Saturday, October 15, 2011

US abandons plans to keep troops in Iraq next year

BAGHDAD — The Obama administration is abandoning plans to keep U.S. troops in Iraq past a year-end withdrawal deadline, The Associated Press has learned.

A senior administration official in Washington confirmed Saturday that all American troops will leave except for about 160 troops attached to the U.S. Embassy. The Pentagon had considered leaving up to 5,000 troops to train security forces and hinder Iranian influence.

A senior U.S. military official said the withdrawal could allow future, limited U.S. military training missions if requested.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Iraqi political leaders have rejected giving legal immunity to U.S. troops — a deal-breaker to Washington.
Source.
(Breaking news.  Text at linked source is likely to change. )

This is very good news.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"We came, we saw, we screwed up another country." It's way past time we got out of there.

Matthew M said...

Yes, and now we can go after that African Warlord that Obama is so anxious to get. Do they have oil there?
We should have pulled out of Iraq right after Saddam Hussein was hung. Democracy of any kind will not thrive there until the people want it to and I'm not seeing that on the horizon. we need to get out of Afganistan ASAP as well, then bring all our troops home from Europe. Those anti-American Eurocrat Socialists need to learn to clean up their own Islamic mess.
Oh yes, and then close that so called United Nations building and get them out of Dodge!