Although Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been seen as leaving the door open to some continued U.S. support, he has also asserted that Iraq no longer needs military help from the Americans. Any decision to extend the U.S. troop presence into 2012 would need approval from the Iraqi parliament. Compounding the problem is a wave of assassinations of government officials and threats by extremists of further violence should Iraqi leaders vote to extend the U.S. military presence.
“There is no certain time or certain date to decide on the U.S. military, and we will not be in a hurry to take a decision,” Osama al-Nujaifi, the speaker of parliament, said in an interview.
A growing chorus of military strategists in Washington would like a deal allowing at least some continued U.S. military presence in Iraq. Amid the broad unrest across the Middle East, they say, a U.S. foothold in Iraq is critical to help ensure stability in that country and to keep Iran and other potential aggressors in check.
But publicly the Obama administration has been adamant that any continued troop presence — beyond a couple of hundred military advisers attached to the U.S. Embassy — would be authorized only if Iraq requests help.
The lack of clarity about whether troops would be asked to stay or go is what Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, seemed intent on avoiding when he visited Iraq last month and requested its leaders to decide
“within weeks
” whether they wanted an extended U.S. presence.
An elaborate U.S military withdrawal is set to swing into high gear by late summer, with the removal of nearly 50,000 troops and 63,000 contractors; the closure of nearly 100 bases; and the hauling away or disposal of about 1 million pieces of equipment accumulated during eight years of conflict.
Gen. Babakir Zebari, a Kurd who holds a position roughly equivalent to that of the U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman, has said repeatedly that Iraq’s army “will not be ready to control Iraq until 2020.”
If Iraqi leaders decide late in the year to request that some U.S. troops or equipment stay, military officials say, it would entail significantly altering or even reversing the course and could compound security concerns and costs.
Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, insisted that Iraq would hold the course and be fine after U.S. forces leave.
“We highly understand that there is a legitimate worry from Washington and the Pentagon that the situation in Iraq, post-2011, might face some difficulties due to a so-called ‘power vacuum,’ ” Dabbagh said in an interview. “Definitely, we are not excepting of this theory. We frankly told Admiral Mullen that their presence here will be costly for them and definitely costly for us.”
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