US Forces Will Be Attacked If They Remain in Iraq after 2021, Nujaba Warns
According to the Communication and Media Affairs Center of al-Nujaba in Iran, Nasr al-Shammari spoke in a televised interview with al-Sumaria TV wherein he emphasized the movement’s refusal to enter political contests and considered it the right of the Iraqi people to protest the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq’s poor performance.
Pointing to the discrepancy between the statistics announced to the candidates at the polling station and the final statistics, al-Shammari criticized the announcement of the results before the end of the counting of ballots and also the ban on the presence of representatives of organizations at the polling stations and added, “We have our independent position and we do not stand behind the parties, but we have documented the violations of the commission.”
Declaring that he was not the spokesman for the protesters, he also reserved the right for them to demonstrate peacefully and said, “If they are disappointed with the Electoral Commission, they can go to the judiciary and complain but I say to the religious authorities, Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, Nouri al-Maliki and the Fatah Alliance that Iraq is not able to return to an unknown destiny and we must get out of this crisis with the least amount of loss.”
The spokesman of al-Nujaba further accused the United Arab Emirates of interfering in Iraq’s elections, saying, “Although the election process is related to our national security and sovereignty, the ballot counting server is located in the United Arab Emirates without the supervision of our national institutions; [The United Arab Emirates is] a country that has many objections to its positions towards Iraq.”
Al-Shammari also commented on the position of the coordinating committee of the Iraqi Islamic resistance groups on the election, “The committee has not yet appointed a spokesperson for it, and I cannot speak on its behalf, but I declare that the resistance groups did not protest in the streets with their names, but it is the supporters of the political parties who are protesting. Of course, some of these parties represent several resistance groups, and resistance supporters may also take part in street protests, but these groups themselves do not engage in street protests. The weapons of the resistance are used only against the occupiers and the resistance will have no armed presence to protest.”
He considered the Sadrist Movement as part of the Popular Mobilization Forces and expressed confidence that the said faction does not have the will to dissolve the Popular Mobilization Forces, adding, “Of course, the Sadrist Movement may have opinions on how to manage the Popular Mobilization Forces. This is due to the position of the Prime Minister, who given the current situation, is unlikely to form a cabinet by one group without the agreement of other groups.”
In another part of this televised interview, the official spokesman of the al-Nujaba Movement spoke in regard to holding a meeting on the normalization of relations with Israel in Erbil and said, “The Kurdistan Region, which has had relations with Israel for a long time, claimed that it was not aware of this meeting! Unfortunately, the Iraqi central government has no control over the Kurdistan Region and only unilaterally implements the agreements between the two countries. After the meeting of compromise, they agreed to hold a conference of the Iraqi opposition with the participation of the criminal Ba’athists.”
Al-Shammari, unaware of the extension of the ceasefire between the Islamic Resistance groups and the American occupiers, added, “In the days leading up to the election, the American forces and their bases in Iraq were not targeted. Of course, the resistance groups said that we do not have a ceasefire with the Americans, but rather we have given the Iraqi government a chance to negotiate. Therefore, if the United States does not commit itself to the withdrawal of its forces from Iraq, which is the end of this year, 100% of its interests in our country will be attacked.”
He continued, “The interests of some politicians depend on the survival of the occupying forces, but given the pressure of the people and the blows of the resistance groups, I think the Americans will be forced to leave Iraq. Of course, they are probably trying to keep some of their forces in our territory by changing their names.”
In the last part of his interview with al-Sumaria TV, the spokesman of the al-Nujaba Islamic Resistance Movement said that the current talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia affect the situation in the region, especially the oppressed nation of Yemen, and expressed hope that the outcome of the Riyadh-Tehran talks will end the war in Yemen.
Source: Nujaba Communication and Media Affairs Center
