US Troops will Leave Iraq by Year-End

Stop Fundamentalism – AP reported Saturday that all US troops will leave Iraq before the end of 2011 except 160 active-duty soldiers attached to the US Embassy in Baghdad.

There had been many discussions that the US may leave about 30,000 to 40,000 troops in Iraq after the end of the year.  The troops mostly would participate in training Iraqi military units and security forces.

No reason for the sudden change in plans has been given by the American officials yet, but Iraq’s refusal to provide legal immunity to American personnel may have played a major role, AP says.

The decision has been made despite an obvious danger that the Iranian regime will try to fill the vacuum of power in that country which would definitely lead to more instability in the region.

Over 4400 American military soldiers have died in eight years of this country’s involvement in Iraq. Some have described leaving Iraq in the situation as it is to giving the country to its neighbor Iran in a silver plate.

Some Iraqi leaders have expressed hope that the United States would stay past the 2011 year-end.

There are currently 41000 US troops in Iraq and AP says almost all of them will be going out of Iraq into Kuwait before they go home or are dispatched to other places.