MASSIVE PROTEST IN BAGHDAD SHOWS IRAQ CONCURS WITH IRAN IN WANTING US TROOPS OUT

The article below from Southfront, with a foreword by Vince Dhimos. is confirmed by similar reports from other Western sources, such as BBC, the site from which we posted the above-linked video.

I chose to post this video and story to show the extent to which official US lies and hides information. The lies are not exclusive to the Trump administration. This massive protest in Baghdad exposes the lie that the Iraqis are keen on getting rid of the Iranians and want the Americans to stay. But the purpose of the march is to show that Iran in fact wants the US troops to leave immediately. The US Establishment insists that the Iraqi parliament, which has voted to support a US exit, really does want the US to leave and that the Iraqi people want the same thing.
 
Western news sites seem to have given this story short shrift, and I can't say I blame them because it shows that the US Establishment's wiggle room in the Middle East is narrowing. A Google search brings up mostly European, Russian and Middle Eastern sites and one Israeli site featuring the story. Google brought up a DW site that was supposed to feature the story, but when I opened it, the story was gone! A US site dutifully reported that some of the protesters were bussed in from other areas, as if this sort of thing doesn’t happen with every major protest everywhere; and that the organizer of the protest has ties to Iran – suggesting that Iran is pulling the strings, in keeping with the silly US narrative that Iraq is nothing but a puppet of Iran. One Western site was quick to report that the protest ended quickly, perhaps to make Western readers think the anti-Yankee mood is only temporary. The US msm are clearly suggesting that Israel enemy Iran is behind this, thereby propping up the US-Israeli story that Iraq’s no. 1 problem is Iran and not the US, thus lending the US troops legitimacy in staying against the will of the Iraqis. But hey, the US killed a close ally of Iraq on Iraqi soil without even bothering to consult with or notify the Iraqi government. Would any nation stand for such a slap in the face?
 
Never before has the US successfully invaded a hostile nation and managed to stay on for very long before becoming the victim of terroristic acts, such as suicide bombings  -- or in this case, attacks by ballistic missiles. The enormous size of this march in Baghdad suggests that Iraq will not be any different. What the administration fails to understand is that you can use overwhelming force to keep your troops in a country, but you can’t make them like you.

I think if I were the leader of Iraq, I would wait until October when the UN arms embargo ends, and then quickly acquire Russian S-400 air defence systems. And if I were Russia, I would publicly advise the US that its personnel will be in Iran installing the new system, and that if any foreign power harms a Russian asset or person in an attack, Russia retains the right to destroy the base whence the missile came. This is the same kind of threat Russia issued against the US Coalition when the latter threatened to attack Douma in Syria, and as a result, the US not only made sure to avoid Russian assets but also never repeated this performance. If it worked in Syria it should work in Iran.

From Southfront:
 
IRAQIS HOLD “MILLION-STRONG” MARCH AGAINST US MILITARY PRESENCE IN COUNTRY (VIDEOS)
 
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis marched on January 24 in the capital, Baghdad, in a “million-strong” protest against U.S. military presence in the country.
 
The protests, who took at the streets upon calls from prominent Shia movements, gathered in the Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, where anti-government demonstrations have been ongoing for months now.
 
“No, No America,” the protestors, some of whom showed up wearing shrouds, chanted “Get out of our land before we make you leave.”
 
The protestors called for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Earlier this month, the country’s parliament approved a bill to put the withdrawal process in motion with the country’s Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi support.
 
The decision was taken in the wake of a U.S. drone strike on Baghdad that killed Iran’s Quds Force Commander Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Deputy-Commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Abd al-Mahdi al-Muhandis. [Muhandis was an Iraqi and head of the Popular Mobilization Force, which was made up mostly of Iraqi militia men. Even if it may have been ok to kill Soleimani, as the State Department insists, Muhandis’ murder was a completely different issue where the Iraqis are concerned!]
 
The U.S. rejected the official Iraqi decision, vowing to keep troops in the oil-rich country. President Donald Trump even went as far as threatening Baghdad with sanctions and demanding payment for U.S. military installations in the country.
 
Iraqi Shia cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, one of the main figures which called for the ongoing protest in Baghdad, had warned the U.S. that it will be dealt with as an “occupier” if it doesn’t respect the Iraqi decision and withdraw its troops from the country.
 
“U.S. President Donald Trump should not be superior or arrogance in his decisions and speeches with Iraq, or we will reciprocate him,” al-Sadr said on January 24.
 
The Iraqi leader warned that Baghdad may take several steps to force U.S. out of the country, including shutting down military bases and closing the airspace.
 
The large protest in the Iraqi capital is a loud message to Washington that the Iraqis are not happy with the U.S. military presence in their country. However, it remains highly unlike that it would affect the posture of Trump’s administration. The U.S. President appears to be very serious in his recent threats against Iraq.