8/26/2010
Iraq vice-president says Baghdad, Washington can revise pullout deal
Baghdad, Iraqi Vice-President Adel Abdel mahdi said here Thursday it is the right of Baghdad and Washington to introduce changes to a US troop withdrawal agreement.
"As per the (pullout) deal, it is the right of the US side to ask for changes, while, comparatively, it is the right of the Iraqi side to discuss and to ask for amendments," Abdel Mahdi was quoted as saying by the presidency in a release handed out here Thursday.
But, the Iraqi vice-president said the US troop withdrawal agreement is properly being put in place.
The US military command in Baghdad had said that the number of forces still deployed in Iraq was 52,000.
It said in a release that under the military drawdown plans, by September 1 the US military presence in Iraq is to be down to 50,000, with their mission to be in supporting and training regular Iraqi forces but not having combat duties.
These US forces are to be withdrawn by the end of 2011 pursuant to a previously signed US-Iraqi security deal.
The security agreement between Baghdad and Washington provides for US combat troop withdrawal from Iraq by the end of August 2010, and full US pullout from the country by the end of 2010.
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