US Against “Arbitrary” Troop Withdrawal Timetable
The US is still against the creation of an “arbitrary” date for the withdrawal of US military forces from Iraq, it emerged on July 9th. The comments came after officials in Iraq had highlighted the prospect of a timetable being drawn up for the US troops' exit from the country before the end of 2008.
"We have always been opposed and remain so to an arbitrary withdrawal date”, Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino advised the media today.
Ground Conditions
As far as the US is concerned, decisions of this kind should have their basis in “conditions on the ground” – something that Iraqi officials agreed with – Perino added.
Security Agreement
On the previous day, the national security advisor in Iraq had asserted that the country would fail to accept a new security agreement involving the US unless a specific timeframe for the US military’s departure was written into it. However, a spokesman for the Iraqi government said that such a timetable would be based on the state of the country.
These contrasting opinions served to emphasise the differences that have emerged in Baghdad concerning the agreement with Washington set to dictate the future of US soldiers deployed in Iraq when, at year-end, the present United Nations mandate allowing their presence there terminates.
According to the White House, the Iraqi officials’ statements on the issue of the scheduling of US troop withdrawals were, in some ways, indicative of security improvements there.
"I think that is a reflection of first and foremost the positive developments that we've seen recently in Iraq, but in addition to that, the negotiations are intensifying", Perino commented.
"This is about their future and they want to take on more of their own responsibility, and we want that too".
Speaking today, Perino did not detail when a new security agreement could be finalised, but stated: "We want to be able to try to work this out quickly and the main reason that we want this is because our troops are going to be there past the end of this year, that's a fact.”
Source – Armed Forces International’s US Correspondent
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