A hasty departure of US troops from Iraq would carry severe risks, including bolstering Al-Qaeda and threatening Iraqi progress toward a functioning society, the outgoing US ambassador said on Thursday.
A hasty departure of US troops from Iraq would carry severe risks, including bolstering Al-Qaeda and threatening Iraqi progress toward a functioning society, the outgoing US ambassador said on Thursday.
US Ambassador Ryan Crocker spoke to reporters a day after he and the top US commander in Iraq briefed President Barack Obama on the situation here.
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Obama, who campaigned on a promise to end the war, asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning was necessary to "execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq," the White House said on Wednesday.
Crocker, who is retiring after a 30-year diplomatic career, declined to say what he and Gen Ray Odierno told the president during the video hookup. But he noted that the president was committed to a responsible pullout of the more than 140,000-strong US force.
"A precipitous withdrawal runs some very severe risks," Crocker said, including a possible revival of Al-Qaeda and encouraging "neighbors with less than benign intentions" to influence events in Iraq.
He said Al-Qaeda had been 'much weakened' due to setbacks on the battlefield and a loss of support within the Sunni Arab community.
"But as long as they can cling to some handhold here, they are going to keep trying to literally fight their way back," Crocker said.
"And perhaps most important it would have a chilling effect on Iraqis," he said of a quick US departure. "I think the spirit of compromise, of accommodation, of focus on institutional development - all of that would run the risk of getting set aside."
Iraqi officials have said they hope the new administration will stick by the timeline set down in the US-Iraq security agreement that took effect this month. The deal provides for US combat troops to leave the cities by the end of June, with all US troops gone from the country by 2012.
"We are prepared for the worst possibilities," Defence Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi told reporters Thursday. "We cannot leave our country whether these forces withdraw or not. We have plans for the worst possibilities and we mean it."
The chairman of the parliamentary defence committee, Abbas al-Bayati, said on Wednesday that Iraq has drawn up contingency plans in case Obama orders a speeded-up withdrawal.
Obama called during the campaign for a pullout of all US combat troops from within 16 months of taking office.
Although Crocker spoke of the risks of a 'precipitous withdrawal,' he said that "it's clear that's not the direction in which this is trending."
A Sunni insurgent group, the Mujahedeen Army, said Obama's plans don't seem much different from those of former President George W Bush and urged him to remove all US troops, according to the Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorism messages.
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