Title: Affirming the nature and importance of the United States–Iraq bilateral relationship, including security and economic components of the relationship.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses the House of Representatives' support for a sovereign and democratic Iraq and calls on the United States to provide continued support for Iraq and its citizens through trade and investment, medical assistance, and stabilization efforts coordinated with international partners. It also calls on Iraq to take appropriate action to protect U.S. diplomats and service members and to allow humanitarian and stabilization assistance programs to be implemented without delays or impediments.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1062 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1062

Affirming the nature and importance of the United States-Iraq bilateral 
    relationship, including security and economic components of the 
                             relationship.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2020

Mr. Allred (for himself and Mr. Reschenthaler) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 
  in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Affirming the nature and importance of the United States-Iraq bilateral 
    relationship, including security and economic components of the 
                             relationship.

Whereas the United States remains committed to supporting a sovereign and 
        democratic Iraq at peace with its neighbors and safe for its citizens, 
        regardless of their religion, sect, or ethnicity;
Whereas in 2014, forces of the Islamic State (commonly known as ``IS'' and also 
        known as ``ISIS'' or ``ISIL'') seized significant territory in Iraq, 
        leading Iraq's Prime Minister to request international military 
        intervention;
Whereas the United States began military intervention against the Islamic State 
        in Iraq in 2014, working with international coalition partners and Iraqi 
        security forces to combat the Islamic State and to retake Iraqi 
        territory from Islamic State fighters;
Whereas the Islamic State ruled areas it controlled with terror and brutal 
        violence, including through heinous acts such as mass executions, public 
        beheadings, desecration of holy sites, sexual enslavement and rape, and 
        abuse and torture of minors;
Whereas the Government of Iraq declared military victory against the Islamic 
        State in December 2017, but insurgent attacks by remaining terrorist 
        fighters have continued and threaten peace and stability in some areas 
        of Iraq;
Whereas an estimated 6 million Iraqis have been rendered internally displaced 
        since 2014, of which 1.4 million remain internally displaced;
Whereas members of religious and ethnic minority groups, including Iraqi 
        Christian communities and Yezidis, faced particular brutality under the 
        Islamic State and often lacked the resources and capacity for 
        protection;
Whereas the Islamic State's destructive rule and ensuing military campaign left 
        large areas of key population centers uninhabitable, including Anbar, 
        Salah al-Din, and Ninewa governorates, where efforts at resettlement, 
        reconstruction, service delivery, governance, and security remain 
        challenging;
Whereas the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
        (UNOCHA) 2020 humanitarian needs assessment previously anticipated that 
        as many as 4.1 million Iraqis will need some form of humanitarian 
        assistance in 2020, and humanitarian needs are likely to be further 
        exacerbated by socio-economic disruptions attributable to the COVID-19 
        pandemic;
Whereas the United States was the top donor to the 2018 and 2019 United Nations 
        Iraq Humanitarian Response Plans and has contributed nearly $2.75 
        billion to humanitarian relief efforts in Iraq since 2014, including 
        more than $750 million in humanitarian support since fiscal year 2018;
Whereas in July 2017, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of 
        Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported that ``after decades of war, the 
        sheer volume of explosive devices renders Iraq one of the most heavily 
        contaminated countries in the world'';
Whereas multiple nongovernmental human rights organizations and media 
        investigations have reported that areas still suffering from the lack of 
        reconstruction, service delivery, governance, and security are acutely 
        susceptible to re-radicalization by Islamic State underground cells or 
        follow-on elements;
Whereas human rights organizations have reported that thousands of displaced 
        Iraqis, including children, are unable to obtain or replace civil 
        documentation due to displacement caused by Islamic State;
Whereas some paramilitary forces, including some elements of the ``Popular 
        Mobilization Units'' or ``PMUs'' that mobilized to fight Islamic State 
        terrorists have yet to be fully integrated into national security 
        institutions and threaten civilian populations in some areas, including 
        vulnerable minority groups;
Whereas in late 2019, some Iraqi security force units, including non-state 
        militias, responded violently to peaceful protests resulting in the 
        deaths of more than 550 Iraqi civilians and many more injured;
Whereas in 2019 and 2020, Iranian aligned militias, some of whom operate Iraqi 
        PMUs conducted numerous attacks on United States and coalition forces in 
        Iraq as well as Iraqi military facilities and Iraqi nationals, including 
        a December 2019 attack that killed a United States citizen contractor 
        and wounded others, and a March 2020, attack that killed a United States 
        servicemember, a United States contractor, a British soldier, and 
        injured at least a dozen other troops;
Whereas Iranian aligned militias and some PMUs were reportedly involved in the 
        December 31, 2019, to January 1, 2020, siege on the United States 
        Embassy in Baghdad, in which attackers set fire to structures and 
        damaged property;
Whereas in July 2019 the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve 
        (CJTF-OIR) informed the Department of Defense and Department of State 
        Inspector General that the Islamic State in Iraq continues to recruit 
        from isolated rural areas ``exploiting perceived weaknesses and failures 
        of the Iraqi government, particularly in Sunni areas where the 
        population feels neglected'';
Whereas a July 2019 Department of Defense and Department of State Lead Inspector 
        General (LIG) Report to Congress on Operation Inherent Resolve stated 
        the ``Department of State and USAID reported that the greatest obstacles 
        preventing IDPs from returning . . . are lack of security and economic 
        opportunity, and damage to housing'' as well as a lack of ``legal 
        assistance to recover or renew identification documents'';
Whereas in March 2020 Iraq confirmed its first case of COVID-19, which soon 
        spread throughout the country, straining Iraq's already struggling 
        healthcare system, and infecting 64,000 Iraqis and killing 2,685 Iraqis, 
        including 592 Iraqi doctors, as of June 2020; and
Whereas the LIG reported in May 2020 that ``the emergence of COVID-19 in Iraq 
        has further restricted humanitarian access and presented a significant 
        risk to internally displaced person (IDP) and refugee camps across the 
        country'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports a sovereign and democratic Iraq at peace with 
        its neighbors and safe for its citizens, regardless of 
        religion, sect, or ethnicity;
            (2) calls on the Administration to provide continued 
        support for Iraqi efforts to ensure stability and security for 
        a democratic Iraq;
            (3) calls on the Government of Iraq to take all appropriate 
        action to protect United States diplomats and United States 
        servicemembers;
            (4) supports robust exercise by Iraqis of the rights to 
        free speech and assembly as guaranteed to them by the 
        Constitution of Iraq;
            (5) calls on the Administration to continue efforts to help 
        internally displaced Iraqis to safely and voluntarily return to 
        their homes;
            (6) encourages the United States to continue to work with 
        bilateral and multilateral partners and international 
        nongovernmental organizations on the stabilization of Iraq;
            (7) calls on the Administration to continue assisting 
        religious and ethnic minority communities targeted by the 
        Islamic State for genocide;
            (8) supports expanded bilateral trade and investment 
        between the United States and Iraq;
            (9) supports development of an Iraqi private sector based 
        on rule of law and free market principles;
            (10) supports the 2020 United States-Iraq Strategic 
        Dialogues and the principles agreed upon by both the United 
        States and Iraq in such Dialogues and the fostering of 
        continued dialogue based on such Dialogues;
            (11) calls on the Administration to continue providing 
        medical assistance to support the Iraqi healthcare sector in 
        combatting COVID-19; and
            (12) calls on the Government of Iraq to allow humanitarian 
        and stabilization assistance programs to be implemented without 
        bureaucratic delays or impediments.
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