Iraqi researcher Hashem Al-Kindi said in a December 8, 2019 interview on Dijlah TV (Iraq) that the United States is trying to exploit the protests in Iraq in order to transfer US troops and families of terrorists into Iraq. Claiming that the U.S. is mobilizing ISIS cells throughout Iraq and diverting security forces away from their main mission, he said that the U.S. had similarly exploited protests in western Iraq in 2014 and gave rise to ISIS. Al-Kindi added that the Americans are cooperating with the Baathists, with ISIS, and with the enemies of the Iraqi people.