Secretary of State Mike Pompeo maintained that he believes the people of Iraq want to see United States troops remain in place after Iraqi parliament votes to expel all American forces.
On Sunday, the Iraqi parliament passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the expulsion of the nearly 5,000 American troops in the country after President Trump’s decision to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The vote took place just days after Trump ordered 3,000 additional troops to the Middle East as the U.S. works to fortify its assets in case of an Iranian attack.
Pompeo, 56, claimed that he believes the people of Iraq want the U.S. to keep a presence in the region to help maintain stability, telling Fox News Sunday, “As for the activity today with respect to Iraq, we’ve been in their country. We’ve been supporting Iraqi sovereignty. We’ve been continuing to take down the terrorist threat against the Iraqi people. The resigned prime minister, he’s the acting prime minister, he’s under enormous threats from the very Iranian leadership that we are pushing back against.”
He added, “We are confident that the Iraqi people want the United States to continue to be there to fight the counterterror campaign, and we’ll continue to do all the things we need to do to keep America safe.”
Pompeo refused to say whether the U.S. would comply with the parliament’s request to have troops removed from the area, but noted that he would not allow the decision to affect the success coalition forces have had in taking down ISIS in the region.
