US has a whole new deal with Iraq, and won’t talk about it
U.S. officials could not say how many troops currently in Iraq would leave the country under a new bilateral security agreement.
Jeff Schogol
Posted on Sep 27, 2024 3:15 PM EDT
The U.S. government’s plan to transition to a new bilateral security agreement with Iraq is about as clear as mud.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, two U.S. officials said that the relationship between U.S. and Iraq is fundamentally shifting but repeatedly refused to say how many of the roughly 2,500 U.S. troops currently in Iraq will withdraw from the country – if any – under the new agreement and where those service members who stay behind will be based. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity under rules established by the State Department.
“We’re not going to speak to our plans concerning specific base locations or troop numbers,” a senior defense official said. “We have been and will continue to be in active dialogue with the government of Iraq about how our bilateral relationship will evolve, which will certainly include changes to our force posture and troop numbers. For now, that remains in a planning process and under review. Until those decisions are reached, we won’t be providing specific information on numbers and locations regarding something that hasn’t been decided.”
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-iraq-security-agreement/
