OCTOBER 2020

IRAQ today
PHOTO BY ALISSA J. RUBIN/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Displaced Iraqi men gathered for a meeting at a camp for displaced persons in Iraq’s Nineveh province in June. About 1.6 million Iraqis, more than 3 percent of the national
population, have been uprooted by warfare.
Iraqi-U.S. Ties are ‘Restarting,’ Iraqi Foreign Minister Says
BY US INSTITUTE OF PEACE STAFF
Iraq and the United States have
launched a reset in relations,
Foreign Minister Fuad Hussain
said in a USIP forum August 20.
Following at least a year of strain
in bilateral ties, negotiations in
Washington will produce a broader
relationship than previously, “not
only limited to security matters,”
Hussain said during an official visit
alongside Prime Minister Mustafa al-
Kadhimi just 15 weeks after he and
his government took office. Their
talks at the White House, State
Department and with other officials
will be vital in setting the next
chapter of U.S-Iraq relations.
Hussain spoke in an online
forum with USIP experts and
audience members just hours after
the Iraqi delegation met President
Trump at the White House and a
day after Hussain met Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo.
Al-Kadhimi, Hussain and
Iraq’s new cabinet were named
in a delicate compromise among
Iraq’s divided political parties—a
third attempt to form a new
government after massive street
protests, notably over corruption
and a breakdown in government
services, forced out the previous
administration. Al-Kadhimi, a
political independent, spent years
in exile under the dictatorship of
Saddam Hussain and returned to
Iraq to work as a journalist and
commentator, writing against
corruption in politics. He was
appointed in 2016 to lead the
nation’s intelligence service during
Iraq’s struggle against ISIS. His
government now faces continued
violence, including ISIS attacks,
the COVID pandemic, and a
serious decline in revenues caused
by the global drop in oil prices.
Talks on a Broadened
Relationship
Hussain spoke along with Iraq’s
new Minister for Immigration and
Displacement, Evan Jabro, who said
that returning 1.4 million displaced
Iraqis to their homes is a priority
of the new government, alongside
crises over security, armed militias
operating in the country, the COVID
pandemic, and a government budget
crisis.
In what the State Department and
Hussain have described as a “strategic
dialogue,” this week’s talks have
focused on “reforming, restarting,
reshaping the relationship,” across
topics from “the economy and
energy” to education, culture and
health, Hussain said. “The important
[issue] was to make it clear for
everybody that the relationship with
Washington is not only limited to
security matters.”
Still, Hussain said, security is
Iraq’s first need, and it will continue
to ask U.S. help in fighting ISIS
cells. “We need equipment, we
need information,” and continued
U.S. air forces, he said. As well,
“this government is determined to
deal with” domestic armed militias,
many of them supported by Iran,
he said. Iraq will seek U.S. help
in strengthening state security
institutions, he said. Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo said after
meeting Hussain that the United
States will help strengthen police
forces to replace militia groups.
Hussain recited Iraq’s plethora
of other domestic challenges,
underscoring the shrinkage of its
state budget with the global fall in
oil prices. He stressed Iraq’s need
to privatize the government-run oil
sector and said investment by U.S.
firms would be vital.
OCTOBER 2020 CHALDEAN NEWS 11