MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF US TROOPS FROM IRAQ SET TO BEGIN
The security situation in Iraq remains tense ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary vote.
More than 30 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing Wednesday in Baquba and several members of the Iraqi security force were killed Thursday during early voting.
Geoff Morrell, a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department, says U.S. military plans in Iraq remain on schedule despite the violence and the threats for increased attacks on civilians.
“Neither this attack nor any of the previous attempts to derail the electoral process and to destabilize the government have been or will be successful, nor do we anticipate that it will derail our responsible drawdown of forces in Iraq,” Mr. Morrell insists.
The U.S. military has around 96,000 soldiers in Iraq who will stay on duty in the weeks after March 7 elections. By September 1, however, the troop level will be reduced to 50,000.
Iraqis will head to the polls Sunday for the third time since U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Pentagon announced plans in February to change the name of the mission in Iraq from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn to reflect a shifting strategy for the U.S. military.
The New Dawn is far from the dawn the U.S. envisioned when in March 2003, when the Bush Administration inaugurated the invasion of Iraq with plans to implant a secular democracy to replace the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Iraq has been transformed into an Islamic republic. Article 2, Section A, of the Iraqi Constitution states: “No law that contradicts the established provisions of Islam may be established.”
The U.S. invasion produced another unexpected result: the expulsion of over 600,000 Christians from the country where they were protected by Hussein, and ethnic cleansing which has resulted in the slaughter of 2,000 more Christians.
The cost of the U.S. establishment of an Islamic regime in Iraq is expected to exceed $900 billion by September.
As of February 18, 4,379 US soldiers have been killed in the conflict, and 31,669 have been seriously wounded.
No comments:
Post a Comment