Iraqi leader: No need for U.S. troops after 2011

[cal04]

Source: AP

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that an agreement requiring U.S. troops to leave by the end of 2011 will stand because Iraqi forces are capable of taking care of the country's security.

The comments are his first on the subject since being tasked with forming a new government after nearly nine months of political deadlock, and some of his strongest to date on what is expected to be a key issue facing the next government.

"The security agreement with what it included of dates and commitments will remain valid, and I do not feel the need for the presence of any other international forces to help Iraqis control the security situation," al-Maliki told reporters during his first news conference since getting the formal request on Thursday to form the new government.

Under an agreement between Iraq and the U.S., all American troops are to leave the country by the end of 2011. The U.S. currently has a little less than 50,000 troops in Iraq, down from a one-time high of 170,000.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2010-11-27-iraq-us-troops_N.htm

[jamiefoxer]

1. great

declare victory. bring them home now.

[madmax]

3. Right now.

ditto Afganistan. It's over - we won. Let's pack it up and go home.

Call the Saudi Prince and have him hire Blackwater to police the middle-east. They have the money. Oh, and while they're at it how about all that Iraqi oil money that was suppose to pay for thier 'freedom'.
:mad:

[egoclothes]

2. ok

:evilgrin:

[Swampguana]

4. I feel we've overstayed our welcome

[kgnu_fan]

6. Never was "welcomed" We "shocked and awed" Iraq, without invitation Remember????.

[Swampguana]

8. True, poor choice of words on my part. No wonder they want us out.

[iamtechus]

5. Great! More cannon fodder for Afghanistan.

[herbm]

7. So we've postphoned the civil war until 2011.

[daleo]

9. Empires don't like sending troops home

Not while there is still any money in the tax base, anyway. So, I don't see this happening regardless of which party is in power in Washington, congress or president.