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IRAQ WARS
Preparations for US's Iraq withdrawal in full swing
by Staff Writers
Cos Kalsu, Iraq (AFP) Oct 30, 2011

Iraqi 'resistance' forced US pull-out: Iran's Khamenei
Tehran (AFP) Oct 29, 2011 - The Iraqi people's "unified resistance" forced the United States to pull its military out of their country, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday.

The national defiance "which finally resulted in America being forced to withdraw from Iraq is a golden page in the history of this nation," Khamenei told the visiting head of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Massud Barzani, according to his office.

The comments were the first reaction by Iran's paramount leader to US President Barack Obama's announcement on October 21 that the 39,000 US soldiers still stationed in Iraq would leave by the end of this year, drawing the curtain on the long eight-year war in Iran's neighbour.

Although the withdrawal was the fulfilment of a 2008 election campaign promise by Obama, Republican opponents have portrayed it as an error that would allow Iran to expand its influence in Iraq.

Both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta have warned Iran not to meddle in Iraq when the US forces leave.

Panetta said the United States "will maintain a long-term relationship with Iraq" and stated: "The message to Iran and everybody else that might have any ideas there is that the US is going to have a presence in the region for a long time to come."

Iranian officials have repeatedly called for US troops to leave Iraq ever since the 2003 invasion which overthrew Saddam Hussein.

US officials have accused Iran of arming and supporting Shiite militias in Iraq against US troops.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said immediately after Obama's announcement that the US withdrawal was "a good thing" and he expected a change in Tehran-Baghdad ties to ensue.


At a US base south of Baghdad, trucks plod in either direction amid a hive of activity: with the clock ticking on a year-end withdrawal from Iraq, preparations are in full swing.

Located in the centre of Iraq, just 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the capital near the town of Iskandiriyah, Contingency Operating Site Kalsu forms a crucial transit hub for the tonnes of materiel and thousands of soldiers moving out of the country, mostly towards Kuwait, in the coming two months.

The massive logistical operation has to be finished by December 31, in line with a security pact between Baghdad and Washington that US President Barack Obama said was on track this month.

"It's pretty big," said Captain Mark Alfers, the commander of the 606th Movement Control Team, a logistics unit on COS Kalsu.

"We've been here for eight-plus years, so there's just eight-plus years worth of equipment trying to get out of a single point."

Thanks to its strategic location, along the main thoroughfare heading south through Iraq, COS Kalsu will likely be one of the final five American bases left in the country, said Lieutenant Colonel Jason Hayes, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Cavalry Regiment.

It will be handed over to the Iraqi army along with a portion of materiel, but the exact date of its handover remains a secret for security reasons.

COS Kalsu serves as a "go-between for the smaller bases and the bigger hubs such as Kuwait or (Joint Base) Balad," a sprawling US base north of Baghdad, Alfers said.

As a result, between two and 20 convoys of up to 50 trucks apiece stop in Kalsu on their way south to refuel, and for passengers and drivers to get some rest.

Major General Jeffrey Buchanan, spokesman for US forces in Iraq, said that in the early part of October, 399 convoys with 13,909 trucks were used for the pullout in a single week.

At COS Kalsu, along with the countless flat-bed trucks and other vehicles, dozens of MRAPs -- "Mine Resistant Ambush Protected" troop carriers -- sit between rows of concrete blast walls that line the base's outer perimeter and parts of its interior.

Nearby, containers are piled up on top of each other, waiting to be carried out of the country, lugged out by contractor-driven trucks that regularly come and go.

Much of the military equipment remains hidden for security reasons.

"The biggest challenge is that this drawdown only happens once a war, once a conflict, so you can plan and plan for it but the plans keep changing," said Alfers. "You have to keep the enemy on their toes, so you can't really publish a plan."

These operations have been ongoing for several months, but Obama's October 21 announcement that all US troops would leave Iraq by year-end quashed any remaining speculation over potential for an American military training mission beyond 2011.

"The withdrawal operation really started to become big about a month ago," said Major Frank Cruz, a logistics officer on COS Kalsu. "Now, it's only getting busier."

Like his soldiers, Hayes does not yet know when he will finally leave Iraq. As to where they will go, some are hoping for a country less austere, like Germany, while others are looking to spend Christmas with their families.

Around 39,000 American soldiers remain in Iraq, stationed on 15 bases, including approximately 3,000 on COS Kalsu. That compares to peak figures of nearly 170,000 soldiers and 505 bases in 2007 and 2008.

Many of those still here have sent most of their belongings home and are living on the bare minimum.

And they are not the only ones who do not know when they will be leaving.

"The Iraqis would like to know as well -- it's frustrating," said Captain Ryan Edwards, commander of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment.

Edwards added that he was confident his domestic counterparts, whom he had been training for much of his deployment, were "ready".

Hayes painted a more nuanced picture of the forces Iraq would be left with.

"There's some security concerns," he noted. "I think the Iraqi army and police are capable of handling the current threat situation."

"I think if we saw a serious increase in violence, especially if that increase was caused by external influences, I think it could possibly exceed their capacity."

He added: "If it exceeds their capacity then my hope is that they'll be able to raise their hand and ask the world community for help. ... Whether they will or not that's the big question."

Related Links
Iraq: The first technology war of the 21st century




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Iraq general says 'forces not ready until 2020'
Baghdad (AFP) Oct 30, 2011 - Iraq will not be fully able to defend its borders and airspace until at least 2020, a watchdog quoted Iraq's top general as saying in a report on Sunday, months before US troops are to leave.

The Iraqi military's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, "estimated that it will take several more years before Iraq can provide for its external defence without assistance from international partners," said the report from the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR).

"General Zebari suggested that the (Ministry of Defence) will be unable to execute the full spectrum of external-defence missions until sometime between 2020 and 2024, citing (Iraqi government) funding shortfalls as the main reason for the delay," the report said.

"Iraq will not be able to defend its own airspace until 2020, at the earliest," Zebari told SIGIR, adding that "an army without an air force is exposed."

Iraq has ordered 18 F-16 warplanes from the United States, but it will be years before that force is fully operational.

Zebari has stated before that his forces will require training for another decade before they are fully capable of securing the country.

Iraq's military has been tied down by years of bloody internal conflict here, with US officers saying it needs to transition to a more traditional role of external defence.

US President Barack Obama announced on October 21 that all US soldiers will depart the country by the end of 2011, after protracted and ultimately failed negotiations with Iraq about a post-2011 US military training mission here.

The roughly 39,000 US soldiers still in Iraq are now in the process of drawing down, after a nearly nine-year campaign that has left thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi dead, with costs running into billions of dollars.



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