Ambassador: Don’t leave Iraq hastily

[unhappycamper]

Ambassador: Don’t leave Iraq hastily
By Robert H. Reid - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 23, 2009 6:22:04 EST

BAGHDAD — A hasty departure of U.S. troops from Iraq would carry severe risks, including bolstering al-Qaida and threatening Iraqi progress toward a functioning society, the outgoing U.S. ambassador said Thursday.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker spoke to reporters a day after he and the top U.S. commander in Iraq briefed President Barack Obama on the situation here.

Obama, who campaigned on a promise to end the war, asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning was necessary to “execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq,” the White House said Wednesday.

Crocker, who is retiring after a 30-year diplomatic career, declined to say what he and Gen. Ray Odierno told the president during the video hookup. But he noted that the president was committed to a responsible pullout of the more than 140,000-strong U.S. force.

“A precipitous withdrawal runs some very severe risks,” Crocker said, including a possible revival of al-Qaida and encouraging “neighbors with less than benign intentions” to influence events in Iraq.

Rest of article at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_iraq_crocker_012309w/%2e