Adham Barzani says "occupier" U.S. finally leaving Iraq

Adham Barzani “We Celebrate the End of Occupation,”

SULAIMANI,— Iraqi Kurdish politician Adham Barzani said the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region marks the end of what he called an occupation, and he described the moment as one worth celebrating.

In a statement, Barzani said he thanks U.S. troops for their role in the country but added that they should have left Iraqi soil much earlier. “This is one of the good news, and we see the end of the occupation of the country as a celebration,” he said.

Barzani said the United States launched a large-scale and widespread attack on Iraqi territory in 2003 to change the Ba’ath regime led by Saddam Hussein.

He said that action deserved much appreciation, and everyone appreciated the U.S. at the time for removing a great dictator from power. However, he said Washington needed to leave Iraq as soon as possible after Saddam Hussein was removed.

Instead, Barzani said, U.S. forces have remained in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region for 23 years. He said the United States presented itself and its attack on Iraq as an occupation and as an occupier, and appointed Paul Bremer to rule the country during that period.

Barzani said the decision to withdraw troops from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region now, after all these years, is one of the happy pieces of news.

He said the departure means the country is regaining its sovereignty and being freed from occupation. He called for celebrations of freedom from Basra to Zakho.

Barzani added that he hopes no other place in the Kurdistan Region, “not even a single inch” of the country’s land, remains under the control of any occupier.

He said he hopes the region’s people, together with all the other peoples of the Middle East, can live on their land in the greatest peace and security.

Adham Barzani is a Kurdish politician and a former member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Kurdistan Region.

He began his political career in 1988 when he founded the Kurdistan Revolutionary Hezbollah. Like other Iraqi Kurdish parties at the time, the group received funding from Iran to oppose Saddam Hussein.

Unlike most Kurdish groups, which were secular, the party followed an Islamist ideology.

The group became inactive after 2004. Barzani then joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party alongside other members of his family.

Tensions between Barzani and the KDP began in 2011 after he said Massoud Barzani needed to make reforms to maintain his credibility.

In 2014, he left the KDP and resigned from his government positions. In March 2015, he said he wanted to form a new political movement, after criticizing Massoud Barzani and the KDP.

He also criticized close relations between the KDP and Turkey and opposed the presence of Turkish troops in Iraqi Kurdistan. He repeatedly called on the KDP to release detained activists and journalists in the region.

In May 2021, Barzani sent a letter to Hamas leaders expressing support for the group in its conflict with Israel.

He also had contacts with Hüseyin Velioğlu. In 1999, he hosted Velioğlu in the Iraqi city of Soran, where about 300 Kurdish Hezbollah fighters were trained to act against Turkey.

In June 2019, he met with İshak Sağlam of the Free Cause Party.

The Kurdistan Regional Government later banned Barzani from entering Erbil. In July 2024, the Erbil Security Directorate, part of the KDP-led government, issued an arrest warrant for him.

(With files from Agencies | wikipedia)