It's Unanimous Iraq's Political Leaders Agree ~ Talabani Announces All U.S. troops out of his country by an agreed year-end deadline!

October 2, 2011

Talabani: Iraq of one voice on US pullout

Iraq's President Jalal al-Talabani says all the Iraqi political leaders unanimously agree that the United States has to take its troops out of his country by an agreed year-end deadline.

“There was unanimity amongst political leaders on the withdrawal,” the head of state said in Baghdad on Sunday, the AP reported. He made the comments after meeting with the country's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as well as other senior Iraqi figures in the Iraqi capital.

Around 47,000 US troops are currently stationed in Iraq. The forces should all leave the country's soil by the end of 2011 under the terms of a 2008-clinched bilateral security deal known as the Status of Forces Agreement.

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Earlier in the year, however, Robert Gates, the former US secretary of defense, who was recently replaced by Leon Panetta, pled for the extension of the military presence. Also in August, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, said that Washington would "keep some American troops in the country” at, what he called, Baghdad's potential request.

Talabani said he expected that, during a next week meeting, Iraqi politicians agree whether some of the forces should remain for training purposes.

“The meeting, which is due to be held next Tuesday evening, is to discuss the American troops' withdrawal as there is unanimity on the withdrawal. And the topic of trainers will be discussed in the said meeting and God willing we hope to a reach a unanimous decision in the next meeting,” he said.

In 2003, the US invaded Iraq under the pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction allegedly stockpiled by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

However, later it was revealed that not only was not the former Iraqi regime in possession of the arms, but also that the US and British leaders, who had defended the military action, knew about the non-existence of the arms.

Over one million Iraqis have been killed during the invasion, according to the California-based investigative organization Project Censored.

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