Iraq MPs demand end to US troop presence after woman shot by embassy sniper 

Iraq’s Badr parliamentary bloc led by Hadi Al-Amiri has demanded an end to the presence of American troops in the country after a woman was shot by a sniper working at the US Embassy in Baghdad. The bloc condemned the shooting incident in which the Iraqi woman was wounded in the abdomen when the sniper fired at the residential complex opposite the embassy.

This “illegal act,” claimed the MPs, demonstrates how the US Embassy compound has turned into a military base where weapons are used to terrorise citizens in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Such behaviour is “unacceptable,” they insisted, both politically and diplomatically. Firing towards safe residential complexes and endangering the lives of their residents violates Iraqi sovereignty stipulated in Articles (1), (50) and (109) of the Constitution, as well as the Iraqi right to life and security according to Article (15) of the Constitution.

“Based on national and humanitarian considerations, we call on the legislative and executive authorities to carry out their duties specified in the Constitution and the laws in force to ensure full national sovereignty, by ending all manifestations of the American military presence in Iraq, and providing guarantees to citizens that the incident will not be repeated,” added the MPs.

It also called on the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces and the parliament to form a committee to investigate the incident and announced full support and solidarity with the victim with regard to filing a criminal complaint against the perpetrator and trying him before Iraqi courts.

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