Condemnation of the American airstrike at Baghdad airport on Jan. 3 was widespread in Iraq; no prominent Iraqi figure inside the country praised it. Criticism focused on the alleged violation of Iraqi sovereignty since the Americans did not first get Iraqi government approval for the strike and it also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) militias organization and a senior Iraqi official. Some Iraqis, notably interim Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi as well as a senior Iraqi military official, also highlighted that the American strike violated the bilateral agreement about the mission for U.S. forces in Iraq to help build up Iraqi forces fighting ISIS.
In the wake of the airstrike, there have been many calls inside Iraq for restraint among Iraqis and between the Americans and the Iranians, most notably from the Shi’a clerical establishment in Najaf. There is a wide consensus in Iraq that the country should not be at the center of an American-Iranian military fight. Iraqi politicians are more divided on the utility of keeping American forces in Iraq. PMF officials and their political allies want the Iraqi Parliament to pass legislation that would oblige Abdul-Mahdi’s government to expel the American military. Those publicly calling for expulsion of American forces have or are near a parliamentary majority. Some Kurdish and Sunni Arab parliamentarians may skip the special Parliament session scheduled for Sunday to address the American strike in order to block a quorum and any parliamentary action. Blockage in the Parliament would reinforce the stalemate in Baghdad generated by the national street protest movement against the government that has prevented the appointment of a new prime minister. If Parliament cannot move, some militia hardliners will have justification to retaliate by other means against the U.S.
Robert Ford is a Senior Fellow at MEI.
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