Angered at Trump’s Visit, Some Iraqi Lawmakers Want U.S. Troops Out

I am taken aback that this demand by Iraqis is a blot on America and the POTUS. If anything, it's a shame in Iraqis. That after more than a decade of ouster of Saddam - and liberating it's majority of Shiites - a soverign government controlled by Shiites cannot offer security to a visiting head of state - flying into it's own territory. And this head of state is from a country that helped them get liberated in the first place. With a treatment like this to our POTUS - woe be folks who denounce him for saying we spent trillions on folks who don't like us or respect us. I expect a "sudden" withdrawal from Iraq in the second term if this POTUS - and no one should fault him

I've read this for years. So we all know why they don't. It's called money. Out taxpayer money.

While there is absolutely no doubt that the presence of American troops in Iraq, for what was to be the Bush-Cheney democracy-capitalism expansion, never should have happened, and that it is odd that the one, decidedly unjustified invasion and war of the past decades is the one American politicians of all stripes seem the least inclined to end, for Iraqis to rail at the visit by any president as an excuse to call for withdrawal is ludicrous. Would they do so if the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs made a covert visit? No. The president is, after all, the Commander in Chief, and as such, regardless of the lack of capacity to lead, Trump is just another commanding officer who has the right to be anywhere the troops are based or fighting. If the inept and corrupt government of Iraq wants American troops out, then it should make its case in the unilateral and international, political and diplomatic channels available to it, where it will get a hearing and, perhaps, an overdue response they should really dread.

What a rich irony if we were kicked out of the only country where apparently Trump is happy we have forces stationed.

President Geisha (or the art of bowing) did not think about that when he tried to salvage his haste decision to leave Syria by arguing that the military will operate there from Iraq... so much occupied to bow to Russia he forgot to bow to Iraq. to much bowing, it's complicated.

“Mr. Trump said at Al Asad that he had no plans to order the roughly 5,200 American service members in Iraq to come home, unlike his decision last week to withdraw the 2,000 soldiers from neighboring Syria and about half of the 14,000 soldiers from Afghanistan.” Trump doesn’t need a plan to do that, the same way he ordered a withdrawal from Syria and a partial one from Afghanistan with no planning. Chaos is not a sound method of government!

Anyone in this government have a strategy? For anything?

bring the troops home and let the Iraqis sort out their own issues. enough blood and capital has been wasted by the stupid war brought to us by on the lies of the neo-cons, such as Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bolton. enough!

It would not surprise me if the number would be growing in America that support the wall and stopping illegals from entering the country. It also would not surprise me if many Americans choose to bring our troops home and stop the military complex for profit from deciding the fate of the world. These are not Democrat -Republican issues.

There has been a desire by the new parliament coalition for the US to leave LONG BEFORE Trump's visit. The Populist Revolt Reaches Iraq http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/populist-revolt-reaches-iraq

When candidate Barack Hussein visited Iraq, he was there ONLY to politicize things for his campaign. When he went back as President, he pulled the troops and created ISIS... then labeled them incompetent JV terrorists. The article here even says Trump did not meet with the Iraqi President out of a concern for security. Non starter. Again.

It's time for Congress to step up to the plate: 1) to issue a joint resolution censoring the President for lying to the troops and for politicizing his visit. 2) to revoke the Authorization for the Use of Military Force currently in effect, and to issue a new one that places clear limits on an arbitrary president's actions.

George Bush made four trips to Iraq and Obama made one just three months after he was inaugurated.Secrecy and safety was important to them but they took the chance.Trump waited two years and then took his wife to inject a little star power and claimed that he could only spend three hours at an air base because of security threats.He claims that he could not visit an American cemetery in France because of security threats involved in driving.Anything out of the White House or his golf clubs is a security threat.The press office is too quick to excuse Trump behavior by branding what a normal president would do as out of bounds for Trump because of security.Sitting in the family quarters and listening to Fox News presents no threat to his security-it threatens ours!

Why is the NYTimes giving voice to a Shiite cleric with obvious eyes on running the country under Islamic law?

Loose lips trump prematurely publicly referring to using Iraq as a U S base for ISIS and Syria operations adds urgency for Congress to manage our President before we join him as the world's pariah.sho

The ham handed US military adventures in the ME should embarrass any of our generals, except that they have generous financial futures due to this carnage. Just like during the Viet Nam wars. My wife stayed with a US military family, and the dad flew in his B-52 bomber to drop a load.....totally amoral and disgusting, but such a wealthy guy as a result.

"United States military’s deployment in the country…", pronounced, "Invasion and Occupation".

Now it appears that Iraq wants the U.S. to leave. For all the armchair warriors who decried the “sudden”, “precipitous”, “non-strategic” withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan, and demand that we listen to the generals, the simple question is, “What should we do in Iraq?” A democratically elected Iraqi government apparently wants us to leave. But if we do, we lose “leverage” in the region, strengthening Russia and Iran, who will welcome our withdrawal. Can we just leave Iraq, especially since we’re being asked to do so? If not, what is the plan? Come on, we need some strategery.

Will never leave Iraq, lets just call it the 51st. state.

Great idea Iraq...send us home.

It should surprise no one that Iraqi's want American troops to leave. They have completed their training mission. That was evident by the fact that Iraqi troops performed well in their attacks against ISIS. So with that mission complete why do we still have troops in their country? And troops in Iraq is just part of the picture. We have bases all over the region. What is their mission? More importantly what is the general direction of our foreign policy?