Posted on 01/06/2020 12:25:13 PM PST by cann
The United States-led military coalition against Islamic State said on Monday that it was pulling out of Iraq and would be repositioning forces over the next few days and weeks, a letter seen by Reuters showed.
"Sir, in deference to the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq, and as requested by the Iraqi Parliament and the Prime Minister, CJTF-OIR will be repositioning forces over the course of the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement," read a letter from United States Marine Corps Brigadier General William H. Seely III, the commanding general of Task Force Iraq.
The authenticity of the letter, which was addressed to the Iraqi defence ministry's Combined Joint Operations Baghdad, was confirmed to Reuters independently by an Iraqi military source.
"We respect your sovereign decision to order our departure," it said. (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
If it’s true, it’s very newsworthy. Sigh.
No you didn’t go to Reuters instead you clicked on the link.
During this time, there will be an increase in helicopter travel in and around the International Zone (IZ) of Baghdad. This increased traffic will include CH-47, UH-60, and AH-64 security escort helicopters.Coalition forces will take appropriate measures to minimize and mitigate the disturbances to the public. In addition, we will conduct these operations during hours of darkness to help alleviate any perception that we may be bringing more Coalition Forces into the IZ.
How is flying helicopters at night supposed to alleviate any perception that more troops may be moving into the IZ, instead of moving out?
yep. :)
“WHEN were good and ready”
oops, its is.
The Saudis will finally have to fight their own battles against Shi’ite drive to take Mecca.
PDJT is indeed brilliant.
Allahwahoo Trumpbar!
A truth that's told with bad intent,
Beats all the lies you can invent.
William Blake.
The Iraqi sunnis hate the Iraqi and Iranian shia who are the majority. We have been lending support to the Iraqi shia government who is aligned with the Iranian shia in their fight against sunnis jihadists from all over the Mideast aligned with Iraqi sunni who are fighting the shia. This could be a shot across the bow to the shia government that we are going to open up the sunnis to killing the Iranian shia in Iraq. Basically we win both ways if we pull back and let the sunnis take aim at the Iranian shia in Iraq. I detest them both but we always win when they are killing each other.
And BTW we will keep 1000 Predator Drones and 10,000 Hellfire Missiles just over the border. To be used when we detect ANY activity we deem as aggressive or provocative.
More winning!
People pink themselves by reading into it what isn’t there.
Seeing reports now that it’s just SOP to notify them of any repositioning and we’re mobbing some troops out of Baghdad.
Pure speculation on my part. We kill an Iranian General. The Iraqi (Shiite controlled) parliament demands we leave. The safety and security of any American business is now in jeopardy so they begin to pack up and go home leaving those businesses and industries idle. Likewise all the training of Iraqi security forces stops and that source of income also stops.
Like someone else said, we could very well view this as heads I win, tails you lose. Either we are out, and Iraq is on its own, or they beg us to stay. For the troops and the Iranian threat, not much changes, as those troops and assets will probably still be in region (Saudi, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, etc) but Iraq will be the biggest loser. The down side is Iran would see a withdrawal as a victory for the Mullahs, and this will encourage more mischief.
“We’re not leaving Iraq.”
https://pic.twitter.com/dZiguFwL2G
Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) January 6, 2020
If I researching correctly, it looks like the Sunnis are going to need the Kurds to control Iraq.
I see a civil war in Iraq within the next year.
Fine print.
I was kind of hoping we were pulling out. Let the Iraq Sunni/Kurds and Shia fight it out.
The problem is that only the Iraqi opposition (mostly Sunnis, I assume) can stand up and resist the Shiite/Iranian tyranny, and they have not given even the slightest hint of being willing to risk it. If they’re not willing to risk anything for their country, why should we?
Venezuela is different. For one thing, if you’d seen the photos today of the new duly elected president being forced to try to enter the presidential office - since he’s the legitimate president - by climbing over the fence and then being pushed out by maduro’s “Revolutionary Guard,” you’d see the resolve to fight back. If the Iraqis had shown any such resolve, this letter would never have been sent.
(I bet)
CNN: Trump follows Putin’s orders to retreat from Iraq so the US cannot support Syrian rebels. (ISIS) This is satire but that IS the world we live in.
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