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Rudaw's Namo Abdulla spoke to the Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on the Iraqi parliament's resolution to expel US troops this weekend.Ortagus says the US is waiting for an explanation from Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the acting prime minister of Iraq concerning the resolution they passed in parliament yesterday, which she described as "very disappointing".She also described the US presence in Iraq as being "very important to both America and Iraq."Ortagus: Yes, I think actually that was the statement that I released yesterday. We were of course disappointed by the decision. I know not everyone was present. There were many Sunni and Kurdish legislators who were not present for the vote. We are still waiting on the acting prime minister and the government to sort of explain to us what it all means. It was not a law they passed yesterday, it was a resolution. We obviously believe strongly that our presence in Iraq has been crucial to the defeat of ISIS and that is a fight that continues. And we have obviously as Americans; we have spent a lot of treasure, propping up and helping Iraq to become a stable and secure democracy. We have had many people, including many of our friends here at the State Department who have lost their lives. Americans have lost their lives fighting for Iraqis to have the chance for freedom and democracy that we have now. So our relationship with Iraq is incredibly important to us. It is very personal to many people at the State Department, many of our colleagues at the Defense Department, and so while we were disappointed with this decision yesterday, we think there is a lot of a discussions that remain ongoing. We think our presence there, as a bulwark against the rise of ISIS, is incredibly important.Iraq is a fascinating country. It is sort of like saying ‘representing all the American people’. Iraq, like America, has a diverse culture, has many different ethnicities, religious sects, peoples. I do not think you can ever paint the Iraqi people in one broad brush.That is a great question. You know, again we want to work with all sides in Iraq. We obviously have very close relationships with the government, with the people in Erbil as well. We have a long historic relationship with the Kurds, and that is something we are going to continue to have. There is a lot of Americans that also feel that personal relationship with the Kurdish people.Well, all Iraqi Kurds get a vote, get a voice and get a say in all of this. And we would urge them to use that voice to use the power and the representation that they have in the parliament and throughout government to let their opinion be heard. From our perspective here, we understand there are sometimes differences between governments and sometimes policies do not necessarily align, but holistically, the American presence in Iraq to fight ISIS, as we have seen the caliphate decimated, the physical caliphate decimated because of our presence, that is something we think is very important to both America and Iraq, to both of our futures.Yeah, I mean listen, we have fought hand in hand around the Middle East together, we work incredibly closely together and I think this secretary works closely with the government of Iraq which includes the Kurdish representatives.Yeah, I mean it includes all of America's allies and her interests. I think clearly the regime in Tehran did not take this precedent seriously and now they will think twice about that. The President has said, when the President says America first, what does he mean; he is talking about American lives, he is talking about whether it is service members, whether it is our contractors, diplomats. This President is incredibly focused on protecting America, protecting our interests. We have said this repeatedly, very publicly to the regime in Iran that if they attack Americans, if they put American in harms way and even it was through their proxies, that we would hold the regime themselves accountable. I think now they understand what we have been saying for a year and a half was a very, very serious threat.Interview by Namo AbdullaTranscribed by Zhelwan Z. Wali