MAJOR UPDATE: Secretary of Defense Mark Esper says there are NO plans to leave Iraq and he’s trying to find out where this letter came from:
#BREAKING @EsperDoD can't confirm whether the letter to Iraqi DM from Gen Seely is real but says there has be no decision for US forces to leave #Iraq . To #Iran, "the ball is in your court" to deescalate and the US is open to sitting down.
— Carla Babb (@CarlaBabbVOA) January 6, 2020
"I don't know what that letter is," says @EsperDoD. "We're trying to find out where that's coming from, what that is. But there's been no decision made to leave Iraq. Period." pic.twitter.com/8AXb9IAfPM
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 6, 2020
MAJOR UPDATE 2: It was apparently a rough draft that wasn’t supposed to be sent…
5 minutes after leaving press room at DodD, Gen. Milley turned around and came back in, telling us the letter US sent to Iraqis about withdrawal was a "draft" and it was a "mistake." Wasn't meant to be sent. No US troops are leaving.
— paul mcleary (@paulmcleary) January 6, 2020
Gen. Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters that a letter going around stating the US was leaving Iraq was a poorly written and incorrect draft that never should have gotten out. Nobody's leaving Iraq, he said.
— Mike Glenn (@mrglenn) January 6, 2020
* * * * PREVIOUS REPORTING * * * *
The Department of Defense has just notified the Iraqi Parliament that it will be leaving Iraq in the next few weeks per their order:
BIG BREAKING: US Army informs Iraq's Ministry of Defense in a letter that they would be moving out of the country over next few days and weeks. 'We respect your sovereign decision to order our departure', US Army writes in the letter to Ministry of Defense, Iraq. pic.twitter.com/GSfkVbstjT
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) January 6, 2020
Walid Phares was on with Fox News this morning and he said the vote in the parliament didn’t include the Sunnis or the Kurds, but rather it was just the pro-Iranian Shiites voting to oust the US from Iran.
I’m not sure to where the US Army will relocate, but I hope it’s close by given the threats we are hearing from Iran in the aftermath of Soleimani’s death.
UPDATE: “Pentagon to begin sending 6 B-52s to Diego Garcia”
Pentagon to begin sending 6 B-52s to Diego Garcia: US official. B-52s will be available for operations against Iran if ordered, the official said. But the deployment does not signal that operations have been ordered. #Iran #Solemani
— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) January 6, 2020
Diego Garcia is a small British island about 2500 miles south of Iran.