The last 8,000 US soldiers are preparing to leave Iraq

Less than a month before all U.S. troops be out of Iraq, the Pentagon is "prepared" to complete the withdrawal of 8,000 military and 5,000 contractors in the United States.UU. remaining in the country

Every day, around 800 American soldiers leave the Arab country, explained yesterday lieutenant general Frank g. Helmick, subcomandante general of the forces of United States in Iraq and responsible for overseeing the process of withdrawal of the troops.

The last American forces press conference from Iraq, Helmick considered "historic" the extent of the withdrawal, which began 18 months ago and received a final boost last October, when President Barack Obama announced that all troops would have left the country before 2012.

Then remained in Iraq about 40,000 soldiers, of which only about 200 remain there until the ceremony which will commemorate the end of the war, 30 or the u000aDecember 31.

If in 2007 United States was 505 United bases in the country, which had a size equivalent to the city of San Jose (California), today only five remain open, with a size similar to the of the neighborhood of the Bronx, said Helmick.

Withdrawal has demanded move "a mountain of equipment and personnel across the country", by which in the past year and a half, the vehicles of the Pentagon have traveled more than 25 million kilometers: the equivalent of 482 returns to Earth.

"This has been a very meticulous process focused on closing our operations in a very professional manner," said the general.

The transfer of equipment and personnel had been "no little incidents", said Helmick, and thousands of lorries that travel each week Iraqi roads make it under "a strict process of monitoring of the intelligence services".

The Pentagon will leave some of the equipment in the u000acountry, recognized the general, although there will be no military vehicles, weapons and ammunition, and other materials it relocate to Afghanistan, where the process of withdrawal of troops does not end until 2014.

American forces will leave behind a Iraq who now leads his own security operations from 2010 but, at the beginning of the war in 2003, even had an army of its own, recalled.

"Is not that we have reconstructed his army: what we built", said Helmick.

The 700,000 members of the security forces has today Iraq, between troops and police forces, after American face many challenges for the external security of his country, among which the general stressed threats from militias backed by the Iranians and those presented by Al Qaeda.

The largest gap to Helmick, is still precarious Iraqi air force, which is"not able even to defend" u000a"completely its air sovereignty", according to admitted.

The recent purchase of 16 aircraft gripens to United States and the training of its pilots will help to gradually close that gap, but make sure it is sealed at all is "responsibility to the Iraqi people," stressed.

American leadership has left behind curious problems, such as the difficulty of repairing vehicles Ford and Chevrolet to the forces of the United States.UU. they donated to the Iraqi police, given the scarcity of dealerships of those trade marks in the territory

, However, considered that the American campaign leaves behind a much more secure country, whose forces suffered around 600 attacks per week in 2007 and today they recorded less than 50.

Withdrawal of forces responds to the security agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad in December 2008, and ending a war that killed more than 4,400 US soldiers and at least 100,000 Iraqis.

Share this article

Digg it!

del.icio.us

MySpace

Facebook

Fark

Reddit

Newsvine