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Iraqi PM Tells US to Decide Mechanism for Troop Withdrawal

Associated Press

   BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S.
   secretary of state to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating
   the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, according to
   a statement released Friday.
   The statement, from the office of the Iraqi caretaker prime minister,
   said the request came in a telephone call between Abdul-Mahdi and U.S.
   Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday night. It says Pompeo called
   the Iraqi premier.
   Abdul-Mahdi's comments to Pompeo suggests he was standing by his
   previous statements that U.S troops should leave Iraq despite recent
   signals toward de-escalation between Tehran and Washington following
   the tit-for-tat attacks that brought Iraq to the brink of a proxy war.
   Tensions eased on Wednesday when President Donald Trump signaled that
   Washington was stepping away from escalation.
   The Iraqi prime minister said his country rejects all violations
   against its sovereignty, including the barrage of ballistic missiles
   that Iranian forces fired targeting against U.S. troops in Iraq and
   also America's violation of Iraq's airspace in the airstrike that
   killed a top Iranian general last week.
   The Iraqi leader asked Pompeo to ``send delegates to Iraq to prepare a
   mechanism to carry out the parliament's resolution regarding the
   withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq,'' the statement said.
   "The prime minister said American forces had entered Iraq and drones
   are flying in its airspace without permission from Iraqi authorities
   and this was a violation of the bilateral agreements," the statement
   added.
   Top American military officials including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of
   the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper have
   said there were no plans for the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq.
   Iraqi lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution to oust U.S. troops
   following a strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and
   senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis last Friday.
   The latest escalation was set off when a rocket attack blamed on the
   Iranian-backed militia group Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades,
   caused the death of an American contractor at a base in Kirkuk
   province. The U.S. replied with a barrage of strikes on the militia's
   bases, killing at least 25 people.