Free Republic

BAGHDAD — Lawmakers in Iraq voted on Sunday to require the government to end the presence of American troops in the country after the United States ordered the killing of the Iranian leader of the elite Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, on Iraqi soil. The decision to heed the demands of angry Shiite factions and politicians came as hundreds of thousands of mourners poured into the streets of Iran to pay their respects to General Suleimani, the most powerful figure in the country after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The vote is not final until Prime Minister Adel...

BAGHDAD — American oil workers were fleeing Iraq on Friday, as fears grew of war between the United States and Iran. At sermons in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, worshippers chanted, “Death to America!” And in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, where anti-government protesters have gathered for months, a banner went up with a pointed message to both Iran and the U.S.: “Keep your conflicts away from Iraq.” A Shocked Iraq Reconsiders Its Relationship With the U.S. Falih Hassan, Tim Arango and Alissa J. Rubin The New York TimesJanuary 4, 2020, 8:22 PM GMT+5 Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in...

SNIP In outlining its tentative plans, the Obama administration has left many questions unanswered. Diplomats familiar with Mr. Assad say there is no way to know how he would respond, and they question what the United States would do if he chose to order a chemical strike or other major retaliation against civilians. That would leave the United States to choose between a loss of credibility and a more expansive — and unpopular — conflict, they said. “So he continues on in defiance — maybe he even launches another chemical attack to put a stick in our eye — and...