Gates: America’s Largest Division To Leave Iraq This Month - “If Security Improves”
Baghdad, Dec 5 (VOI) - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Wednesday that the biggest American division is to withdraw from Iraq by December 2007.
The withdrawal of more American troops is to take place next February and March, provided that security conditions continue to significantly improve.
“The largest American unit in Iraq will start withdrawing by December 2007, if security improves significantly. More units are to pull out next February and March” Gates said in a joint press conference with Abdel Qadir al-Ubaidi, his Iraqi counterpart.
180,000 U.S. soldiers are currently stationed in Iraq since U.S. President George Bush announced a surge in the level of U.S. troops stationed in Iraq in early 2007.
Gates added, “Numbers of al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq are trying to regroup and move back into the areas that they have been pushed out of.”
Yet he notes that “al-Qaeda in Iraq has been significantly weakened with U.S. troops and friendly tribal forces pushing them out of Anbar province and Baghdad.”
When asked about the affects of military bases on civilians, Gates answered “I understand the nature of the affect that military troops have in a populated city, but we are talking about ways to achieve progress in security and not other things; enhancing security is what is now important.”
Gates’ plane landed in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul coming from Afghanistan,” the head of the Joint Media Center, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
It is the sixth visit for the U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates since assuming the post in mid-2006. Gates’ last visit to Iraq was on September 3, 2007 when he accompanied President George W. Bush on a surprise visit to the Sunni Anbar province, where he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, and Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi at Al-Asad air base near Ramadi.
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Wretchard has pointed out that The Real Surge” is the boosting of competent Iraqi IA divisions to 13, relieving US forces, at about a 50% ratio, for other duties. Wherever. Which puts Iran under intolerable strain; it just can’t juggle all the balls it has at once. The failure of the subvert-Iraq project is bad enough; having all those US hyper-experienced troops unaccounted for is way over the top.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:03 amThe news just keeps getting better…the D-rats last charge is the NIE BS report and IMO it has failed and will entrap the Iranians and the D-rats…2008 is the year for the USA!
December 6th, 2007 at 7:47 amOh, how Reid must be gnashing his teeth. I’m starting to think Rove threw the ‘06 election just to show people what they can expect if the Democrats win in ‘08. Them winning Congress is bad. Them controling the White House and Supreme Court, too, is almost unthinkable. People are starting to realize that.
December 6th, 2007 at 8:45 pm