Lost in the news that the Iraqi Parliament voted Sunday for foreign troops to leave the country is the fact the simple majority of the pro-Iran members carried the measure, according to foreign affairs expert Walid Phares on Newsmax TV.
"The Sunni bloc withdrew, the Kurdish bloc withdrew, some of the minorities withdrew," Phares told Monday's "Newsmax Now." "So, really it is the pro-Iran Shia bloc – not all Shia, as well – who has a majority, a simple majority."
Regardless of the pro-Iran-influenced vote, the order for U.S. – and Germany – to withdraw from Iraq is not as simple as Sunday's vote, Phares added.
"They voted for a very long, difficult procedure," Phares told host John Bachman. "Because it's going to take months for the government to be able to be formed again, because this is the government that has resigned. So, the legal aspect by itself is not done overnight. It's going to take a long time.
"But more importantly is the fact of two of the three major components of Iraq are not on board."
There is still a large portion of the Iraqi population protesting Iranian influence in their country, despite the media messaging after the Qassem Soleimani killing changing the narrative temporarily, Phares noted.
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