The US military is preparing to reduce its presence in Iraq by several hundred troops, and this will involve removing forces from three bases in the country, including the al-Qaim base near Syria’s border, and airbases near Mosul and Kirkuk.
Officials are not providing a timetable for these cuts, but are justifying them as part of the “success” of the fight against ISIS, saying the areas are securely under the control of Iraqi security forces. No mention was made of recent US airstrikes against Iraqi militias.
With Pentagon officials presenting that as a fight against Iran, there was some speculation that this would mark the beginning of a new US escalation into Iraq, even though Iraq is plainly objecting to that strategy. The US has been moving additional air defenses into Iraq to protect troops from retaliation.
It may be, then, that removing troops from these mostly western bases will allow the US to focus more heavily on its presence in eastern Iraq, and focusing air defenses in those areas, where rockets are more likely to be fired by militias.
Hmmm. Are troops being redeployed in Iraq, or being brought home to somehow help with COVID-19?
The outbreak is not a bad pretext for removing troops from Iraq, but the implications for the home front aren’t great if COVID-19 response is to be militarized as Ditz points out elsewhere.
https://news.antiwar.com/2020/03/16/pentagon-warns-they-arent-set-up-to-fight-coronavirus
However, U.S. troops in the middle of a raging epidemic panic in Iraq, that everyone may come to blame the U.S. for, would be a far greater disaster.
Thank God – they are going – whatever the reason. All they brought to Iraq was death and destruction with thousands of Iraqi men,women and children being killed by the people who invaded their country in the guise of freeing them.
The US fight against ISIS and other terrorist groups is a hoax.
it`s like an arsonist bragging about he has extinguish the fire.
The default position on any official announcement about US military affairs coming from Pompeo, the State Dept, or the Pentagon, should be that it’s a load of bullshit, totally phony, a contempt-filled-in-your-face-fuck-you lie, the diametric opposite of reality.
“saying the areas are securely under the control of Iraqi security forces” with no mention the US is bombing those same Iraqi security forces.