‘It was a mistake’: Pentagon backtracks on Iraq troop withdrawal amid chaos over general’s letter
(Worthy News) – The most senior U.S. military officer said that a letter appearing to announce an American troop withdrawal from Iraq was “a mistake” and should not have been sent to officials in Baghdad.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the letter from the top U.S. commander in Iraq was a poorly worded draft that was being worked on with the Iraqi government. “It was a mistake,” he said, adding that U.S. troops were not pulling out.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said there had been “no decision whatsoever to leave Iraq.” Confusion over the meaning and validity of the letter sent Pentagon officials scrambling. The letter from Marine Corps Brigadier Gen. William Seely to Iraq’s Ministry of Defense informed the Baghdad government of a “repositioning of forces over the course of the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement.”