Kurdish official warns against early U.S. withdrawal

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: A premature withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq may lead to the emergence of ethnic and sectarian disputes in the country, a spokesperson for the border guard forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan region said on Sunday. “All Iraqi officials believe that the United States should withdraw according to schedule by the end of 2011, but serious repercussions may result from an early U.S. army pullout from Iraq,” Jabbar Yawer told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Terrorism is still threatening Iraq…,” Yawer noted. In his speech upon taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama said that the United States will leave Iraq to Iraqis. Obama echoed key promises from his historic election campaign by saying: “we will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people.” On November 27, 2008, the Iraqi Parliament passed a security pact with the United States, known as the status-of-forces agreement (SOFA), 10 days after the Iraqi cabinet approved it with an overwhelming majority. SS (P) 1