Top general: Iraq 'not ready' for US pull-out
Updated on 12 August 2010
Iraq is "not ready" for US troops to withdraw, a top Iraqi general has said, as a Middle East analyst tells Channel 4 News troops are leaving Iraq at a "vulnerable time".
US troops are due to begin pulling out of Iraq at the end of this month, apart from 50,000 soldiers who will support and train Iraqi forces before leaving the country by the end of 2011.
However, Iraq's most senior officer Lieutenant General Babakir Zebari told a defence conference in Baghdad that the Iraqi army would be unable to cope without backing from US forces, which may be needed for another decade.
"At this point, the withdrawal is going well, because they are still here," Zebari said. "But the problem will start after 2011 – the politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011.
"If I was asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready until 2020."
President Barack Obama's team yesterday backed the Iraqi army's "growing capability", despite recent increases in violence in Iraq, including an attack yesterday when insurgents killed eight Iraqi soldiers in Divala province and two policemen in Baghdad.
Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to the president, told White House journalists yesterday: "Iraq is on a positive trajectory".
Violence in Iraq rose sharply last month, with daily bombings, shootings and other attacks. According to Iraqi government ministries, the number of civilians killed nearly doubled in July to 396 from 204 in June. Fifty soldiers and 89 police officers were also killed.
US officials have said they expect violence to worsen as insurgents capitalise on the lack of leadership in the country, which still does not have a government after the elections in March did not produce a clear winner.
However, there are still considerably less violent civilian deaths than at the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006 and 2007. The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, briefed the president yesterday that July was the third least violent month in Iraq since January 2004.
James Denselow, Middle East security analyst at Kings College London, said there are concerns as to whether Iraq's security services will be able to fulfill their role.
"There are two issues to be aware of here. One is Iraq's ability to look after itself when the US leaves, for example against attacks from Iran.
"Second, there is the question of whether Iraq's security services can maintain order internally when there is a momentum of violence building up.
"The current political vacuum coupled with the lack of a decision on the status of oil-rich Kirkuk, which is a political flashpoint in Iraq, means the troops are leaving the country at a very vulnerable time."
