DID Press: Lawrence Wilkerson, a former chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, has said that Iraqi political leaders, including the country’s current prime minister, privately asked Washington to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, amid concerns over the American military presence and alleged Israeli activities inside the country.
In a recent media interview, Wilkerson said Iraqi officials were reluctant to make such requests publicly because of concerns about the consequences, but that the issue became more explicit after what he described as the discovery of Israeli bases in western Iraqi deserts established with U.S. assistance.
According to Wilkerson’s account, Iraqi forces initially sent a lightly armed unit to investigate the alleged facilities and came under fire, resulting in casualties. He said that after Iraq deployed a larger force, Israeli and U.S. personnel withdrew from the area.
Wilkerson said the United States should now leave Iraq, while arguing that Washington’s broader strategy in the Middle East has historically sought to maintain a regional presence. He said the current developments could nevertheless lead to a broader U.S. withdrawal from the region.
Wilkerson is a retired U.S. Army colonel and former chief of staff to Colin Powell. He has been a longstanding critic of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and subsequent U.S. policy in the Middle East.