'Expected Handoff'
[Excelsior,
Mexico]
Al Sabaah, Iraq
Newspaper: U.S.
Forces to Withdraw from Iraq's 'Cities, Villages and Towns' By 2009
"The senior source added that he
hoped - depending on conditions on the ground - that U.S. military units would
complete their withdrawal from Baghdad before next July."
Translated By Nicolas Dagher
September 7, 2008
Iraq
- Al-Sabaah - Original Article (Arabic)
U.S. forces that have been
deployed on the streets of Baghdad will begin a "slow, gradual"
withdrawal, as a step toward handing over all security responsibilities to
Iraqi forces.
Meanwhile, the leadership of
the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council [one of Iraq's most powerful political parties 
] confirmed
that Washington would respond to the Iraqi draft within a period not to exceed
48 hours. A senior source revealed exclusively to Al-Sabaah that
starting next February, some of the U.S. military units deployed in areas of
Baghdad will redeploy to camps outside the city away from the city center.
Changing
of the guard: General David Petraeus (left) and Lt. General
Raymond
Odierno:
Petraeus, credited with overseeing a reduction in
sectarian
violence in Iraq, will hand command of U.S.-led forces in
Iraq
to Odierno
on Sept. 16.
BBC NEWS AUDIO: Did British Intelligence Know
that WMDs Didn’t Exit In Iraq?
BBC NEWS VIDEO: Big
Moment for Iraqi Security Forces: U.S. Hands Over Al-Anbar Province
BBC NEWS VIDEO: Talks Continue On Deal for
Long-Term Presence of U.S. Forces in Iraq
The senior source added that
he hoped - depending on conditions on the ground - that these units would
complete their withdrawal from the capital before next July. But he pointed out
that they would be ready to execute missions if requested to do so by the
Maliki government.
According to a clause in the
soon-to-be signed Status of Forces Agreement pertaining to America's deployment
in Iraq: "U.S. combat forces will withdraw from all cities, villages and towns
after they are handed over to the control of the Iraqi security forces, and
that the withdrawal will begin no later than July 30, 2009, unless competent
Iraqi authorities request otherwise;" and, "American troops will
completely withdraw from the territory of Iraq no longer than the end of
2011."
Similarly, Sheikh Hameed
Mo'alla, a leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, said that,
"Baghdad is waiting for a response from the American side regarding the
draft of the Standard of Forces Agreement. In an exclusive statement to Al
Sabaah, Mo'alla confirmed that the American response will be announced
within a period not to exceed 48 hours, and he stressed that the government is
holding fast to its position that the agreement must guarantee the complete
sovereignty of Iraq. Prime minister Nouri Al Maliki
said last week in a statement published only by Al Sabaah that the
Government awaits a U.S. response to the Iraqi draft, which will secure the
sovereignty and interests of Iraq's people, and he noted that members of the
National Assembly are the ones who will decide whether to accept or reject the
agreement.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The White House issued a
statement yesterday that negotiations between Baghdad and Washington would
resume in the coming days. Meanwhile, an Iraqi official recently informed Al
Sabaah that talks between the two parties on the Security Agreement had
came to a complete halt.
Sheikh Mo'alla continued by
saying that, "If the Iraqi side doesn’t submit the agreement to the
National Assembly and only obtains the approval of the political leadership,
there is a growing feeling that to ensure implementation of all commitments by
the signatories, the agreement should be included as part of the Iraqi file
before the United Nations.
[Editor's Note: The White
House wants desperately to avoid this, fearing that any deal that is arrived at
in the U.N. would be far less favorable to American forces].
CLICK HERE FOR ARABIC
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
September 8, 11:59pm]
