The US could withdraw as many as 50,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year because there are enough Iraqi forces ready to begin taking control of parts of the country, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told the Washington Post.
In an interview with the newspaper that was published yesterday, Talabani said he would discuss reductions in US forces during a private meeting with President George W. Bush and said he thought the US could pull some troops out immediately.
"We think that America has the full right to move some forces from Iraq to their country because I think we can replace them [with] our forces," Talabani said. "In my opinion, at least from 40,000 to 50,000 American troops can be [with-drawn] by the end of this year."
After the newspaper contacted the White House and Pentagon for comment, a senior adviser to Talabani called the Post to say the Iraqi president did not intend to suggest a specific timeline.
"He is afraid ... this might put the notion of a timetable on this thing," the adviser told the newspaper. "The exact figure of what would be required will undeniably depend on the level of insurgency [and] the level of Iraqi capability."
Bush has refused to set a timetable for reducing the number of US troops in Iraq.
White House adviser Dan Bartlett told the paper, "We share the same view: As Iraqis build up their capabilities to defend their country, fewer US troops will be needed to complete our mission. The president will continue to work with Iraqi leaders and base his military decisions on the advice of commanders in the field and the secretary of defense."
Insurgents shelled the heavily fortified Green Zone and other parts of central Baghdad early yesterday. US commanders said more than 400 suspects had been captured during the offensive to retake the northern town of Tal Afar.
Two mortar rounds exploded near a military hospital in the Green Zone that houses the Iraqi government, parliament, the US and other foreign missions.
Security in the zone was boosted earlier this month after reports that suicide bombers were trying to penetrate the zone.
Police said at least two other rounds exploded in Baghdad.
US commanders in Tal Afar said that over 400 suspected rebels were in custody as a result of recent offensives there.
Meanwhile, three Turkish engineers kidnapped by insurgents in Iraq two months ago have been released near the central city of Beiji on Monday and have returned to Turkey, state-run Anatolian news agency said yesterday.
The three men were shown on a video released to Arabic television last month in which their captors said they were issuing a "last warning" to companies dealing with US-led forces in Iraq.
"They didn't push us around at all, but every night they threatened to kill us, saying `we will cut off your heads,'" the agency quoted one of the men, Fatih Yigit, as saying after reaching the Turkish border.
"The only thing our captors wanted was for our firm to pull out of Iraq," he said.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image