Panetta Presses Iraq for Decision on Keeping U.S. Troops Longer
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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Iraqi leaders to decide quickly on whether they want U.S. troops to stay in the country longer and he pressed them to act forcefully against alleged Iranian-backed militias targeting the force.
In separate meetings with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, Panetta stressed the U.S. is running out of time to alter its plan to withdraw the 46,000 soldiers that remain in the country by Dec. 31, said Doug Wilson, a Pentagon spokesman who attended the meetings in Baghdad yesterday. Panetta didn’t express a position on whether Iraq should request an extension, he said.