IRAQ/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s unexpected announcement that he wanted American troops in Iraq to stay there to ‘watch Iran’ achieved a previously unattainable goal on Monday [2-4-19]: unity in the Iraqi political establishment. The problem for Mr. Trump was that the unity was a collective rejection of his proposal, and added momentum to proposed legislation that could hamper American troops’ ability to operate in Iraq. The measure, which is now being drafted, would limit American troop movements and activities in Iraq. Mr. Trump’s remarks, made in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation,’ reverberated through Iraq late Sunday [2-3-19] and were rejected by all corners of the government, even by some of the United States’ staunchest allies, including President Barham Salih, a Kurd.”
–Alissa J. Rubin and Eric Schmitt, “Trump’s Plan for U.S. Forces in Iraq Met With Unified Rejection in Baghdad,” The New York Times online, February 4, 2019