![]() And I’ve been talking to activists in the square. Everyone is trying to create this middle path for Iraq, but it will be very difficult. On the other layer, it will be a confrontation between pro-Iranian elements within the militias, within PMUs, the Popular Mobilization Units, the hashd, so-called, and more Iraqi moderate elements in the - I mean, we’ve heard Ayatollah Sistani come today in the sermon and condemn the attack, but called for caution, called for preserving Iraq from internal conflict. And again, it has two layers of significance, one in terms of the confrontation between the United States and Iraq. GHAITH ABDUL- AHAD: It’s huge significance. I think, altogether, there were five people killed at Baghdad airport. Also, the head of the Popular Mobilization Forces was also assassinated. I mean, when did ever war achieve anything good in this region?ĪMY GOODMAN: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, you have Qassem Soleimani who was assassinated. I mean, don’t they read history? Don’t they know that none of these military actions that have been taking place, from the ’90s ’til today, led to more peace? I mean, I totally agree with your previous speaker, that 15, 20 years after the “war on terrorism,” what have we achieved? We have ISIS on the outskirts of Baghdad. Yes, there were some dancing scenes, because like five, six people, the same number of people who chanted when the Americans rolled through Baghdad. I mean, it is a repetitive game of what we heard in 2003, of what I heard when I was a child in 1991 and of all of the wars in between. It will happen in my country.Īnd this is why this is such a dangerous game. And this reaction will happen on Iraqi soil. There will be a reaction from the Iranian militias in Iraq. There will be a reaction from the Iranians in Iraq. In between comes the United States and assassinates the biggest Iranian general in the region. Those are anti-Iran, and those who want a kind of a more independent Iraqi role. What you have at the situation - we spoke about this yesterday, Amy - is you have a very delicate confrontation taking place between different elements of Shia political power, different Shia militias. We are no fan of Qassem Soleimani or Iran, but at the same time we don’t want another war, another round of civil war happening in Iraq. I mean, what freedom? Did anyone consult Iraqis about the assassination of Qassem Soleimani on Iraqi soil? I mean, this is an act of war, an act of war committed on the land of another country. I mean, these words are so absurd, so meaningless. I mean, I love Secretary Pompeo when he talks about freedom for Iraqis. GHAITH ABDUL- AHAD: I mean, in Baghdad, there is a real anxiety. What you understand is happening on the ground now in Iraq amongst Iraqis, and if you can also respond to what then not President Trump, before he was president, Donald Trump said about Obama wanting to start a war with Iran to get re-elected? We’re going back right now to Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, the correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, joining us via Democracy Now! video stream from Istanbul, Turkey. So the only way he figures that he’s going to get re-elected, and as sure as you’re sitting there, is to start a war with Iran.ĪMY GOODMAN: So, that’s Trump. AMY GOODMAN: In 2011, before he was president, Donald Trump tweeted, quote, “In order to get elected, will start a war with Iran.” This is Trump saying the same thing in a video he posted online in 2011.ĭONALD TRUMP: Our president will start a war with Iran, because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate.
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