Senior MP: US Bases Training Terrorists in 3 Iraqi Provinces
Karim al-Mohammadawi was quoted as saying by the Arabic-language al-Ma’aloumeh news website that the US forces are training and arming the terrorists at their bases in al-Anbar, Kirkuk and Erbil provinces without the Iraqi government’s knowledge.
He added that a large number of terrorists are being trained in Ain al-Assad base in al-Anbar province, K1 base in Kirkuk and a base in Erbil, noting that the main goal behind the move is decreasing the role of Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi popular forces) and making them withdraw from the Western provinces because their presence is not in line with the US interests.
Media reports said in February that the US army troops stationed in al-Anbar were plotting to prevent Hashd al-Shaabi forces from getting close to the country’s Western provinces.
“The US troops in Ain al-Assad are looking for a way to drive out Hashd al-Shaabi forces from Western Iraqi provinces, including al-Anbar province,” al-Maloumeh quoted member of Iraqi Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee Ali Jabbar as saying.
He reiterated that the US plot for driving Hashd al-Shaabi forces from bases and regions under their control in al-Anbar, Nineveh and Salaheddin is while the US troops are worried about their confrontation with Hashd al-Shaabi and people’s uprising against the illegal presence of the US Army troops in Iraq.
Jabbar also pointed to the US efforts to prolong its presence in Iraq, and disclosed that the US troops were trying to win the support of Iraq’s tribal leaders and some of their senior commanders in Western provinces in a bid to set up new military bases and station their mercenaries in them.
