on Tuesday, March 7, in a visit aimed at showing that Washington was committed to keeping its military presence there nearly 20 years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The United States currently has 2,500 troops in Iraq – and an additional 900 in Syria – to help advise and assist local troops in combating Islamic State, who in 2014 seized swathes of territory in 2014 in both countries. The trip is also about supporting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani’s push back against Iranian influence in the country, former officials and experts said.
Austin will meet Sudani as well as the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, amid a long-running dispute over budget transfers and oil revenue sharing between the national government and Kurdish government.Former President George W. Bush’s administration cited its belief that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s government held weapons of mass destruction to justify the decision to invade Iraq. US and allied forces later found that such stockpiles did not exist.
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