U.S. Can't Take A Whopping Great Iraqi Hint

By Steve Hynd

As I wrote yesterday, Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq has stated forthrightly and publicly that he believes the 2011 withdrawal of US occupation troops from his country can proceed on schedule. He basically told Joint Chiefs head Admiral Mullen, "we've got this".

�The military and the security forces have become able to take the responsibility, to maintain the security and to work with professionalism and patriotism. We will continue to enhance our combat abilities and capabilities while equipping (forces) with the latest weapons and equipment,� the premier told Mullen, according to a statement released on the prime minister's website.

But the thing is, the US wants to keep at least 10,000 troops in Iraq.

At the end of the Bush Administration, U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached a deal to gradually reduce the number of American troops in Iraq and withdraw them completely by the end of 2011. At the time, U.S. military officials said they assumed a new agreement would be reached that would allow some U.S. troops to remain.

The 10,000-troop deal under discussion represents a significant cut from an initial request made by the top commander in Iraq, Gen. Lloyd Austin. Gen. Austin had talked privately of wanting to keep at least 16,000 troops in Iraq, according to U.S. officials. But other military officials believed that figure would be too large for Baghdad to accept, and unpalatable to Mr. Obama, the officials said.

Mullen's visit to Iraq to press Maliki into accepting their continued presence follows visits and phone calls from Bob gates, Joe Biden, the Chief of Staff of the Army and John Boehner. They've all been told the same thing as Mullen was.

Mullen and the Obama administration's reaction? Pretend nothing has been said.

 Iraq has only weeks to decide if it wants to keep U.S. troops beyond an end-2011 deadline for their withdrawal, the top U.S. military officer said on Friday in Baghdad following talks with Iraq's prime minister.

The comments by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, are the strongest so far by U.S. officials warning Baghdad that Washington will soon have to initiate the withdrawal of its 47,000 forces under the terms of a bilateral security pact.

Asked what Iraq's deadline was for deciding, Mullen said: "I think the timeline is in the next few weeks."

So much for Obama's promise to see every American soldier out of Iraq by the end of 2011, in line with the agreement belatedly made by his equally-warmongering predecessor. If the troops leave on time, it will be because Iraqis refused to buckle, not because the President and Nobel Peace Prize winner kept his word.