Iraq Security Committee: US Hiding Exact Number of Troops in Iraq to Deceive Baghdad

“The real number of the US army troops is kept secret in a bid to distract the attention of the Iraqi government,” member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee Mohammad al-Baldawi told the Arabic-language al-Malou’ma News Website as saying.

He said that Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abul Mahdi in his recent statement has not correctly mentioned the number of the US Army troops in Iraq, and said that it is due to misleading information by the American side.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Political Commentator Sabah al-Akili said the US has invited some tribal sheikhs and politicians to the US Embassy in Baghdad to earn support for its continued military presence in Iraq.

Al-Akili pointed to the lack of willingness of the US to pullout its forces from Iraq and its use of pressure levers, including Blackwater, and said that Washington is seeking support of the Iraqi tribal sheikhs and politicians for its military presence in Iraq.

In a relevant development on Monday, the director of the Badr Organization’s office in al-Anbar province said the US Army troops have sent aid shipments for the ISIL terrorists in Western al-Anbar.

The US troops have sent foodstuff and medicine for the ISIL terrorists in al-Anbar’s Western Sahara, the Arabic-language al-Malou’ma News Website quoted Qasa al-Anbari as saying.

He pointed to the vast area and difficult terrain of al-Anbar province, and said the only way of access to the areas where the ISIL terrorists are stationed goes through air and the US military choppers are the only aircraft flying to the region and supplying the ISIL militants with aid consignment.

Iraqi sources have repeatedly reported the US choppers’ attempts to send military shipments to the ISIL in Salahuddin, Falluja, Mosul, and Diarli as well as relocating the ISIL commanders to safe regions.