US Prepares Withdrawal from Baghdad Embassy // FAI ONLINE

Iraqi army soldiers deployed in front of the US Embassy in Baghdad after riots left the compound damaged and defaced in early 2020. (Credit: Nasser Nasser, AP).

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced his government’s intention to withdraw US forces from Iraq proper and close its embassy in Baghdad if the Iraqi government does not take immediate action to end the continual incidence of Katyusha rocket fire into the international “Green Zone.” Pompeo delivered the ultimatum during phone calls to Iraq’s president Salih and Prime Minister Musafa al-Kadhimi, according to multiple US and Iraqi sources. US diplomatic staff are reportedly already making preparations to shutter the embassy compound. One Iraqi diplomat described the frustration of his American counterparts in the persistence of rocket attacks, stating that, “The Americans aren’t just angry. They’re really, really, really angry.” Another stated bluntly, “The honeymoon is over.”

Pompeo’s ultimatum signals a low point in relations between the US and Iraqi governments since the anti-ISIS “Operation: Inherent Resolve” began in the Summer of 2014. The targeted assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qassam Soleimani and the election of the reformist al-Kadhimi earlier this year have failed to stifle rocket attacks on US installations. Most Shi’a political parties, and even many Shi’a-led militias, have condemned the rocket attacks and rallied around al-Kadhimi. But domestic opposition his has not dissuaded radical, Iranian-linked Shi’a militias, such as Kataib Hezbollah and their surrogates, from continuing their insurgency.

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Although the rocket attacks rarely cause damage or casualties, they are unrelenting, averaging one or two incidents per week. There have been dozens of attacks since the beginning of the year on the Green Zone and Coalition bases inside Iraq. Several attacks have also targeted Coalition vehicle convoys, most of which are driven by Iraqi contractors, not US troops. The US military has already dramatically shrunk its footprint across Iraq proper, consolidating its forces to three bases in the Green Zone, north of Bagdad, and in the Sunni-majority Anbar province, where the remnants of ISIS are still active. The US commander in Iraq also announced a forty-percent drawdown of troop levels in Iraq earlier this month. Meanwhile, US bases in the autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq have seen relative quiet since the fall of the ISIS Caliphate in Mosul. Existing US bases near the Kurdish capital of Erbil and near the Iranian border have been reinforced and expanded in recent months.

We invite the global FAI family to join us in prayer for the US-led Coalition and the people of Greater Iraq. The Iranian government’s designs for dominance in Bagdad have been clearly seen for years, and the setbacks of Soleimani’s death and al-Kadhimi’s election have not deterred them. A US withdraw from Baghdad, although seemingly inevitable, would no doubt accelerate the program of Tehran’s radical ayatollahs, putting both Iraq and the region at greater risk. We pray that divine wisdom and courage would be granted to both US and Iraqi political leaders, and that a hedge of protection would be placed around Iraqi civilians and Coalition forces. As always, we pray that increasing instability and turmoil would act as a battering ram that breaks down locked doors to Good News in Iraq. Please pray for FAI field teams that are based in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, men and women on the gospel front-lines, ready to be deployed into new fields white for harvest.

Maranatha