Liberal: The US Embassy’s Intention to Introduce 3500 Armored Vehicles Concerns Us

The Liberal Bloc in the Iraqi Council of Representatives showed doubts on Tuesday about the U.S. embassy’s intention to introduce 3,500 armored vehicles to Iraq, urging the federal government to take legal action against the purchase of such a number of vehicles. The head of the Liberal parliamentary bloc, Bahaa al-Araji, said that the bloc has documents confirming that the U.S. embassy submitted a request to introduce 3,500 black and gold armored vehicles, and more than 700 vehicles have already arrived in Iraq. This means replacing the Hummer with a special kind of armed vehicle.

That right there is information indicating that the United States forces are seeking to stir up strife among the people by killing members of the League of the Righteous in Sadr City, where they are in the majority, or through stirring up sedition. Al-Araji said that his bloc submitted a request to the leadership of the Council of Representatives for an investigation of such violations. He pointed out that the U.S. forces did not completely withdraw from Iraq, but rather left behind an institution with an intelligence function that engages in sabotage aimed at changing the demographics in Iraq.

He noted that some Americans were walking around a few days ago in Utaifiyya [an area of Baghdad] and in some other cities, carrying weapons near the house of the governor. They are not diplomats, and it would cast negative light on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if they present them to the Iraqi judiciary. The U.S. has established control in Diwaniya; this control is recognized by the U.S. embassy. However, it claimed the armored vehicle plan was idle. Most recently, a plane landed in Haifi Street. The embassy acknowledged it and Baghdad operations reportedly lied about it.

Al-Araji added that this was not a coincidence, but rather the work of intelligence because Haifi Street is surrounded by a lot of important constituencies. Therefore, caution must be taken. We call on the United Nations to take serious action in order to preserve the sovereignty of Iraq, and point out that not moving Iraq out from Section VII will keep it under U.S. occupation.