's stranglehold too
The government of the country has been in the doldrums for weeks and unable to agree to appoint a replacement for the resigning Prime Minister, Adel Abdel Mahdi.
The movement, new because it was spontaneous, was punctuated by violence and suppressed by the police. There were around 460 dead – almost all of them protesters – and more than 25,000 injured, many of whom will remain disabled for life. In addition, a massive campaign of intimidation, assassinations and kidnappings of activists has had the effect of severely drying up the ranks of the protests.
But as the eyes of the whole world turn to Iraq, the epicenter of the crisis between Washington and Tehran, the angry Iraqis intend to regain control by sending Americans and Iranians back to back.
Power, like the security forces, is today dominated by the pro-Iran, and the Parliament demands the departure of the American troops that the factions close to Tehran denounce as a "Occupying force". The demonstrators also want to end Tehran's stranglehold. Above all, they are calling for an improvement in living conditions in the second producing country of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), where one in four young people is unemployed and one in five lives below the poverty line.
"Partner of a sovereign Iraq"
In any case, the United States has no plans to discuss with the Iraqi authorities a withdrawal of its troops, the US State Department said on Friday.
"At this stage, any delegation that goes to Iraq would be responsible for discussing the best way to reconfirm our strategic partnership, not to discuss a withdrawal of troops"said US diplomacy spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.
The Iraqi prime minister had previously asked Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, to send a delegation to organize the withdrawal of American soldiers from the country. These troops are deployed as part of an international coalition against the jihadist Islamic State (IS) organization.
"Our military presence in Iraq aims to continue the fight against IS and, as the secretary of state said, we are determined to protect the Americans, the Iraqis and our coalition partners," insisted Mme Ortagus.
However, she added, without further details, that Washington wanted to have a "Discussion" with Baghdad "Not only about security, but also about (their) financial, economic and diplomatic partnership ”. "We want to be a friend and a partner of a sovereign, prosperous and stable Iraq", she assured.
