Iraq Concerned With Troops, Economy

[unhappycamper]

Iraq Concerned With Troops, Economy
September 27, 2008
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS - Iraq's foreign minister says "there is a new world now" because of the global financial crisis and he hopes it won't lead to an immediate withdrawal of the 146,000 American troops in his country.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said a precipitous withdrawal could have consequences for the country and the region that everyone would regret afterward.

Zebari is due to meet Saturday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in New York, where he was attending the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting.

He said he didn't have any indications that the U.S. administration was thinking about pushing for a speedier exit from Iraq, where it has spent more than $550 billion, because of the financial meltdown.

"But this is the logic of the dance," Zebari told the AP on Friday. "Nobody anticipated this major crisis, and still there are ongoing efforts to overcome it, to contain its impact, bail out some of these companies with a huge infusion of cash. But the crisis is evident everywhere."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/iraq-concerned-with-troops-economy.html?col=1186032310810



uhc comment: IIRC we had 132,000 soldiers on the ground before the surge escalation.