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Iraq troop withdrawal on schedule despite attacks
WASHINGTON The United States is on track to complete withdrawal of its troops by the end of 2011, despite recent violent attacks which seem calculated to disrupt that timetable, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.Suicide bombings this week have left at least 116 people dead in Iraq and injured scores more. These spectacular attacks are perpetrated to try to derail the process but thus far the Iraqi security forces have handled those, they havent asked us for assistance, said spokesman David Lapan. Our plan is to still to have all our forces out by the end of the year. Were still on our timeline." There are still some 50,000 US troops in Iraq, where the United States formally ended its combat mission on August 31 of last year. US military operations now are primarily focused on advising and training local forces. Posted by: Steve White 2011-01-21 |
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