Pentagon: Troop-numbers talks with Iraq 'are ongoing'

Pentagon: Troop-numbers talks with Iraq 'are ongoing'

www.cnn.com

Washington (CNN) -- The Pentagon on Monday denied claims that the United States and Iraq have been unable to come to an agreement that would allow some U.S. troops to remain in Iraq after the end of 2011, telling reporters that talks are still going on.

"I'm not sure I would characterize it as an impasse," Defense Department spokesman George Little said. "I think that we continue to work through these issues, and we still have time to go."

The remaining 39,000-plus U.S. troops who remain in Iraq are slated to leave by year's end, and U.S. commanders are "very comfortable" that th

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Well I knew that had to be a bunch of BS.

NO way they were gonna pull out of Iraq by the end of January. They still have some operations they want to get done I am sure.

Training mission my bum! More covert operations I'm willing to bet.

No final decisions have been made. And they're going at, I would say, multiple levels, but certainly bilaterally on the ground in Baghdad," Toner said.

But earlier, a senior U.S. military official with direct knowledge of the discussions told CNN that a key issue regarding legal immunity for U.S. troops who would remain in Iraq after the end of the year had effectively ended the discussion. The Iraqi government's refusal to grant legal protections for any Americans who stay after the current status of forces agreement ends in 2011 has been an issue for the Obama administration, which insists that immunity is necessary.

"Iraqis could not come to meet important terms for the U.S.," according to the senior U.S. official. "I think the discussions on numbers are over."

So really it seems that the US wants to make sure that any soldier caught doing what they should not, doesn't get any form of legal trouble.

Sounds just about right.

Thoughts ATS?

~Keeper

www.cnn.com
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Sounds like the plop of steaming male bovine feces, looks like a pile of steaming male bovine feces, must be a steaming pile of male bovine feces. Legal immunity? Really? What does that imply, that US soldiers are not conducting themselves properly and need immunity from prosecution? It's their country, you break their rules you should pay the price. It's no different than a foreigner/visitor breaking the law here.

reply to post by OblivionGate


Yup, that's certainly what the government is saying, that they want immunity for crimes committed.

I'm not really surprised, they did the same thing when the whole domestic spying fiasco came out. George just had retro immunity passed for everybody who broke the law.

Bunch of crooks. Although I doubt that the majority of US soldiers are breaking laws, the few that do, probably do it enough to make them all look bad.

~Keeper

Don't know what to make of it? I have seen in other news reports that the US mission will indeed end on the specified date. That to me spells out that the negotiation between the Iraqi government and US government fell through. As I see it, the US is no longer responsible for security, and a duly elected government has formed in Iraq. Therefore in that capacity, it is solely the Iraqi government's decision to renew any form of US force presence in Iraq. If the US wants to house troops at the embassy that is fine, because the embassy would be US sovereign territory.

However, in Iraq proper. any US presence would have to be decided by the Prime Minister and the Iraqi Parliament. The Department of Defense and more or less the US government is going to have to realize that. The mission is practically over and it appears the Iraqis are posed to pull the plug by the deadline. As far as I see it, the future of Iraq is their own. If the situations grows sour as a result of a US departure, it will be their responsibility to mitigate the problem. In others words, they are on their own going forward. If a situation arises after they have made their decision, and they decide to request US assistance? Iraq would have to foot the bulk of the cost for redeploying assets after the withdrawal date. Now is the time to either crap or get off the pot for the Iraqi government. It's time to go home.