Some Egyptian strategic experts and former diplomats have asserted that the U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for many years although President George W. Bush announced a gradual reduction of U.S. troops from that war-torn country.
The United States, whose military presence in Iraq is related with its strategic interest in the Middle East region, will not pull out its troops from Iraq in the near future, said Gamal Mazloum, a retired Egyptian major general and an expert at the Egyptian office of the London-based Gulf Center for Strategic Studies.
Mazloum told Xinhua on Sunday that the U.S. troops would not leave Iraq until Washington's strategic aims in the Middle East region are achieved.
He held that the U.S. strategic interest in the Middle East region is involved with the files of Iran, Syria, Iraq, as well as Egypt, ruling out a quick U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq and a change in the U.S. policy on the Middle East.
Essam Hawas, Egypt's ex-ambassador to the UN, is an echo of Mazloum's opinions, saying that "the United States didn't send its troops out for a 'picnic', so it will not withdraw the troops until they achieve their goals."
He held that Bush "is not serious" about the announcement of a gradual troop withdrawal from Iraq, which aimed to alleviate the domestic anger and pressure from the American public and Democrats due to the U.S. failure in Iraq.
Yefaat Sayed Ahmed, also an Egyptian strategic expert, noted that the United States will remain a long-term military presence in Iraq because it didn't achieve its strategic goals in the Iraqi war, which includes turning Iraq into a U.S. proxy and realizing the target of so-called "Iraqi democracy".
Arab countries will not send troops to Iraq as "it will be a trap for Arab troops", Ahmed asserted.
Under growing domestic pressure, Bush announced Thursday a partial pullback of about 30,000 troops from Iraq by next summer, while warning a full withdrawal could endanger the survival of the Iraqi government.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that the U.S. troops would probably stay in Iraq for a "protracted period" despite gradual withdrawal.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration's withdrawal plan is still short of satisfying Democrats and most public, who have demanded for much larger size of troops' reduction from Iraq.
Source: Xinhua
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