Nonsense to get rid of foreign troops now, says Iraqi president

It would be “complete nonsense” to ask US and other foreign troops to leave Iraq now but some of the 170,000 soldiers could be leaving by the end of the year, the nation’s interim president said today.

“It’s only complete nonsense to ask the troops to leave in this chaos and this vacuum of power,” said Ghazi al-Yawer in Baghdad.

He said foreign troops should leave only after Iraq’s security forces are built up, the country’s security situation has improved and some pockets of terrorists are eliminated.

“By the end of this year, we could see the number of foreign troops decreasing,” al-Yawer said.

Al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab, had been a strong critic of some aspects of the US military operation in Iraq, including the three week Marine siege of the Sunni rebel city of Fallujah in April.

Al-Yawer helped negotiate an end to that siege. But the city fell into the hands of insurgents and religious zealots, forcing the Marines to recapture Fallujah last November in some of the heaviest urban combat for American forces since the Vietnam war.

“There were some mistakes” in the occupation “but to be fair, I think all in all it was positive, the contribution of the foreign forces in Iraq,” al-Yawer said. “It was worth it.”

Al-Yawer was asked whether the presence of foreign troops might be making the security situation worse by serving as a lightening rod for rebel attacks.

He said foreign troops were “invited” to remain in Iraq after the June 28 transfer of sovereignty, when the US-led occupation formally ended.

“The foreign troops had been invited after the 28th of June by the government, including myself, because the security situation,” al-Yawer said.

He acknowledged that the US-led invasion and the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship had caused problems in the country.

“Yes, the foreign forces are part of the problem and right now we are trying to have them as part of the solution,” al-Yawer said. “Well, getting rid of Saddam is one of the best achievements that the foreign troops had done because we needed this solution.

“But then there were a few mistakes during the war. If you do not work, you don’t make mistakes. But if you work, you make mistakes.”