Exceptions to Iraq Deadline Probable

April 27th, 2009 By: Michael van der Galien | Tags: , , , ,
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US in iraq

Good news: it seems that Washington and Baghdad agree that U.S. forces should only be withdrawn from cities where Al Qaeda and other (extremist) groups have been defeated:

The United States and Iraq will begin negotiating possible exceptions to the June 30 deadline for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraqi cities, focusing on the troubled northern city of Mosul, according to military officials. Some parts of Baghdad also will still have combat troops.

Everywhere else, the withdrawal of United States combat troops from all Iraqi cities and towns is on schedule to finish by the June 30 deadline, and in many cases even earlier. But because of the level of insurgent activity in Mosul, United States and Iraqi military officials will meet Monday to decide whether to consider the city an exception to the deadline in the Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, between the countries.

“Mosul is the one area where you may see U.S. combat forces operating in the city” after June 30, the United States military’s top spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. David Perkins, said in an interview.

The same goes for Baghdad, however:

In Baghdad, however, there are no plans to close the Camp Victory base complex, consisting of five bases housing more than 20,000 soldiers, many of them combat troops. Although Victory is only a 15 minute drive from the center of Baghdad and sprawls over both sides of the city’s boundary, Iraqi officials say they have agreed to consider it outside the city.

Now, why do I call it good news that U.S. forces stay in both Baghdad and Mosul a bit longer? After all, wouldn’t truly ‘good news’ be that these forces can be withdraw safely?

Why yes, true enough, but we do not live in an utopian world. Like many other foreign policy hawks, I feared that Obama would withdraw too early from Iraq, leaving an unstable and chaotic country behind. The article at the NYT gives me the impression he may not do so after all. Considering the real world we live in, that is good news.

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This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

  1. PoliGazette » Exceptions to Iraq Deadline Probable « MY WP
    April 28th, 2009 at 00:39
    #1
  2. Michael Merritt
    April 28th, 2009 at 02:40
    Reply | Quote | #2

    Obama can say that there’s still alot of time before 2011.

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