Iraqi Communist Party Statement

on Assassination by the US and Dangerous Repercussions

The Political Bureau of the Iraqi Communist Party has issued the following statement today, 3^rd January 2019:

Earlier this morning, American forces carried out an assassination operation in which a number of official and leading Iraqi figures in the Popular Mobilization Units, who had a role in confronting terrorist ISIS and achieving victory over it, were killed.

We express our condemnation of this assassination as it is a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and constitutes a serious escalation that pushes the situation in Iraq and the region towards further tension and increases the chances of intensifying armed conflicts and igniting war.

We believe that the series of grave developments during recent days increasingly indicates the transformation of Iraq into an arena for waging regional and international conflicts, for which our people pay a heavy price in blood and destruction. Concerted efforts of all the patriotic forces are required to spare our country the risks of being a party to the raging regional conflicts.

It must be said that the policy of the ruling forces over the past sixteen years, which led to undermining the authority of the state and eroding Iraq's national sovereignty, is a major reason for this flagrant violation and the transformation of the country into a theatre for settling scores, among the competing foreign powers, on our homeland.

In these volatile circumstances, we stress the importance of unifying the national stance in facing external interference from any party and working to enhance the capabilities of the Iraqi state and our armed forces with all their components, in order to defend the sovereignty of Iraq, protect its security internally and externally and maintain its independent national decision-making.

While calling for restraint, prudence and wisdom, and for putting the interests of our people and our country first, we look to the international community and the United Nations to make an effort to prevent our country being transformed into a battlefield for war with our Iraqi people suffering its consequences, and to safeguard security and peace in the region.

The imminent dangers that threaten Iraq impel us again to stress the importance and necessity of embarking upon the path of comprehensive change, saving our country from its crises and ridding it from the failed system of government which is based on sectarian power-sharing and corruption.