Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday insisted that the Trump administration’s policy in Iraq had not changed and that the American military would remain in the country — despite a leaked draft of a letter from a top US military commander in Iraq saying the opposite.
“Our policy has not changed. We are not leaving Iraq and a draft unsigned letter does not constitute a policy change,” Esper told reporters at the Pentagon.
“There’s no signed letter, so there may be people trying to create confusion, but what I said a few times now, our policy has not changed. We are in Iraq, and we are there to support Iraqi forces and [the] Iraqi government, become a strong, independent and prosperous country.”
But Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi told his cabinet Tuesday that the withdrawal of US-led coalition troops was the only way to deescalate tensions following the killing of Maj. Gen Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds forces.
And he disputed the Pentagon’s contention that the letter was “a mistake,” The Washington Post reported.
“They said it’s a draft,” Abdul Mahdi said.
“OK, it’s a draft — but we received it. If I don’t trust you and you don’t trust me, how are we supposed to proceed?”
Abdul Mahdi contradicted Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said the letter was an unsigned planning draft discussing new deployments.
Instead, the Iraqi PM said, it had been signed by US Marine Corps Brig. Gen. William Seely, and was translated for him twice in one evening.
Adding to the confusion, the Daily Mail reported that the letter had been translated into Arabic, though it was unclear if the translated letter was legit.
Iraq’s parliament voted to expel foreign troops, reflecting fury over President Trump’s decision to kill Soleimani Friday at Baghdad International Airport.
The US had appeared to inform Iraqi officials Monday that it was pulling out of the country with the leak of the unsigned letter drafted by the Marine general at the helm of the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq.
The military chiefs’ comments came after the letter — unsigned but bearing the typed name of US Marine Corps Brig. Gen. William H. Seely III, the commanding general of Task Force Iraq — was leaked to media outlets.
“Sir, in deference to the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq, and as requested by the Iraqi Parliament and the Prime Minister, CJTF-OIR will be repositioning forces over the course of the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement,” read the unsigned letter from Seely.
The letter said there would be an increase in helicopter travel around the Green Zone and said, “We respect your sovereign decision to order our departure,” adding that the operations would take place at night to avoid disrupting the Iraqi public and avoid the perception that troops were being added, not withdrawn.
It was unclear how night operations would accomplish that.
Meanwhile, Iraqi militia leaders continued rattling sabers, saying that the US Embassy in Baghdad and coalition military bases would make tempting targets for retaliation.
“The American Embassy in Baghdad is like a military base and a den of espionage, there are thousands of Marines there and it is a very big target for the resistance,” said Nasser Al-Shammari, deputy secretary general of the Iranian-backed Iraqi Hizbullah Al-Nujaba movement, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
MEMRI also reported that Muqtada Al-Sadr, a Shia cleric and the leader of the powerful Sadr movement, taunted Trump in a statement.
“O dweller in casinos, are you threatening our people with a siege? O dweller in nightclubs, are you threatening our people with sanctions? Your house is flimsier than spiderwebs, your weapon is weaker than a mosquito bite; your voice and your tweets are more loathsome than the braying of a donkey,” Al-Sadr said.
“Have you forgotten Vietnam? Are you pining for another quagmire?”