January 13 2011
US draws up plans for lasting Iraq presence
Despite Iraqi leaders’ insistence that the US meets its deadline for withdrawing all troops by the end of 2011, the contours of a large and lasting American presence in Iraq are starting to take shape.
Although a troop extension could still be negotiated, the politics of Iraq’s new government make that increasingly unlikely, and the Obama administration has shown little interest in pushing the point. Instead, planning is under way to turn over to the state department some of the most prominent symbols of the US role in the war — including several leading bases and a significant portion of the “green zone”.
The department would use the bases to house a force of private security contractors and support staff that it expects to triple in size, to 7,000 or 8,000, US officials said. Negotiations between the US and Iraq will determine the number of contractors and bases, as well as the number of uniformed military personnel the US hopes to keep in Iraq to continue training Iraqi security forces, the officials said.
But the return to Iraq last week of Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shia cleric who opposes any US military presence in the country, could jeopardise US plans.
Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for Mr Sadr, said the cleric and his movement opposed all American influences, and would have to “study” whether US contractors should be allowed to stay beyond 2011. “The Sadrists refuse with no doubt the existence of these bases,” added Rafi Abduljabar Noshi, a Sadrist lawmaker.
Most of the 86 remaining US bases in the country are expected to be turned over to Iraq. Those likely to be transferred to the state department, including the heavily damaged former palace of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard and the former Ba’ath party headquarters, would be a far cry from the airbases and other military assets that Pentagon planners once envisioned retaining indefinitely as a deterrent to further regional conflicts.
Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s newly re-elected prime minister, has insisted publicly that the US must abide by its agreement to leave, prompting US and Nato officials to begin planning other ways for 400 or more military personnel, as well as hundreds more in support staff, to remain in Iraq.
Lt Gen Michael D. Barbero, the outgoing commander of US and Nato training programmes in Iraq, said half that number could come from extending the Nato mission. Mr Maliki has formally asked Nato to begin planning for that possibility, Mr Barbero said, and leaders of Iraqi security forces and Nato officials support the idea.
The other half could stay under the auspices of the US embassy. The 2008 agreement that set this year’s deadline for the US troop withdrawal allows the state department to establish an Office of Security Co-operation in Iraq, which officials expect to resemble similar US military offices in embassies in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and elsewhere.
State department officials have been guarded about how many US military personnel could remain in Iraq under that plan, but diplomatic and military experts said it could be 200 or more.
US draws up plans for lasting Iraq presence
Despite Iraqi leaders’ insistence that the US meets its deadline for withdrawing all troops by the end of 2011, the contours of a large and lasting American presence in Iraq are starting to take shape.
Although a troop extension could still be negotiated, the politics of Iraq’s new government make that increasingly unlikely, and the Obama administration has shown little interest in pushing the point. Instead, planning is under way to turn over to the state department some of the most prominent symbols of the US role in the war — including several leading bases and a significant portion of the “green zone”.
The department would use the bases to house a force of private security contractors and support staff that it expects to triple in size, to 7,000 or 8,000, US officials said. Negotiations between the US and Iraq will determine the number of contractors and bases, as well as the number of uniformed military personnel the US hopes to keep in Iraq to continue training Iraqi security forces, the officials said.
But the return to Iraq last week of Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shia cleric who opposes any US military presence in the country, could jeopardise US plans.
Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for Mr Sadr, said the cleric and his movement opposed all American influences, and would have to “study” whether US contractors should be allowed to stay beyond 2011. “The Sadrists refuse with no doubt the existence of these bases,” added Rafi Abduljabar Noshi, a Sadrist lawmaker.
Most of the 86 remaining US bases in the country are expected to be turned over to Iraq. Those likely to be transferred to the state department, including the heavily damaged former palace of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard and the former Ba’ath party headquarters, would be a far cry from the airbases and other military assets that Pentagon planners once envisioned retaining indefinitely as a deterrent to further regional conflicts.
Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s newly re-elected prime minister, has insisted publicly that the US must abide by its agreement to leave, prompting US and Nato officials to begin planning other ways for 400 or more military personnel, as well as hundreds more in support staff, to remain in Iraq.
Lt Gen Michael D. Barbero, the outgoing commander of US and Nato training programmes in Iraq, said half that number could come from extending the Nato mission. Mr Maliki has formally asked Nato to begin planning for that possibility, Mr Barbero said, and leaders of Iraqi security forces and Nato officials support the idea.
The other half could stay under the auspices of the US embassy. The 2008 agreement that set this year’s deadline for the US troop withdrawal allows the state department to establish an Office of Security Co-operation in Iraq, which officials expect to resemble similar US military offices in embassies in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and elsewhere.
State department officials have been guarded about how many US military personnel could remain in Iraq under that plan, but diplomatic and military experts said it could be 200 or more.
AP
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