Talabanni Speaks on US Troop Pullout, Again
It appears that Iraqi Prez Talabani has left his White House talking points memo at home again. You may recall that during his US visit in Septmember he veered from W's stance on troops in Iraq and said that they could start coming home this year. He clarified his comments the day after but now he is talking about reaching an agreement by the end of next year to send all the troops home.
posted by theCardinal @ 5:52 AM
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The UK's Defence Secretary was asked yesterday in Parliament when troops would withdraw from Iraq.
John Reid (Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence)
President Talabani referred to an agreement by the end of next year on the withdrawal of forces. He talked of starting the process by the end of next year. . . He also went out of his way to say—and I want the House to know exactly what we are saying—that that is not a commitment, but it is his estimate of when conditions for handover to the Iraqi forces might or could prevail. That is exactly what the Chief of the General Staff said yesterday and what I have said. In short, we are not saying that there will be an immediate withdrawal, which would—in President Talabani's words—be a catastrophe. We are not saying that there is an immutable timetable, nor are we saying that all our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2006. It is important that the House understands what I am saying, which is that, as we build up the Iraqi forces, the process of handover could start in some parts of Iraq—including in our area—by the end of 2006. Link
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