Tracy Jacobson, US President Joe Biden's nominee for Ambassador to Iraq, has surprised Iraqi officials with unconventional statements about Iranian influence and Tehran-backed militias.
In her opening statement to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Jacobson thanked the President and the Secretary of State “for their confidence.”
“Our military provides vital support in an advise, assist, and enable role to the Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Ten years after our troops returned to Iraq at the government’s invitation to fight ISIS – and five years after ISIS’s territorial defeat – it is time for our military to transition to a new role,” she said.
“If confirmed, I will ensure any transition from Operation Inherent Resolve to a bilateral security arrangement will be geared toward the defeat of ISIS and Iraq's security,” Jacobson told the Committee.
In her statement, Jacobson warned that Iran “remains a malign actor and a destabilizing influence in the region that threatens to undo all of Iraq’s achievements. We recognize that the primary threat to Iraq’s stability and sovereignty are the Iran-aligned militias.”
She said it was important for Iraq to strengthen its ties with many of its neighbors and “Prime Minister (Mohammed Shia) Sudani has taken positive steps in that direction.”
Earlier this year, Sudani's office said the Iraqi government was beginning the process to remove the US-led international military coalition from the country.
Yassin al-Bakri, Professor of Political Science at the University of Nahrain, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the new ambassador's mission will be to arrange the security transition.
