There is an attack on Americans predicted for Thursday in Iraq, and no one is doing anything to help evacuate them to safety, alleges one defense contractor.
The Guardian reported on Wednesday that there are 200 Americans currently stranded in Iraq and that there could be a post-Ramadan assault.
“With more than 200 American nationals on the base, the site is considered a high-value target, and the absence of visible preventative measures leaves us feeling exposed and vulnerable,” one employee of defense contractor V2X on the base told The Guardian. “All of us are pretty much sitting ducks at the moment."
V2X wouldn't speak on the matter when the paper reached out.
According to the Americans, Iraqi workers have been warning about the Islamic Resistance, which is planning to attack once the Muslim holy month is over. It ends later this week on Thursday upon the crescent moon's rise.
"Some Iraqi military and contract employees on the base have links to the militants and have been passing information to them in preparation for an attack," they told The Guardian.
The roads are too dangerous to travel on, and the airspace is closed amid the fighting between Iran and the U.S.
“One of the biggest challenges of the Iraqi state is there has been an increase in these groups gaining senior and significant positions in the security sector in the last few years,” said senior research fellow Renad Mansour, who is at the policy institute Chatham House.
“It’s very much a hybrid model in which they have one foot in the state and one foot out of the state," he added.
One of the two V2X employees said the militants are gathering information. “They are asking questions about how many foreigners and Americans are on base."
The Islamic Resistance is a collection of several militias and armed groups linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the report explained. It is an umbrella network of mostly Shiite militias. They previously ran part of Iraq's state security.
Mansour noted that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani lacks the authority to stop their rise in power.
V2X security emails claimed that there have been no drones flying over the base, but contractors said they've heard them while military forces shoot at them.
“People are seeing the UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]," one V2X employee said. "We hear this shooting every day, sometimes multiple times, and they have the nerve to say there’s not UAV activity in the vicinity of the base. I believe the danger is higher than they’re saying and they’re minimizing it to the United States Government.”
“We are not safe. The war is not ending, and the company refused to evacuate us,” the employee continued. “They are very poorly equipped. Our lives are in great danger.”
In the hours leading up to the bombing campaign against Iran, many countries began evacuating their people from the region. China, the U.K., even Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry advised its people to get out. Questions remain as to why the U.S. only evacuated its embassy in Israel.