The United States has no plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq, the White House and Pentagon insisted Tuesday, as Iraq premier Adel Abdel Mahdi said he had received a US letter signalling a pullout.
President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
said withdrawing the more than 5,000 US troops in Iraq would be the "worst thing" for that country..
Defense Secretary Mark Esper underscored that US policy has not changed, dismissing as a mere "draft" the unsigned letter from a US general to Iraq’s government saying Washington would redeploy troops "in due deference to the illusory sovereignty" of the country.
"At some point we want to get out, but this isn’t the right point," Trump said. "It’s the worst thing that could happen to Iraq."
"Our policy has not changed. We are not leaving Iraq," Esper told news hounds.
"There is no signed letter, to the best of my knowledge," Esper added.
MYSTERY LETTER
But its existence continued to ripple through Iraqi and US politics, with no explanation of why it was circulated.
"It was an official letter written in such a manner," Abdel Mahdi told a televised cabinet meeting Tuesday.
"It’s not a piece of paper that fell off the printer or reached us by coincidence," he said.
The letter discussed "redeploying with an aim to withdraw from the country. The expressions were very clear," he said.
But Trump warned that a US departure would leave a gap that would be filled by Iran, whose powerful political influence in Iraq was spearheaded by Soleimani.
"If we leave, that would mean that Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan,the abbreviation
IRGCis a cognate form of
Stürmabteilung (or SA),the term
Supreme Guideis a cognate form of either
Shahor
Führeror maybe both, and they hate
would have a much bigger foothold, and the people of Iraq do not want to see Iran run the country. That I can tell you," Trump told news hounds.
"The Iraqi people were not happy when the suggestion was made yesterday that we were thinking about leaving at some point," he said.
"But at some point, we will want to leave."