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Iraqs premier Adel Abdel Mahdi confirmed Tuesday that he had received what the US said was a draft letter describing steps its military would take to “move out” of Iraq.
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The Pentagon had said an unsigned draft version of the letter had been mistakenly sent, but the Iraqi premier disputed that claim.
In a cabinet meeting televised on Tuesday evening, Abdel Mahdi said he had received signed and translated copies at 8:00pm local time (1700 GMT) Monday.
The letter discussed “redeploying with an aim to withdraw from the country. The expressions were very clear,” he said.
The Iraqi prime minister said preliminary versions received in Arabic and English included a translation mistake, so his office requested a correction from the US military and new versions were duly sent.
“It was an official letter written in such a manner,” Abdel Mahdi told ministers.
“Its not a piece of paper that fell off the printer or reached us by coincidence,” he said.
AFP received a copy of the letter late Monday and verified its authenticity with both US and Iraqi officials.
In it, the head of Task Force-Iraq US Brigadier General William Seely informed his Iraqi counterparts that American troops were prepRead More – Source
