U.S. military pushes back on reports it may withdraw troops from Iraq

Jonathan Lord, senior fellow and director of the Middle East Security program at the Center for New American Security, a Washington D.C. think tank, said the prime minister’s comments so far have been “pretty non-committal.”

“I don’t think anyone is racing to show us the door. I think perhaps the Iraqis are racing to be seen as showing us the door to otherwise pacify a pretty incensed political block in the government,” he said.

Lord also said that the Iraqi prime minister has to be careful because a U.S. withdrawal under this context could be seen as setting “a precedent where these militias now dictate security policy in Iraq.”

“There’s a lot more at stake here for the Iraqis than just – do we shed the weight of 2,500 U.S. service members in our country and all the political grief that comes with that,” Lord said.

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