Top Iraq general: U.S. army 'must stay' until 2020 - Aug 2010
Commander expresses concerns about readiness as U.S. forces prepare to exit
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LONDON ? The commander of Iraq's military is calling for U.S. forces to stay in the country for another decade, reinforcing his stance that his country's military won't be able to secure the nation on their own after U.S. troops leave. "At this point, the withdrawal is going well, because they are still here, but the problem will start after 2011," Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari said.
"The politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011... If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the U.S. army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020," the BBC reported. Under the Obama administration's plans, U.S. forces are due to start withdrawing from Iraq at the end of August, apart from 50,000 troops who will support and train Iraqi forces before leaving the country by the end of 2011.
Violence in Iraq has fallen since the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006-2007, but the number of violent civilian deaths, from daily bombings, shootings and other attacks, rose sharply in July. Zebari also raised his concerns earlier in the summer, telling the AP in June that Iraq needs the U.S. military in place until Iraqi forces prove capable of defending the nation, a benchmark which he also said at the time forces could take a decade to reach. "Look at the Turks, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain," he told the AP. "All of these countries have American bases under bilateral agreements. And I don't think we should be afraid of that idea."
Iraq's security forces have made great strides since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, after which officials disbanded the dictator's army and the once-feared police were jeered as toothless. U.S. commanders say violence is down by more than half since a year ago, when American troops pulled out of Iraqi cities, and has dropped 90 percent since October 2007 ? the peak of the U.S. military surge in Iraq. But bombings still happen almost daily across Iraq, often targeting the security forces. Drive-by shootings and kidnappings are common. And despite at least $22 billion the U.S. has spent on training and equipping the forces since 2004, many of the problems that have long plagued the army and police remain unresolved.
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This was inevitable. My guess is we
will see this actually happen. Get ready for another couple of decades of occupation in Iraq.