Iraq PM Says Received Signed U.S. 'Withdrawal' Letter Monday
Iraq's premier Adel Abdel Mahdi confirmed Tuesday that he had received what the U.S. said was a draft letter describing steps its military would take to "move out" of Iraq.
The Pentagon had said an unsigned draft version of the letter had been mistakenly sent, but the Iraqi premier disputed that claim.
In a cabinet meeting televised on Tuesday evening, Abdel Mahdi said he had received signed and translated copies at 8:00pm local time (1700 GMT) Monday.
The letter discussed "redeploying with an aim to withdraw from the country. The expressions were very clear," he said.
The Iraqi prime minister said preliminary versions received in Arabic and English included a translation mistake, so his office requested a correction from the U.S. military and new versions were duly sent.
"It was an official letter written in such a manner," Abdel Mahdi told ministers.
"It's not a piece of paper that fell off the printer or reached us by coincidence," he said.
AFP received a copy of the letter late Monday and verified its authenticity with both U.S. and Iraqi officials.
In it, the head of Task Force-Iraq US Brigadier General William Seely informed his Iraqi counterparts that American troops were preparing to leave Iraq.
Seely wrote the US-led coalition would "be repositioning forces in the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement."
"In order to conduct this task, Coalition Forces are required to take certain measures to ensure that the movement out of Iraq is conducted in a safe and efficient manner," said the letter.
It said helicopters would be travelling in and around Baghdad's Green Zone where the US embassy is located as part of the preparations.
AFP could hear helicopters flying low over Baghdad throughout the night on Monday as well as Tuesday.
07 January 2020, 20:22
03
Iraqi Shiite leaders are the same mix of Lebanese Duo Shiite leaders subservient to Iran and out of touch with reality and their youth aspirations. The youth in Shiite southern Iraq are the ones demanding the end to Iranian influence and the misery and extremism they have created, included ISIS that started as a reaction to the Iraqi Basij. The US military has nothing to lose by leaving Iraq, but the sanctions it will implement will bring soon a more effective uprising and more virulent attack on all Iranian interest and puppets by all united Iraqi youth who want a culture of life, progress and peace instead of the poisonous Iranian culture of death, oppression and indoctrination.
08 January 2020, 00:06
00
It's time for AFP to learn well what it demonstrates in this story, that it can make a name for itself and earn its one-third government subsidy by reporting events, especially when an elite has made it known that the event did not happen if you know what's good for you.
