Confusion builds over letter on US troop withdrawal in Iraq

The news comes on the heels of the Pentagon’s admission that the letter informing Iraq’s Defense Ministry that U.S.-led coalition troops would leave Iraq “was a mistake.”

“A draft unsigned letter that was acquired by an Iraqi official has no import. It has no value whatsoever,” Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Tuesday in an interview with CNN.

“I will say this, the United States is not withdrawing from Iraq. In fact, in my conversations with my counterpart, the Iraqi defense minister, I conveyed to him that we do want to stay in Iraq and we want to continue the important defeat ISIS mission,” he added.

“That letter is a draft, it was a mistake, it was unsigned, it should never have been released,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday.

“Poorly worded, implies withdrawal,” Milley said. “That is not what’s happening,” he continued.

Alongside Milley, Esper told reporters earlier in the day that the U.S. was “repositioning forces throughout the region.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/confusion-builds-over-letter-on-us-troop-withdrawal-in-iraq.html