Subscribe Today
Request a Clip
Alex Warkes, a former security advisor to Iraq's Council of Representatives, said in a Septemer 17, 2019 interview on Al-Taghier TV (Iraq) that he had previously warned Iraq's Prime Minister that Israel would eventually strike the PMU in Iraq if the PMU is not restrained. He said that Iraq does not have the military, technological, or economic capability to engage in a conflict with Israel, and he said that Iraq should not be in a state of conflict with Israel because the Palestinians themselves had signed peace agreements with it. Warkes also expressed hope that Iraqi territory would not be used in a conflict between Iran and Israel, and he said that anybody in Iraq who wants to fight Israel can go to Iran and make threats from there.
Following are excerpts:
Alex Warkes: Seven months ago, I delivered a message to the Prime Minister, via a person close to him. I told him that unless the PMU in Iraq is restrained, and that if the PMU continued to make threats against Israel, Israel would strike the PMU, especially in the places where it suspects anti-Israeli Iranian activity is conducted. I'm just saying this for the record. In Iraq, we do not have a strong army, with all due respect to our military. We lack [advanced] technology. We don't have an economy. Our country is full of corrupt people, and our resources have been plundered. So what makes you want to threaten Israel? Is this just rhetoric? Are they just making a laughing stock out of people? Why aren't we telling people the truth? You ask a corrupt official about his corruption, and the next day he issues a statement saying that he will strike Israel and liberate Palestine. Brother, stop making a laughing stock out of people. What would you strike Israel with?
[…]
Saddam made so many threats against Israel, but did anything good come out of it? We paid billions to build an army, and then we fought Iran and occupied Kuwait.
Host: What is your solution?
Alex Warkes: My solution is [to acknowledge] that Iraq is not in a state of conflict with Israel. If this is about the cause of our Palestinian brothers… The Palestinians themselves have chosen the option of peace with Israel. The peace with Israel was signed by Mr. Yasser Arafat – the fighter who came and stood next to Saddam, and Saddam held a gun and said: "We will liberate Jerusalem." That person signed the peace with Israel himself. The Palestinian people accepted the option of peace.
[…]
If there is an Iranian confrontation with Israel, I hope that Iraqi territory is not used in the conflict. If anyone in Iraq wants to fight Israel, he should go to Iran – if they take him – and make threats from there, because Iraq cannot bear…
Host: Nobody said that we would fight Israel. Why are you in such a hurry? Nobody will say that we want to fight Israel. These guys are busy protecting their financial empires. Let me reassure you about this, Alex.
Latest Clips
