US consulate in Basra poses threat to Iraq security, sovereignty: MP

An Iraqi lawmaker says the US is to be held responsible for the recent unrest in Basra, warning that the presence of the American consulate in the oil-rich city endangers Iraq's security and sovereignty.

Intisar Hassan al-Musawi said that "the US consulate and some civil society organizations" were behind the Basra violence, which left at least 13 people dead and dozens more injured, the Kurdish NRT channel reported.

"The US consulate in Basra poses a threat to the security and sovereignty of the country," she added.

Earlier this month, Basra was rocked by deadly protests for several days. The demonstrations took an ugly turn on September 7 when a group of masked assailants raided government buildings and offices of political parties and set them ablaze. 

The Iranian consulate and the provincial office of Iraq's Hashd al-Sha’abi were among the premises gutted in the rampage. 

Musawi, of the Fatah (Conquest) alliance which finished second in the May parliamentary elections, stressed that the US consulate was accountable for the attack on the Hashd al-Sha’abi office.

"The presence of the US consulate in Basra is a danger to the province as [it is] the body directly responsible for burning the offices of the Hashd al-Sha'abi," she said.

The unrest in Basra boiled over amid public anger over endemic corruption, collapsing infrastructure, poor public services, high poverty rates, soaring unemployment, water contamination and electricity shortages.

Elsewhere in her remarks, the Iraqi lawmaker said that the new parliament is expected to discuss the pullout of US forces from Iraq. 

"The fourth parliamentary session will see actions to remove US forces from Iraq and [reduce] the number of employees working at the embassy and consulate," Musawi said.

SS