Urgent Pompeo: The Iraqis want us to stay, and Abdul Mahdi is just a resigned prime minister

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed Washington’s full confidence that the people of Iraq want American forces to remain on their soil, regardless of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.
Pompeo said, via “Fox News” channel today, Sunday, that the Iraqi caretaker head, Adel Abdul Mahdi, who asked the House of Representatives to set a timetable for removing all foreign forces from the country, is just “a resigned prime minister” and “acting prime minister.” And “faces massive threats from the leadership of Iran,” he said.

He added: “We are convinced that the Iraqi people want the United States to remain to continue its campaign against terrorism, and we will continue to do everything necessary to ensure America’s security.”

Pompeo declined to respond to a question whether Washington would do it if Iraq, as a sovereign state, asks it to withdraw its forces from its lands, saying: “The American people should know that we will take the right decision, and we will take steps that the previous administration refused to take.”

Minutes after Pompeo’s statement, the House of Representatives approved the government’s mandate to end the presence of foreign forces on the country’s territory. It ended

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