US troops will not be removed from areas of Iraq that are not completely secure or where there is a high probability that attacks could resume after they leave, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Sunday.
In an interview, al-Maliki said he had told US President Barack Obama and other top US officials that any withdrawals “must be done with our approval” and in coordination with the Iraqi government.
“I do not want any withdrawals except in areas considered 100 percent secure and under control,” al-Maliki said during his flight from Australia to Baghdad at the end of a five-day visit.
“Any area where there is a likelihood of a resumption of attacks, withdrawals from there will be postponed,” he said.
The US-Iraq security pact that went into effect on Jan. 1 calls for US combat forces to leave the cities by the end of June in the first step of a plan to remove all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. Obama wants to withdraw all combat troops by September next year, leaving behind a residual force of up to 50,000 soldiers to train Iraqi forces and go after al-Qaeda.
Al-Maliki did not specify areas where the removal of US troops might be delayed. But those areas would likely include Mosul, the country’s third largest city, and Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad. Al-Qaeda and other Sunni extremist groups operate in both areas, despite repeated offensives by US and Iraqi forces.
Also Sunday, a senior US officer told reporters that US troops will focus on attacking insurgent supply routes and rural hideouts after combat troops withdraw from Baghdad at the end of June.
Brigadier General Frederick Rudesheim, a deputy commander of US forces in Baghdad, said the shift from the cities to large bases outside will help make the capital safer because US troops can go after militants at the source: the countryside where they plan their attacks and load up on guns and bombs.
Meanwhile, an opinion poll published yesterday shows that for the first time since the 2003 invasion, Iraqis were hopeful about the future and are increasingly preoccupied with conventional worries such as the economy and jobs. But it also showed that Iraqis remain unhappy about the role of foreign powers in their country, notably Iran, the US and Britain.
The survey was undertaken jointly by the BBC, ABC News and Japan’s NHK television last month. A total of 2,228 Iraqis were questioned across all 18 provinces. The margin of error is 2.5 per cent, the BBC said.
The survey is the sixth in a series of surveys since March 2004 and shows a marked overall improvement in perceptions, the BBC said. It showed striking shifts in opinion since the last poll, in March last year.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
RSS