Word: iraq
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...officials had worried that last month's formal handover of control of Iraqi cities to Iraqi security forces might erode gains that had already been made. But Gates said Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. general in Iraq, told him the security situation is better than expected...
President Barack Obama has announced plans to withdraw American combat forces from Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010. The bulk of the current 138,000 U.S. troops are expected to remain until Iraq's national elections, scheduled for late this year. Maintaining security for the balloting is considered a top priority by Odierno and other high-ranking Pentagon officials...
Before leaving Iraq, Gates warned squabbling Kurds and Iraqi Arabs that they don't have much time to settle their differences and offered to help mediate before American forces leave...
Gates talked with Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and other leaders on their home ground in the Kurds' oil-rich, self-ruled area. "We urged them to take advantage of our remaining time in Iraq to settle some of these disputed issues," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters. (Read "With U.S. Pullout, Iraq Takes Ownership...
...however, had become an embarrassing inconvenience to Baghdad's increasingly cozy ties to Tehran. Although Iraq has repeatedly said it is in its own national interest to remove the group, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in late February, left little doubt as to what he expected the Iraqis to do. "We await the implementation of our agreement regarding the expulsion of the hypocrites," he was quoted as saying...