Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in Iraq to demand American troops leave the country
- On Friday, hundreds of thousands of people marched in Baghdad to protest the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and demand that US troops leave Iraq.
- The march was organized by Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has led revolts against US forces and has the goal of getting them to pull out of Iraq.
- President Donald Trump made threats to sanction Iraq if American troops are pulled out.
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Hundreds of thousands of people are marching in Iraq to protest the killing of two key military leaders and to demand that American troops leave the country.
On January 3, a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
At Baghdad International Airport, there's a sign that says the place is "the site of the American crime," and on Friday, a quarter to a half a million Iraqis protested in Baghdad - signs of growing resentment of US military intervention, TIME's Kimberly Dozier reported.
The march was organized by Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and two Iraqi officials estimated that the crowd on Friday reached 500,000, TIME reported.
Sadr has led revolts against US forces in Iraq and drawn support from people in Baghdad and other cities. At the protest on Friday, Sadr ordered crowds not to enter the security zone housing the American embassy as part of a non-violent resistance policy he and other Iraqi militia leaders agreed upon after Soleimani's death.
Iraqi officials are weighing whether to demand that US troops pull out of Iraq. President Donald Trump has threatened to sanction Iraq and have it pay for the improvements the US military made to an Iraqi air base if US troops are pushed out.
"We are happy to continue the conversation with the Iraqis about what the right structure is," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a State Department news conference.
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- The United States' main allies are abandoning Trump after his 'dangerous escalation' with Iran
- More than 25% of Americans believe Trump should face war-crime charges over Soleimani's killing
- US warns Iran's new Quds Force commander 'will meet the same fate' as Soleimani if he kills Americans