US Troop Withdrawal Would Be Complete In Three Years Under New Plan, Iraqi Foreign Minister Says

In an interview with The Times of London, Iraq's Foreign Minister said that a new draft agreement with the United States would have troops out of the country in three years, with withdrawals beginning next summer.

In one of the most detailed insights yet into the content of the deal, Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, has also told The Times that the US military would be barred from unilaterally mounting attacks inside Iraq from next year.

In addition, the power of arrest for US soldiers would be curbed by the need to hand over any detainee to a new, US-Iraqi committee. Troops would require the green light from this joint command before conducting any operation.

The Pentagon refused to comment last night on the proposals laid out in the draft agreement between Baghdad and Washington that covers the status of US forces beyond 2008. Britain will strike its own deal with Iraq but Gordon Brown hopes to withdraw most British troops from Iraq by next summer, reducing the number of soldiers from 4,100 to "a few hundred" by then.

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Comments

[RayPacNW]

This would have been so much simpler if, in the 21st century, nations did not invade other nations.

[bronceye]

The Obama/Maliki peace plan is in motion.

[PROELIATOR]

Must be nice to sit in the cheap seats throwing snowballs...
This line of comments seems to be a competition to see who can come up with the best moniker for freely elected people. So cynical...if it's that bad and your leaders are so evil, move somewhere else where you can have it your way, say whatever you want, and do whatever you want. Think voter turnout will top 40%?

[ZHarris]

AMERIKA: Love it or fix it...

[Podewumun]

RIGHT ON!

[comacoma]

Love it AND fix it.

[WLA]

Yew LIBRULS shud move TA RUSHA!

[23000Days]

Haven't you heard? The concept of constitutional democracy requires the PEOPLE to run the show, and the pols to serve at the peoples pleasure. When this runs amock, it's the PEOPLE"S charge to right it.
Is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness a forgotten concept?

[Furby]

No, just an extremely expensive concept.

[Marlyn]

Not good enough. Not fast enough. NOT 3 more years. No more! OUT of IRAQ NOW!

[Deparis]

I feel you girl, but what they are saying is that US troops would be out within three years. Whether it takes a day to withdraw all combat forces, find, but no more than 3 years. Other than that, I would be glad if they were all home yesterday too.

[Corinth]

The logistics of leaving is a nightmare. I’m totally with you on the sooner is better thing, but we simply have so much tonnage of equipment… and no- we’re not going to leave Abram Main Battle Tanks and Apache Longbows behind- we need those! So, even if they pull out all combat troops first it would take a year to get them all out. That’s pretty realistic frankly- going through customs and all the authorities to leave country, demobilize- turn in equipment, and seeing a whole battery of doctors, legal council, VA benefits classes, chaplains and the mental health evaluation takes time no matter how you cut it, and if you try to shove too many too quickly through that bottleneck things will go badly. So, say a year to pull out a majority of the Marines and a hefty portion of the combat Soldiers, two years in will have almost all the vehicles and communication assets, the servers and satellite links, the radar and Tropo etc. And then a year of leeway and wiggle room in case things get bogged down but delays (which are bound to happen whenever the State department is involved). This is a good plan. This is walking off the battlefield. Any faster is sketchy and in line with dashing off so fast you leave your rifle and helmet behind.

[SweetSydney]

Hil's name will be on the ballot and a roll call will be conducted.

But Bar-ry will still be the nominee.

Uh-huh.

Bar-ry thinks he can trust the Clin-tons? He's going to get punked at his own convention.

[RayPacNW]

Way to stay on topic.

[WLA]

I bet you hope your guy can keep the wheels on until the RNC.

[ZHarris]

but what do you think of the Iraqi time table?

[SweetSydney]

Great!

What do you think about leaving with a win instead of withdrawing in defeat as your party was urging a year ago?

[gapanther]

you would know a lot about being punked wouldn't you?

[lovethesinner]

Head fake. Republicans are trying to take Iraq of the table. Won't work.

Obama-Feingold '08

[maxdenn]

There is but one hope for pulling out of Iraq. A new Demo president. I'll be voting for the Sen. from Illinois soon. And I think he'll win.

[BabsfromKansas]

I KNOW he will win!

[white mende man]

that's what we thought about the character in the white house too... be scared be very scared

[MetalCanuck]

Just too bad he helped destroy the constitution and he is bought and paid for by the same people as Bush. He has CFR advisor's and a war criminal adviser that you guys like to call Zigbrew.

[WLA]

Boosh is doing a fine job "destroying the Constitution," thankyouverymuch.

[Clenbuterol]

Looks like the deal might be signed and sealed before and if O.bamma takes office, depriving him of the glory. Won't have anything much to do his first year except raise taxes. Too bad.

[WLA]

Keep up the lies, klanbutteroil.

Nice to see that the news coming out of Iraq is coming from the Iraqi puppet administration... They're probably more believable that this mess of a white house.

[TrueThis]

What are you talking about? Everything is off the table once Obama is in office. It time to bring our soliders home and give them the respect they are due. We are paying $10 billion dollars a day in Iraq and you say "too bad?"

WHEN Obama is president, he has a lot to do; like--cleaning up the crap Bush made. We have loss so much respect internationalybecause of this bad, ignorant and cocky administration. A good example Russia. Now Georgia is getting a good awaken about your "too bad" McBush after they put their soliders in harms way in Irag.

[Americano]

The only reason a troop withdraw is on the table is because both the Iraqis and the American public "want out!" They've had it with us and we've had it with them! End of war!!!

[Paul]

Maybe Obama will rebuild New Orleans.

Or do something useful about energy independence.

McCain will look for another war to fight.

[sugarmoes]

not a moment too soon but so many moments too late. as in... never should've happened.

it's a good thing bush is taking obama's advice now and following along like a good little boy.

there's a thing called "future soldier deaths" that you don't seem to care about.

tsk tsk...

wait lookie there! volleyball player! pickles!!! hold me flag me touch ballyball player weeeeee!!!!

[barackobama4prez]

i guess jmac can't talk about the surge surge surge anymore.

[PWT]

What was the point of the surge again? Oh yes, to provide anough military strength to stabilized the country and to allow the local government to make progress and eventually allow the US to cede control of military operations to the Iraqis. Since the surge worked as planned, the US can now begin to cede control to the Iraqis and begin withdrawing troops.

"jmac" should stop talking about the surge as it probably grates on the nerves of the "reality based" comunity and makes them face inconvenient facts not only about how pathetic and incompetent their leaders are buy also what pathetic salad-tossers they themselves are.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

Yeah...but unfortunately he can still sing bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.

[Americatortures]

Nice to see both nations following Obama's lead......except for McCain!! Isn't this the same "foreign policy expert" who said just yeaterday:"In the 21st century,nations do not invade other nations"?? Thought so!!LMAO!!

[maxdenn]

I wonder if any possible future right wing president would lie to us about anything just to get elected?

[MikeLee7125]

Gee, Obama called it pretty good for somebody with "no meaningful experience."
Better than "100 years in the desert" McCain.

[Grannysue]

So John Boy, does this mean we WON?????

[Marlyn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMp-YNaDdg

Here is Iraq today. Does this look like Mission Accomplished? A shining new democracy in the Middle East that we can all thank GW Bush for?

[Furby]

Depends. What was the mission again? Anyone remember?

[robotfog]

I'm not sure bush will be involved in any real pull out of Iraq. His corporate backers probably have some pretty tough terms. It could take them forever to be satisfied.

[Diogenis]

George said: "Pull out"? "Doesn't sound like the manly thing to do!"

[zakwouldhave]

Who deals with Sadr after we leave? I am all for withdrawing soon but Sadr is lurking.....
And can we give Hans Blix his old job back of making sure Iraq stays clear of WMD's. We could have saved many lives and $$ if we had let Hans finish his job. duh.

[comacoma]

Is al Sadr building troop transports?

[Americatortures]

He'll be "LURKING" if we leave in 20 years,too!!!

[23000Days]

You're so right, but if you ever had the idea that Iraq would not end up being a Shia moderate/fundamentalist country, just take a look at the headcount and the neighbors. There are elections there soon; we can expect to see a lot of him.Many iraqis wan vengeance for the brutal rule under baathist sunnis.
I wonder if the puppets have signed over the oil?

[Marlyn]

"Sadr is lurking" ???

For God's sake, it is Sadr's home which has been destroyed, and you say he is "lurking"?