BREAKING NEWS: Chaos over U.S. troops in Iraq as Pentagon insists they WON'T withdraw despite general leading anti-ISIS coalition saying they'll move 'out of Iraq' in draft letter released by mistake amid anger over attack that killed Qassem Soleimani

Daily Mail ^ | 01/06/2020 | By DAVID MARTOSKO

[SeekAndFind]

BREAKING NEWS: U.S.-led military coalition says it will WITHDRAW from Iraq after country's parliament voted for anti-ISIS troops to leave in wake of Qassem Soleimani's death

• General in charge of U.S. coalition forces in Iraq tells military counterpart to prepare for helicopter flights as troops pull up stakes
• Letter says troops will soon begin flying out in transport helicopters under cover of darkness
• Donald Trump said Sunday that he would only withdraw troops if Iraq paid the U.S. for building and maintaining the main air base the coalition uses
• He also threatened greater sanctions than those he has imposed on Iran
• Iraq's parliament had passed a resolution, which is nonbinding, urging the government to evict American troops
• That was in response to Trump green-lighting a drone attack on an infamous Iranian military leader while he was in Baghdad, in Iraqi soil

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The U.S. military informed its counterparts in Baghdad on Monday it was preparing for 'movement out of Iraq,' a day after the Iraqi parliament urged the government in a non-binding resolution to oust foreign troops.

The head of the U.S. military's Task Force Iraq, Brigadier General William Seely, sent a letter to the head of Iraq's joint operations command, a copy of which was seen by several news agencies.

'Sir, in deference to the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq, and as requested by the Iraqi Parliament and the Prime Minister, [the coalition] will be repositioning forces over the course of the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement,' Seely wrote.

'We respect your sovereign decision to order our departure,' the letter said.

[SeekAndFind]

Even if we were to leave Iraq, we have plenty of resources to counter Iran when we have to.

[Responsibility2nd]

What are we to make of this letter? Was this fabricated?

___________________________________________

Wait and see. Between these threads indicating WITHDRAWAL and the ones DENYING WITHDRAWAL; take a wait and see approach.

[Balding_Eagle]

Letter posted on Drudge.

[Repeal The 17th]

so?

[Widget Jr]

That vote was a non-binding vote by Iran's stooges in the Iraqi Parliament. They were the only ones who voted on this, all the other MPs did not show up. If this is a attempt to tell the Iraqis loyal to Iraq and not Tehran to get off their asses and stand up for their country, lets hope it works.

[Revel]

Seeing signs that this is fake. But I can say one thing for sure. If We ever leave Iraq then we should not leave one military base structure standing. No runways in usable order. Destroy it all before we pull out. If we don’t then it will used against us by hostile forces.

[TADSLOS]

The Daily Mail is hyperventilating again.

[NEMDF]

If this is real, did this General Seely just go off any make up whatever he felt like doing? Or what happened?

[billyboy15]

Why isn’t the letter signed?

[Seruzawa]

What an obtuse headline.

[CharlesWayneCT]

The letter was clearly a draft, as it mentions things that have not happened (the Iraqi government has not yet acted on the legislative REQUEST).

THe question is, who sent the draft letter. Was it a stupid mistake, or is it one of the Obama plants in the military wanting to cause trouble.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Note that the Prime Minister has not asked us to leave, so the letter states something that is not true.

It is either a fabrication, or a draft letter the command asked for to have IN CASE the Prime Minister asked and the president decided to go along with it.

We also don’t know for a fact that this letter was sent to Iraq. We know the newspapers have it, and published it.

[max americana]

My Dad was in the Philippines on business when the bases issue was front news. The “nail”in the coffin was not politics on wheN / IF US troops should leave..

It was Mt Pinatubo erupting and making the base un-operational.

[max americana]

I trust the Daily Mail more than most newspapers here in America.

[Arones]

 

The terms "repositioning" and "onward movement" DO NOT mean "leave".

[SeekAndFind]

Here’s my take:

The letter was a DRAFT that was pre-written JUST IN CASE the resolution to expel US troops becomes law.

As it stands now, the resolution IS NON-BINDING.

1) It was voted on by a half-empty parliament with no participation from Sunnis and Kurds.

2) The Prime Minister had not signed it.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Must be one of hellarys 33,000 emails....

[eyedigress]

A volcano helped a wee bit.

[pepsi_junkie]

Well, Iraqi politicians just got handed a wake up call for how much virtue signalling they want to do about wanting removal of US troops. Because now they know if they ask for real the next thing do do is likely going to be welcoming their new Iranian overlords.

[Carl Vehse]

Have the general testify under oath that the letter was "released by mistake."