Iraqi Resistance Association Commission releases a statement on the U.S-Iraqi Strategic Dialogue talks 

Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Resistance Association Commission issued today an official statement on the outcomes of the fourth round of the Strategic Dialogue talks between Iraq and the United States in Washington less than a week ago.

The statement ascribed the communique of the Iraqi Government and the U.S. administration as "multifaceted", "dishonest", and "full of ambiguity and deceit."

"The term withdrawal is not mentioned at all. We closely scrutinized every input and output of this dialogue, and we have a massive conviction that there is a manipulation of the terminology and titles to stall and extend the U.S. hegemony and presence that lost its legitimacy after the historic resolution of the Iraqi Parliament in 2020."

"If what is meant is an actual withdrawal, it must include the withdrawal of all foreign forces, transferring all the camps under the authority of the occupation to the authority of the Iraqis... and ending the presence of all foreign military aircraft in Iraqi airspace."

"The demands of the Iraqi resistance are firm and clear to achieve sovereignty, liberate Iraq completely from occupation...Iraq does not need any foreign forces in any way."

The statement shed light on "gaps" in the joint statement of the Iraqi Ministry of foreign affairs and its U.S. counterpart. "The relation will be shifted completely to consulting, training, and intelligence cooperation. This is just a deceptive declaration to keep the occupation under a different name." 

"In this case, the position of the resistance that rejects the existence of any kind of occupation in all its forms will not change, especially since we proved in our previous statement that our security forces do not need them."

"The outcomes of the dialogue, inadvertently or deliberately, omitted any talk about the United States' occupation of Iraqi airspace and the repeated violation to its sovereignty." 

"Since 2014, all the crimes the U.S. Committed have been carried out by air. There is no sense in announcing the withdrawal of the forces while they remain the airspace of Iraq." 

"Since 2014 and the beginnings of the war against ISIS, we have been hearing from the American and Iraqi parties that the American forces in Iraq are not combative, but are for advice and training exclusively, so that everyone - except us - was surprised by the announcement after seven years that these forces were combative, and it is intended to transform their tasks  to an advisory later."

"If the American side has been lying -as usual- for seven years, why do we believe it now? And if some parties cover up the combat presence under the pretext that it was a consultative presence previously, what will prevent them from repeating that now?"

"In case all the foreign forces withdrew from the Iraqi territory, and all the bases were evacuated, who will prove that this evacuation and withdrawal has actually taken place? Will impartial parliamentary committees be allowed to enter these bases without prior warning to inspect them and prove that they are empty?

 "What did the American advisors do other than infiltrate the security services to spy on the country, and then target the Iraqi security forces?"

 "The resistance will remain on its full readiness until the real withdrawal. It will keep its non-reluctant action and stance if the withdrawal was only a formality. Any foreign flight in Iraqi airspace will be deemed hostile and will be dealt with in a matter that regrets for staying [in Iraq] is the least of their sufferings."