U.S. Commander Sees Troops Staying in Iraq for Years [View All]

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=5&u=/nm/20040218/ts_nm/iraq_sanchez_dc


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"I would say we're talking about years, not months," Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez told Spanish newspaper El Pais when asked how long the U.S. army would remain in Iraq.

"The Iraqis tell us they don't want us here, but nor do they want us to go. It's very complicated," he said.

Asked about Baghdad, where U.S. troops are moving to the outskirts to help ease newly trained Iraqi police and soldiers into their eventual role as the capital's guardians, Sanchez said tactical control remained firmly in the coalition's hands.

"The only thing that is changing is that we are giving Iraqi police officers and Civil Defense Corps soldiers a little bit more responsibility and they are starting to operate more freely," he was quoted as saying.