Alwaght- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has strongly condemned a senior US military commander following his outrageous remarks on the possibility of the disintegration of Iraq.
The remark by US Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno was “an irresponsible statement and reflects an ignorance of the Iraqi reality,” Abadi's media office said on Thursday.
Abadi’s condemnation came after Odierno said on Wednesday that partitioning the country “is something that could happen” and "might be the only solution ” to end sectarian strife.
Some lawmakers in the US Congress have been pushing for the division of Iraq through a controversial bill.
The draft of the US annual defense bill, which was released in April by the House Armed Services Committee, called on the US government to recognize separate Kurdish and Sunni states and provide them with at least 25 percent of the USD 715-million aid money allegedly planned to be given to the Iraqi government to help it fight the Daesh terrorist group.
The draft bill also stipulates the figure could even amount to 60 percent of the money, about USD 429 million.
Iraqi politicians and clerics are opposed to the idea, saying only the Iraqi people can decide the future of their country.
On April 29, influential Iraqi Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, warned Washington against the US Congress bill to consider Iraqi Kurds and Sunnis as a separate country.
Al-Sadr, whose supporters fought fierce battles with American forces after the 2003 US-led invasion, has threatened that US interests would become the target of attacks by the Iraqis who will never accept the “division of their country.”