Time and time again, Iraqi officials have told the leadership of the United States to get its troops out of Iraq, yet, U.S. leadership acts as if the Iraqis want the U.S. to stay.
“If Iraq wants to keep some American troops in the country to offset its military vulnerabilities, I’m sure the U.S. government would welcome the discussions, but it needs to start very soon.”-U.S. Admiral Michael Mullen
About a week before Admiral Mullen made that statement, Defense Secretary Gates said the same thing.
“If folks here (Iraqis) are going to want us to have a presence, we’re going to need to get on with it pretty quickly in terms of our planning.”-Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense
Gates made that public statement after Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki told him no: “The Iraqi government is against of any presence of U.S. troops or other foreign troops on the Iraqi territory since they cause internal problems and problems in the region for Iraq.”-Nuri al-Maliki, Iraqi Prime Minister
Obviously the leadership of the United States doesn’t understand what ‘NO’ means. That wasn’t the only time (so far since January 2011) the United States was told by Iraqi leaders to get out.
“All Iraqi officials want a U.S. pullout from their country, and based on the Baghdad Security Pact signed by the two sides, all U.S. forces should withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.”-Bahr al-Uloum, former Iraqi Oil Minister
“Mr. Maliki rejected Gates’ demand, saying that Iraq will deal with the issue based on the security pact (signed between Washington and Baghdad).”-Ali al-Dabbaq, Iraqi Government Spokesman
“I don’t believe there is any need for them to stay after 2011. Because we are ready right now, we are fully qualified, competent. And we don’t have any will or wish for them to stay here, and there won’t be any American forces after 2011.”-Mohammad al-Askari, Iraqi Ministry of Defense spokesman
“They are not going to leave Iraq, and if they don’t leave Iraq by the end of 2011, then there will be no peaceful demonstrations, there will be something else.”-Iraqi protester
“We want them to get out of the country. It’s the last year for them.”-Sheik Ahmed al-Hasnawi
Get the point? Then what’s the motivation behind Robert Gates and Michael Mullen acting like the Iraqis are asking the U.S. to stay? So far, the only political group asking the U.S. to stay is the semi-autonomous Kudrish parliament. But their region, the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, is not covered under the current agreement for U.S. troop withdrawal. And Kurdish officials point out they have no say in it: “It is not related to Iraq’s Kurdish officials and they have no role in the U.S. forces’ stay or exit. It is up to the central government to decide on the issue.”-Sabah Barzandi, member of the parliament of Iraq’s Kurdistan region
For some reason the United States leadership is trying to use the Kurdish card as the reason for NOT leaving Iraq. Is it because of the strong ties, that Kurds have, to Iran? Is it because the U.S. is very close to invading Syria (just to the west of Iraqi Kurdistan), and then invading Iran (just to the east of Iraq)?