At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership—not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East.
— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) January 10, 2020
They can’t survive without our money. So this response is saying: get your act together, clear out or grab power back from the pro-Iranians. Because if we just walk out, Iran takes over.
Via Daily Caller:
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi requested the U.S. make plans to withdraw forces from the country Friday, but the U.S. State Department has unequivocally refused.
Abdul-Mahdi told reporters he had called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking the U.S. to send a delegation to plan for a U.S. withdrawal, NBC News reported. Pompeo quickly pushed back on that idea, however, saying not only will the U.S. remain in Iraq, but Iraq will have to start paying more for them to stay.