White House hosts Iraqi Prime Minister

World Today

White House hosts Iraqi Prime MinisterPresident Donald Trump greets Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi upon his arrival to the White House in Washington, Monday, March 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi was in Washington, Holding discussions on ISIL at the White House.

He will also join an anti-ISIL coalition meeting, led by the United States, this week.

CGTN’s Roee Ruttenberg reports.

As they joked for the cameras in the Oval Office on Monday, it may have been easy to forget the recent rocky ride that brought Haider al-Abadi to the White House. The Iraqi Prime Minister has not had a lot to smile about in response to Donald Trump.

As as candidate for President promised the United States should have kept Iraq’s oil after the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

A position he’s repeated since taking office.

Before his first trip to Baghdad, Trump’s Defense Secretary General James Mattis had to clarify, the Americans had no intention of stealing Iraq’s oil.

The Iraqis were equally unsettled when Iraq was included in a list of seven Muslim majority countries whose nationals were temporarily banned by the Trump administration from entering the United States.

Al-Abadi telephoned Trump to complain then met his Vice President, Mike Pence, in Germany a week later.

It was only after Iraqi officials explained to Rex Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State, exactly what information they were providing the Americans who were vetting Iraqi travelers that the United States agreed to not include Iraq in the revised version of the ban.

Al-Abadi said his troops were gaining ground in western Mosul, an ISIL-stronghold. He warned Iraqi success would require continued American military and economic support.