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IRBIL, Iraq Iraqs prime minister said Tuesday that a ban preventing his citizens from visiting the United States was an insult but that barring Americans in retaliation could hurt national interests during the war against the Islamic State.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi gave a measured response in his first public comments since Iraq was included on a list of seven Muslim-majority countries in President Trumps executive order restricting immigration.

Abadi said he was looking for ways to reduce the damage from the decision.He said he would not enforce an equal ban on Americans, an option the Iraqi parliament had supported in a vote Monday.

We are in the middle of a battle, he said.

More than 5,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq, where they are backing Iraqi forces in their fight against the Islamic State. The visa ban has shaken relations between the two countries as they draw close to defeating the militant group in Mosul, the last major city it controls in Iraq.

[The number of people affected by Trumps travel ban: About 90,000]

The restrictions have increased pressure on Abadi, who is being pushed to act in retaliation to the ban but is beholden to U.S. military support.

Abadi pointed out that it is unfair to tar with the same brush the entire population of a nation.

There are Americans fighting with the Islamic State, he said. I cant say because of that all Americans are terrorists. Each country has good and bad people.

It echoed comments made a day earlier by Iraqs foreign minister, Ibrahim al-Jafari, who added that no Iraqis have been responsible for acts of terrorism on U.S. soil. Other countries whose nationals have been involved in attacks, such as Saudi Arabia, have escaped the ban, which has been imposed for 90 days while the Trump administration makes assessments. Refugee processing has been suspended for 120 days.

The move caused chaos at airports as those with valid visas were turned back. Some Iraqi families who had sold all their possessions after being approved for resettlement were told they could not travel.

Mustafa Salim in Baghdad contributed to this report.

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Iraqi leader to US: Americans come to Iraq to fight with ISIS, but I haven't banned you - Washington Post

After President Donald Trump barred Iranians from entering the U.S, Iran said it would ban all U.S. citizens from coming to its country. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

People protest against President Trump's executive immigration ban, in Brussels on Jan. 30.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Iraq retaliated Monday against President Trump's executive order banning itsnationalsfromentering the United States for 90 days by approving a "reciprocity measure" that will apply to Americans seeking admissionto the country.

The counter-move was adopted by Iraq's parliament, although it was not clear to what extent it would apply to aid workers, oil company executives and other key workerswho routinely do business in Iraq.

The U.S. military, which has about 5,000 personnel in the country,does not enter Iraq through normal immigration channels. There are thousands of civilian contractors working for the State Department and U.S. military in Iraq.

The push back from Iraq's governmentcame as other voices in the Muslim world and beyond weighed in with criticism and concerns Monday.

An association that represents57 Muslim-majority countries expressed "graveconcern"that Trump's executive order banning refugees and citizensfrom seven of its members from traveling to the U.S.will "embolden the radical narratives of extremists" and provide further fuel for "advocates of violence and terrorism."

Refugee admissions have been halted for120 days. Syrians have been barred indefinitely.

The forcefully worded statement from the Saudi Arabia-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a group that promotes Muslim solidarity in economic, social and political affairs, arrived as the fallout from Trump's ban for citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen all OIC members showed no sign of abating.

"The OIC calls upon the United States government to reconsider this blanket decision and maintain its moral obligation to provide leadership and hope at a time of great uncertainty and unrest in the world," the organization said.

The OIC's rebuke was the official criticism out of Saudi Arabia, a staunch U.S. ally, and came just a day after Trump spoke to Saudi King Salman and invited him to the White House. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, countries with large Muslim populations, were not included in the ban.

In Europe,European UnionCommission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said that the 28-nation bloc is carefully studying Trump's decision to see how much the travel ban on refugees will impact its 500 million citizens.

Contributing: Jim Michaels in Washington.

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Iraq pushes back with 'reciprocity measure' against Trump's ban

U.S. military vehicles are seen during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq, on Nov. 7, 2016. Azad LashkariReuters

Updated: 12:09 PM UTC | Originally published: Jan 29, 2017

Iraqi lawmakers voted Monday to approve a "reciprocity measure" that might see U.S. nationals banned from entering the country in retaliation against U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on Iraqis in the U.S., a move that could hinder the fight against ISIS.

The Iraqi parliaments foreign committee earlier issued a statement calling on the Iraqi government to act after President Trump controversially ordered that citizens from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries be refused entry to the U.S. for at least 90 days. Iraq is on the front line of the war on terrorism, said the statement, released Sunday. It is unfair that the Iraqis are treated in this way.

On Monday, the parliament voted to ask the government to retaliate, Reuters reports . It's not clear yet whether a ban on U.S. nationals is a realistic possibility; Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has not yet issued a public reaction to the order.

If a retaliatory ban were to be enacted it could impact thousands of American aid workers, contractors and journalists currently working in Iraq, as well as more than 5,000 U.S. military personnel there to aid Iraqi forces in their effort to oust ISIS from Mosul and the country.

This decision by the U.S. is arbitrary, said Intisar Al-Jabbouri, a Sunni MP from the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. The Iraqi government has the right to reciprocate.

The U.S. withdrew troops from Iraq in 2011, but since ISIS captured swaths of Iraqi territory in 2014, it has slowly sent advisers, trainers and special forces back to the country. Their guidance as well as weapons and funding has been key to the fight against ISIS.

Iraqi forces are battling the militants of the so-called Islamic State in the neighborhoods of Mosul , Iraqs second largest city and the largest urban center still under ISIS control. American military advisers are nearby, helping to direct the fight.

If Iraq were to ban U.S. citizens from traveling to Iraq it would have devastating consequences for our fight against ISIS, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, said Chris Harmer, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. Thats just in the short term."

Nevertheless the idea has caught on in certain, influential circles. Moqtada al-Sadr, a powerful Shiite cleric who led a violent insurgency in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, quickly issued a statement saying Americans should leave. It would be arrogant for you to enter freely to Iraq and other countries while barring them the entrance to your country, Sadr said on his website, addressing the U.S. And therefore you should get your nationals out.

Other Iraqi leaders may be keen to see the Americans leave in the hope that Iran may fill the void left behind, rather than that simple reciprocity for President Trumps ban on Iraqi nationals. Those that are closely aligned with Iran might think this is a good idea an opportunity to remove American influence from Iraq once and for all, said Renad Mansour, an Academy Fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at Chatham House.

Mansour says Sadr, as well as Iranian-backed leaders, may use Trump's ban for their own political gains and take the opportunity to stoke anti-American sentiment. "Now they can say, 'I told you so.'"

It's possible Trump's order could exacerbate cracks in the already fragile coalition in Iraq, in which groups who receive support from the U.S. fight in concert with those who are backed by Iran. Iranian generals have been spotted on the front lines in key battles against ISIS, both in Iraq and Syria. Shiite militias, many funded by Tehran, are ruthless fighters but have been accused of abuses against civilian populations , fueling sectarian tensions.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of mostly Shiite militias, also issued a statement on Sunday urging al-Abadi to kick out U.S. nationals. Its going to be tricky for al-Abadi to deal with, said Mansour.

Despite the strong rhetoric and anti-American sentiment in response to Trumps decision, lawmaker Jabbouri says it would be difficult for Iraq to approve and implement such a ban given the essential role the U.S. plays in both its military and humanitarian efforts. There is a strategic need to keep American experts to ensure the sustainability of the coalition fight against ISIS, she says.

But if the Iraqi parliament gets its way, it could provide an opening for Iran to extend its influence on the country. The U.S. scaling-back of operations has already left room for an increasing Iranian presence, Harmer says. Long term, it would complete the decline of U.S. strategic influence in Iraq and pave the way for Iran to increase their already significant influence over the Iraqi government." The effect, he says, would be "catastrophic."

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Iraq Mulls Retaliatory Ban on U.S. Over Donald Trump Order | Time ... - TIME

WASHINGTON No one knows how seriously to take President Donald Trump's threat to seize Iraq's oil.

Doing so would involve extraordinary costs and risk confrontation with America's best ground partner against the Islamic State group, but the president told the CIA this weekend, "Maybe you'll have another chance."

The recycled campaign comment is raising concerns about Trump's understanding of the delicate Middle East politics involved in the U.S.-led effort against extremist groups. Trump has said he was opposed to the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. But on the campaign trail and again on Saturday, the day after his inauguration, he suggested the costly and deadly occupation of the country might have been offset somewhat if the United States had taken the country's rich petroleum reserves.

"To the victor belong the spoils," Trump told members of the intelligence community, saying he first argued this case for "economic reasons." He said it made sense as a counterterrorism approach to defeating the IS group "because that's where they made their money in the first place."

"So we should have kept the oil," he said. "But, OK, maybe you'll have another chance."

The statement ignores the precedent of hundreds of years of American history and presidents who have tended to pour money and aid back into countries the United States has fought in major wars. The U.S. still has troops in Germany and Japan, with the permission of those nations, but did not take possession of their natural resources. And taking Iraq's reserves, the world's fifth largest, would require an immense investment of resources and manpower in a country that the United States couldn't quell after spending more than $2 trillion and deploying at one point more than 170,000 troops.

U.S. enemies and friends would oppose the move. While Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has accepted U.S. help to retake IS-held territory in his country, he has repeatedly asserted Iraqi sovereignty. He said of Trump's oil vow in November, "I am going to judge him by what he does later."

Asked about the matter Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer stressed Trump's economic argument.

"We want to be sure our interests are protected," he told reporters. "We're going into a country for a cause. He wants to be sure America is getting something out of it for the commitment and sacrifice it is making."

There is uncertainty as to where Trump's idea derives from, though the president has noted that taking the oil is something "I have long said." Hints of this notion existed in some of the pre-2003 rhetoric from the Bush administration about the Iraq war "paying for itself." But top advisers to President George W. Bush have stressed how the future of Iraq's resources were pointedly left out of decision-making related to the invasion so as not to fuel a perception that the war was driven by oil concerns.

Bush "almost bent over backwards not to make a special effort to gain access for us to the oil resources," John Negroponte, who was Bush's director of national intelligence, told CNN.

Regarding Trump, former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates told NBC, "I have no clue what he's talking about."

Taking the oil would require a permanent U.S. occupation, or at least until Iraq's 140 billion barrels of crude run out, and a large presence of American soldiers to guard sometimes isolated oil fields and infrastructure. Such a mission would be highly unpopular with Iraqis, whose hearts and minds the U.S. is still try to win to defeat groups such as IS and al-Qaida.

"This is totally wrong," said Zaher Aziz, a 42-year-old owner of a market stand in Irbil. "They came here by themselves and occupied Iraq. And now they want the Iraqis to pay for that?"

However unrealistic Trump's suggestion, intelligence officials believe more has to be done to cut off Islamic State oil revenues. The group seized significant oil when it stormed across Syria's border in 2014 and seized the city of Mosul and large swaths of Iraqi territory. The U.S. Treasury Department estimated that IS raked in $500 million from oil and gas sales in 2015. That figure is likely lower now as a result of U.S.-led operations, but officials say oil continues to fund the group's recruitment and far-flung terrorist activities.

"In terms of oil helping establish ISIS, of course that's oversimplification," said Hassan Hassan, co-author of the book "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror," using an alternate acronym from the militants. He said oil was a small part of the group's "origins and early years," when it morphed from an al-Qaida branch to an organization claiming a worldwide caliphate.

___

AP videojournalist Balint Szlanko in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.

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Trump's talk of keeping Iraq's oil sparking concerns | Fox News

By Isabel Coles | ERBIL, Iraq

ERBIL, Iraq KhudeedaNaif won refuge in the United States as a member of Iraq's Yazidi minority, but what he fears more than religious persecution is retribution for his brother's work as an interpreter for the U.S. army in Iraq.

Naif is one of the many affected by the U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on Friday to temporarily ban the entry of refugees and others from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Naif was scheduled to leave Iraq this week with his wife and two children when the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told him the trip was off until further notice.

The 35-year-old electrical technician will remain instead at a refugee camp in Dohuk, northern Iraq, where he has lived since Islamic State militants overran the Sinjar area in the summer of 2014, purging its Yazidi inhabitants.

The insurgents systematically killed, captured and enslaved thousands of Yazidis, whose beliefs combine elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions and are regarded by Islamic State as devil-worshippers.

A U.N.-appointed commission of independent war crimes investigators said last year the crimes against the Yazidis amounted to a genocide.

Naif fled across the border to Syria on foot with his immediate family and thousands of other Yazidis before returning to Dohuk.

But the family was afraid for their lives even before the Islamic State started its attacks.

"People came here (to the camp) because there was a threat to the Yazidis in general, but for the people who worked for the Americans we had to be cautious even when we were home," he said, contacted on the phone from the Kurdish capital Erbil.

Trump's executive order bars the admission of people from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The order said "religious minorities facing persecution in their countries" would be given priority when refugee admissions resume.

More than one hundred Yazidis are waiting for their IOM asylum applications to be processed, Saib Khidr, a prominent Yazidi lawyer and human rights activist close to the Baba Sheikh, the top religious leader of the community.

A Yazidi woman was denied boarding a flight to the United States on Sunday, he said.

Khidr said he had hoped Yazidis would be among those given priority but was concerned that Trump only mentioned the persecution of Syrian Christians when asked about the issue in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network.

"We're disappointed," he told Reuters in Baghdad. "We're waiting for the American side to clarify its position."

Germany, Canada and the United States are usually the top desired destinations for Iraq's Yazidis, Khidr said.

Naif said his brother was killed in a suicide bombing along with two Americans in 2008 when U.S. forces occupied the country from 2003 to 2011.

Although Iraqis working for the Americans use a pseudonym, his brother's identity -- and by extension that of his family -- was revealed when he was killed.

"Eventually, we are going to get killed," Naif said.

Naif's family obtained a refugee visa to join his four sisters, brother and mother in the United States after six months of interviews and medical tests.

Interpreters and translators who worked for the U.S. military and American state agencies in Iraq are eligible to apply to a Special Immigration Visa (SIV).

U.S. consular services are currently processing "fewer than 500" application under the SIV program, said a State Department official. Overall, "more than 20,000 Iraqis have received immigrations benefits" from this program, the official said.

"We hope that he (Trump) changes his mind and at least takes the people who worked with them (the Americans)," Naif said.

"We protected them," he said. "We never expected this."

(Additional reporting by Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

QUEBEC CITY Two suspects were under arrest after a shooting at a Quebec City mosque on Sunday evening killed six people and wounded eight, police said on Monday, and a source said one was French-Canadian and the other was of Moroccan heritage.

KIEV The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in an offensive by pro-Russian separatists over the past two days has risen to seven, Ukraine's military said on Monday, in the deadliest outbreak of fighting in the east of the country since mid-December.

MEXICO CITY Israel should apologize for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's praise for U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, Mexico's foreign minister said on Monday, calling it an "aggression" against the country.

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Trump travel ban leaves Iraq's persecuted Yazidis in limbo - Reuters