US Responsible for Situation in Iraq - Russian Lawmakers

© RIA Novosti . Sergei Piatakov / Go to the mediabankAlexei Pushkov, head of the Russian State Duma foreign affairs committee
Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian State Duma foreign affairs committee - Sputnik International
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The current situation in Iraq, where the Islamic State group has become a powerful terrorist organization, killing civilians on a daily basis and is taking over large parts of the country, is the result of United States’ Iraq occupation policy and the country’s support for the Syrian opposition, Russian lawmakers told RIA Novosti.

MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - The current situation in Iraq, where the Islamic State group has become a powerful terrorist organization, killing civilians on a daily basis and is taking over large parts of the country, is the result of United States’ Iraq occupation policy and the country’s support for the Syrian opposition, Russian lawmakers told RIA Novosti.

“After eight years of the official occupation of Iraq and four years of active military presence in this country, provision of military and financial aid to the Iraqi government, the Americans have utterly failed in Iraq,” the head of the Russian State Duma foreign affairs committee Alexei Pushkov said.

On August 31, 2010, US President Barack Obama announced the end of the country’s combat mission in Iraq.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” Obama said in his address to the nation.

“ISIL [IS] is a direct brood, on one hand, of the US occupation of Iraq, on the other, of the US support to anti-Assad movement in Syria,” Pushkov told RIA Novosti.

Political scientist and head of the Duma’s education committee Vyacheslav Nikonov said the United States “in many ways the is a director of the outer situation in Iraq, as it supported the so-called Syrian opposition, which was mostly represented by the Islamic extremists who were creating the army of Iraq and Levant at that time.”

The Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL), is an al-Qaeda offshoot and has been fighting against President Bashar Assad in Syria, and in June launched a large-scale offensive in Iraq, seizing large parts of the country. In late June, the group declared itself a caliphate.

However, Washington is unlikely to cooperate with Assad to fight against the Islamic State.

The lawmakers also noted that prior to the US occupation of Iraq, there were no terrorist organizations in the country.

“Right, Iraq was a dictatorship under Saddam Hussein, and this dictatorship was not comforting to the Iraqis, and this dictatorship is responsible for numerous crimes. But the number of Iraqis who died or were forced to flee the country, became refugees, lost their homes during the American occupation, is incomparable with the number of victims under Saddam Hussein,” Pushkov said.

Speaking about the future of Iraq, the lawmakers are skeptical about the possibility of eliminating the Islamists in the country.

“In fact, after the [US] policy of combatting terrorism, it grew manifold across the globe, especially in the regions where the United States stepped in,” Nikonov said.

He added that since the Iraqi government would not remain in power without US support, at some point Washington would have to deploy troops there.

In August, the United States authorized airstrikes against IS positions to help Baghdad fight against the terrorists who have caused hundreds of Iraqis to flee.

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