WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2009-01-22 Time: 17:00:09 Posted By: Jan
By Marwan Ibrahim
Baghdad – Iraq said on Thursday that it is prepared for an early drawdown of American troops after President Barack Obama asked the United States military to draft plans for a withdrawal from Iraq.
“If the US pullout comes early, our Iraqi forces have prepared for this,” defence ministry spokesperson Major General Mohammed al-Askari told reporters.
“Our forces have been readying for this mission since last year and we are fully capable of handling security without relying on US forces. We only need US air support and intelligence,” Askari said.
On Wednesday, Obama said he had told top military commanders to make the necessary plans for a “responsible” withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
“I asked the military leadership to engage in additional planning necessary to execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq,” Obama said in a statement a day after being sworn in as president and commander-in-chief.
The president said he issued the instructions in a meeting with the US ambassador to Iraq, the US military commander in Iraq, the commander for the region and top cabinet and national security officials.
During his campaign for the presidency, Obama promised to bring all US troops out of Iraq in 16 months. But he has said would listen to the advice of the commanders, and has narrowed the drawdown pledge to combat troops.
Obama, who opposed the Iraq war, has said he wants to redeploy thousands of combat troops from the country to Afghanistan, where conditions have deteriorated and which he says is the prime front against al-Qaeda.
However, the top US commander in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, has pressed to keep a large force in Iraq at least through this year because of fears that security gains there could fall apart.
Security throughout Iraq has improved dramatically over the past year, although Baghdad and provinces such as Diyala and Nineveh, where al-Qaeda linked insurgents remain active, come under regular attack.
The US military is currently taking a back seat to an increasingly large Iraqi force made up of 560 000 policemen and 260 000 military personnel, with the US military logistical and air support on request.
According to the Pentagon, 142 000 American troops are deployed in Iraq and 33 000 in Afghanistan.
Under an agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad in November, the US military is slated to withdraw its combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 and must have them out of cities by the end of this June.
General Askari said that last year, for fear that a troop deal would not be reached before a UN mandate expired on December 31, contingency plans were already made.
“Our forces were ready to take responsibility for security operations in 2008 because we thought there would be no signing of security agreement.”
The UN mandate was put in place on October 16, 2003, six months after the US and allies invaded Iraq to topple dictator Saddam Hussein. It allowed foreign troops to legally operate on Iraqi soil.
Iraq won a number of concessions in the agreement, including the right to search US military cargo and the right to try US soldiers for crimes committed off-duty and off their bases.
The agreement also requires that US troops obtain Iraqi permission for all military operations, and that they hand over the files of all detainees in US custody to the Iraqi justice system. – Sapa-AFP
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20090122113939368C228959