Sheikh Sabeeh al-Ani, chief of the al-Ani tribe, says that the sooner US forces withdraw the better the future for his people and the future of Iraq. – “Those who want American forces to stay are only their supporters; the Americans are only protecting them, not the Iraqis. We are not benefiting from their presence”.[1]
Barry Posen. “The risks of staying vs. leaving Iraq”. Boston Globe. April 19th, 2007 – ‘Supporters of the war predict six major disasters if US forces withdraw: – “The current civil war (or wars) will escalate. Fighting may indeed intensify after a US disengagement. To come to an understanding of how wealth and power in Iraq will be shared, the political forces there must measure their relative capacity and will. The United States now stands in the way of such a measurement, and the US presence delegitimizes any outcome. The promise of a certain US withdrawal date may clear the heads of some Iraqi politicians ; a negotiated settlement could start to look better to them than an escalation of fighting.”
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