Baghdad (AFP) - The ban on Iraqis entering the United States is a "betrayal" and sign of mistrust, said Lukman Faily, Baghdad's former ambassador to Washington who is himself affected by the restrictions.
Iraq is a partner with the United States, is fighting against militants, and is not one of the countries in the region that "exports terrorists" elsewhere, Faily told AFP.
So for it "to be treated like this... to say it's a betrayal (is) an understatement," he said.
The travel restrictions are due to President Donald Trump's executive order barring citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for at least 90 days, a decision he has billed as an effort to make America safe from "radical Islamic terrorists".
"I confirmed with the US embassy here in Baghdad that I am banned as well," Faily said, adding that visas were not being issued to Iraqis who are not government officials.
So while Faily was Iraq's envoy to Washington from 2013 to 2016, he now could not even make it through US passport control.
And he is not alone: Iraqis with valid visas -- including some who worked with the United States here -- have been barred from flying to America or detained at airports upon arrival until lawyers mounted legal challenges to free them.
Iraqis "from all sort of walks of life have been banned -- it isn't effective," Faily said.
- Raises questions on reliability -
The policy "does not reflect reliability to me. It makes me very worried that... we cannot rely on the United States," he said, also describing it as an indication that Iraqis are not viewed as being trustworthy enough to come to the US.
Faily also said he thinks that it "will reflect to the Iraqi people that the US is unjustly treating them."
But while the restrictions do not bode well for relations in general, he believes the issue will remain separate from the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group, for which a US-led international coalition is providing support.
Trump's travel restrictions -- which also apply to Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen -- have sparked a growing backlash in Iraq.
The foreign ministry has called it a "wrong decision" and said that Washington should review it, while parliament voted to back reciprocal restrictions on Americans if Washington does not change course.
The row ultimately benefits neither side, and harms the interests of both.
Baghdad needs US support against IS and international investment to build its economy, while Washington also wants the jihadists defeated, and has repeatedly stated its desire to have a stable Iraq as a partner in the region.
The travel ban and Trump's repeated assertions that the US should have taken Iraqi oil are indicators that "there's some level of chaos in Washington," Faily said.
"At this moment I cannot say that I have confidence in the US decision-making process in relation to what... they want Iraq to be."
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