Time for Iraq to Expel US Forces, Prosecute Trespasser Trump

By: Kayhan Int’l      

Does the United Nations Charter give permission to a leader of a member state to violate the sovereignty of another member state by stealthily intruding into its territory – without an invitation, without any prior notice, without diplomatic protocol, and in an impudently arrogant manner, on a military aircraft and faraway from the capital of that country?

Doesn’t that UN member state, whose sovereignty and territorial integrity is being violated, has the right to arrest that particular violator, regardless of his status, and to try him for such an unpardonable crime?

These are among the questions doing the rounds in diplomatic and international legal circles, following the trespassing of Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by US President Donald Trump, who last Wednesday sneaked like a dacoit into the Ain al-Asad airbase (a hundred km north of Baghdad), talked trash in a bid to lift the sagging spirits of his demoralized troops, grunted against the Islamic Republic of Iran which has the most excellent relations with the elected government of Iraq, and then insolently asked the Iraqi prime minister to come and meet him in the dead of night – an insulting demand that Adel Abdul-Mahdi firmly rejected.

The question is: If Iraq was a powerful country, equipped with state-of-the-art military technology, including sophisticated radars and advanced defence systems, would the loudmouthed Trump still dare to violate the sovereignty of the Land of the Two Rivers?
The answer is a big "NO”. Trump is not just a dotard – to quote North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – but a dastard as well, albeit with a devilish bent of mind, as is evident by his recent decision to withdraw the 2,000 American occupation troops from Syria, whose government had made it clear that in case of prolonging the uninvited stay their government should start arranging body bags for return home of their corpses.

Sneaking in without being noticed has been the way of thieves, dacoits, spies and saboteurs. It means, the Iraqi politicians and the people have the right to demand action against Trump for his act of trespassing.

Trespass to land is a common law tort or crime that is committed when an individual or the object of an individual intentionally enters the land of another without permission. Thus, the party whose land is trespassed may sue even if no actual harm is done.

Iraqi lawmakers, irrespective of their factional loyalties have with one voice strongly denounced Trump’s stealth visit, calling it a blatant violation of Iraq’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

They have also called on the parliament to legislate expulsion of all American military personnel, whom the former government had unwittingly invited on the presumption of help against the takfiri terrorists who, ironically with covert US and Saudi support, had been destroying towns and cities and massacring people in the most macabre manner.
The Americans, who are bragging about having defeated the terrorists – in both Iraq and Syria – had actually helped them militarily by dropping for them crates full of weapons, while feigning to bomb them.

It was only the prudence of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani in calling for formation of popular mobilization forces and the timely help – upon request – in weapons and battlefield tactics these units received from the brotherly people and government of the Islamic Republic that defeated the bloodthirsty terrorists, much to the chagrin of the US.
Unfortunately, the divided nature of Iraqi politics provided Washington with the excuse to harp on governmental invitation and stay in the country, even though the people and the popular mobilization forces had been strongly objecting to the American military presence.

Now Trump’s trespassing of Iraq’s territorial integrity and insult to national sovereignty has seemingly united all parties, which following last May’s general elections had formed the coalition for setting up the new broad-based government – which has yet to take shape because of unwarranted American meddling. 

Moreover, Trump is behaving like the tyrant Saddam of the overthrown Ba’th minority regime in threatening military strikes in Syria from Iraq’s soil and of disrupting Iraq’s age-old fraternal ties with Iran. 

In view of these undeniable realities, the Iraqi lawmakers should understand that they never can achieve Iraq’s full independence just by paper work, roundtable discussions, or angry calls for action against Trump and expulsion of American forces. 

What is needed is coordinated action through the Legislature for passing a law obliging the Executive Branch to order expulsion of all US military personnel from the soil of Iraq and to lodge formal complaint at the UN against Trump for breach of Iraq’s sovereignty.
The various militias which make up the Hashd as-Sha’bi (Popular Mobilization Forces) have made it clear that if the Americans fail to heed the formal order for exit from the soil of Iraq, they have enough experience to deal with such a situation and are capable of driving out the US troops in the same manner that they defeated the US-backed Daesh. 

The writing on the wall ought to be clear for Trump and his gang of thugs, who should understand that it is high time for exiting Iraq, rather bring home the poor marines in body bags.