Devil Soul
ELITE MEMBER
Pentagon chief defends US pullout from Iraq (AFP)
15 November 2011 WASHINGTON Pentagon chief Leon Panetta on Tuesday defended the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq next month despite sharp criticism from some lawmakers, saying Washington had to accept that Iraq was a sovereign state.
In a politically charged hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Panetta told Republican hawks that the United States tried to negotiate a deal to keep a small contingent of troops in Iraq beyond the end of the year but the talks stumbled over the question of legal immunity for American soldiers.
In a testy exchange with Senator John McCain, who accuses President Barack Obama of abandoning Iraq, Panetta said it was not the case that the United States could simply decide what it wanted in Iraq.
This was about negotiations with a sovereign country, he said. This is not about us telling them what were going to have to do.
Although the Iraqi government was ready to adopt legal protections, US officials wanted the countrys parliament to ratify the safeguards but that proved too difficult, he said.
I was not about to have our troops go there... without those immunities, he said.
The US militarys top officer, General Martin Dempsey, told lawmakers he was concerned about the future of Iraq after the pullout but said he agreed with Obamas decision as American forces could not operate without legal protections.
In anticipation of the question about whether Im concerned about the future of Iraq, the answer is yes, Dempsey said.
But the general said this isnt a divorce and that the United States would maintain a role training and advising Iraqi security forces.
McCain, the Vietnam war veteran who argued for a surge of US forces in 2007, accused the Obama administration of political expediency in pulling out troops and said it would leave Iraq vulnerable to the influence of neighboring Iran.
He said he believed that the decision represents a failure of leadership, both Iraqi and American, that it was a sad case of political expediency supplanting military necessity, both in Baghdad and in Washington, and it will have serious negative consequences for the stability of Iraq and the national security interests of the United States.
Panetta, however, said he was confident that Iraq could manage its security and counter Irans influence.
To be sure, Iraq faces a host of remaining challenges, but I believe Iraq is equipped to deal with them, he said.
Iraqs political leaders basically reject what Irans trying to do, he added.
Following the US invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam Husseins regime, US and Iraqi leaders agreed a security pact in 2008 that called for the departure of all American troops by the end of 2011.
The US military withdrawal from Iraq is in full swing, with convoys and aircraft transporting troops and equipment out of the country before the end of the year.
15 November 2011 WASHINGTON Pentagon chief Leon Panetta on Tuesday defended the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq next month despite sharp criticism from some lawmakers, saying Washington had to accept that Iraq was a sovereign state.
In a politically charged hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Panetta told Republican hawks that the United States tried to negotiate a deal to keep a small contingent of troops in Iraq beyond the end of the year but the talks stumbled over the question of legal immunity for American soldiers.
In a testy exchange with Senator John McCain, who accuses President Barack Obama of abandoning Iraq, Panetta said it was not the case that the United States could simply decide what it wanted in Iraq.
This was about negotiations with a sovereign country, he said. This is not about us telling them what were going to have to do.
Although the Iraqi government was ready to adopt legal protections, US officials wanted the countrys parliament to ratify the safeguards but that proved too difficult, he said.
I was not about to have our troops go there... without those immunities, he said.
The US militarys top officer, General Martin Dempsey, told lawmakers he was concerned about the future of Iraq after the pullout but said he agreed with Obamas decision as American forces could not operate without legal protections.
In anticipation of the question about whether Im concerned about the future of Iraq, the answer is yes, Dempsey said.
But the general said this isnt a divorce and that the United States would maintain a role training and advising Iraqi security forces.
McCain, the Vietnam war veteran who argued for a surge of US forces in 2007, accused the Obama administration of political expediency in pulling out troops and said it would leave Iraq vulnerable to the influence of neighboring Iran.
He said he believed that the decision represents a failure of leadership, both Iraqi and American, that it was a sad case of political expediency supplanting military necessity, both in Baghdad and in Washington, and it will have serious negative consequences for the stability of Iraq and the national security interests of the United States.
Panetta, however, said he was confident that Iraq could manage its security and counter Irans influence.
To be sure, Iraq faces a host of remaining challenges, but I believe Iraq is equipped to deal with them, he said.
Iraqs political leaders basically reject what Irans trying to do, he added.
Following the US invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam Husseins regime, US and Iraqi leaders agreed a security pact in 2008 that called for the departure of all American troops by the end of 2011.
The US military withdrawal from Iraq is in full swing, with convoys and aircraft transporting troops and equipment out of the country before the end of the year.
