(Newswire.net — January 7, 2020) — The US military today allegedly notified Iraq’s military command of a “repositioning” of the coalition of anti-jihadist forces to “withdraw safely and effectively from Iraq.”
This is stated in a letter seen by an AFP journalist. The letter is confirmed to be authentic, however, the U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters there were no plans to pull up stakes.
‘There’s been no decision whatsoever to leave Iraq, period,’ Esper said, adding that he and his staff were ‘trying to figure out’ the meaning of the letter signed by a brigadier general that suggested the opposite, Mail Online quoted Mr. Esper.
The confusion started after the letter to Iraq’s military command emerged, in which the U.S. command agrees to remove troops. Adding to that, the U.S. command started moving troops in what seems to be an extraction from the country.
“There are no plans to leave,” Esper emphasized, suggesting discussion of a massive troop movement could be merely a repositioning within Iraq borders.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, however, confirmed the content of the letter, but stated that the letter was a draft that was released by a mistake.
The draft was ‘poorly worded’ and ‘implies withdrawal. That is not what’s happening,’ Milley argued.
The decision to “redistribute” anti-jihad troops came after Iraqi parliament called for the departure of US troops from Iraq after the US killed Iranian General Kasem Suleimani at a Baghdad airport. Iraq officials fear that Iranian troops may attack U.S. targets in Iraq bringing a new devastating war on their soil.
“We respect your sovereign decision ordering our departure,” reads the letter signed by General William H. Sili, commander of US military operations in Iraq.
The letter was sent a day after the request of the Iraqi Assembly to the Government of that country to expel foreign troops from Iraq.
The Iraqi parliament has passed a resolution calling on the Baghdad government to demand that US troops leave the country permanently, canceling “a call for help sent to a US-led coalition.” Under the International law, without the invitation, the U.S. military presence in Iraq is illegal. However, a Parliament’s resolutions, unlike the law, are not binding on the government to comply.
The resolution of the Iraq Parliament to cancel hospitality to U.S. troops in the country came after a few missiles presumably launched by Iran to the US Embassy in Baghdad missed the target but hit the residential complex nearby killing civilians.
Residents of the Iraqi capital say, however, that there was a second attack and that three explosions have erupted in the heavily-fortified Green Zone, the headquarters of the US Embassy and the Iraqi government.