Mattis in Iraq: We’re Not Here For Your Oil

(REUTERS) The U.S. military is not in Iraq “to seize anybody’s oil”, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, before arriving on an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday.

Mattis, on his first trip to Iraq as Pentagon chief, is hoping to get a first-hand assessment of the war effort as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launch a new push to evict Islamic State militants from their remaining stronghold in the city of Mosul.

But he is likely to face questions about Trump’s remarks and actions, including a temporary ban on travel to the United States and for saying America should have seized Iraq’s oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Read more here.