US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday urged Iraq’s designated prime minister to protect US troops and meet grievances of a months-long protest movement ahead of a parliamentary confidence vote. In the first substantive US comment on Mohammad Allawi since he was named on February 1 as a consensus candidate, Pompeo said he told him by telephone that the United States backed a “strong, sovereign and prosperous” Iraq. Pompeo “stressed Iraq’s obligation to protect US and coalition diplomats, forces and facilities,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
