Ex-Iraqi PM blames predecessor for 2014 US redeployment

By Amir al-Saadi</p> <p>BAGHDAD (AA) – Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, leader of the Nasr parliamentary bloc, said Wednesday that the government of his predecessor, Nuri al-Maliki, had asked the U.S. to redeploy troops to Iraq in 2014.</p> <p>Al-Maliki served as prime minister from 2006 to late 2014.</p> <p>Al-Abadi’s remarks come amid repeated demands by Iraqi Shia political forces that U.S. troops currently deployed in Iraq leave the country. </p> <p>Local political forces seen as being close to Iran have continued to call for a full U.S. troop withdrawal since Baghdad declared victory over the Daesh terrorist group in late 2017.</p> <p>According to members of the Nasr parliamentary bloc, which is led by al-Abadi, U.S. forces were redeployed to Iraq in mid-2014 — after Daesh overran much of the country — at al-Maliki’s request.</p> <p>The assertion comes in response to recent claims by certain politicians that al-Abadi, who served as PM from late 2014 to late 2018, was responsible for the return of U.S. troops to Iraq after a major drawdown in 2011.</p> <p>Roughly 5,000 U.S. troops have reportedly been redeployed to Iraq since a U.S.-led coalition was cobbled together in 2014 to fight Daesh.</p> <p>According to members of al-Abadi’s Nasr coalition, fresh U.S. troops were already in Iraq two months before al-Abadi assumed office.</p> <p>Daesh overran much of northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014. </p> <p>Following a three-year conflict that ended with the fall of Daesh-held Mosul in late 2017, Baghdad declared that the terrorist group’s military presence in Iraq had effectively been brought to an end.