US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis reassures Iraq: We are not here to take your oil
President Donald Trump told CIA staff in a January speech: ‘We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you’ll have another chance’
Baghdad — The US military is not in Iraq "to seize anybody’s oil", Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump before arriving on an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday. Mattis, on his first trip to Iraq as Pentagon chief, is hoping to get a first-hand assessment of the war effort as US-backed Iraqi forces launch a new push to evict Islamic State militants from their remaining stronghold in the city of Mosul. But he is likely to face questions about Trump’s remarks and actions, including a temporary ban on travel to the US and for saying the US should have seized Iraq’s oil after toppling leader Saddam Hussein in 2003. Trump told Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) staff in a January speech: "We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you’ll have another chance." Asked whether a threat to seize Iraq’s oil was on the agenda for his Iraq visit, Mattis flatly ruled out any such intent. "I think all of us here in this room, all of us i...
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