All our troops will be out of Iraq by 2009
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WYTKj8pU5M[/youtube]Gates: U.S. troops could stay in Iraq for years
MOSUL, Iraq — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said U.S. troops could remain in Iraq for years to come.
It would depend, he said, on what the Iraqis want and what Washington is willing to give.
Gates met soldiers of the 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, in Mosul, where — like the troops Gates met one day earlier in Baghdad — they asked if they would actually be staying beyond 2011, and if so, for how long.
“Well, I think that would be part of any negotiation,” Gates answered, “… whether it would be for a finite period of time, whether it would be negotiated that there be a further ramp down over a period of two or three years, or whether we would have a continuing advise-and-assist role that we have in a number of countries that just becomes part of a regular military-to-military relationship.”
