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U.S. shutters northern headquarters in Iraq
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Oct 20, 2011 10:00pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Friday, October 21, 2011 03:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Dan Zak, Thursday, October 20, 3:41 PM
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military closed the second of its three regional headquarters in Iraq on Thursday, redeploying 750 soldiers, consolidating command of nationwide operations under a single Army unit and maintaining a rapid pace of withdrawal 10 weeks before the expiration of its security agreement with Baghdad.
A ceremony at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, 110 miles north of the capital, honored the 4th Infantry Division for its year-long command of the north division of Iraq and marked the second deactivation of a headquarters unit within the past six weeks.
Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, praised the troops’ training partnership with Iraqi forces in the region.
“As you well know, northern Iraq . . . is an area that greatly impacts security in other parts of the country, as extremist groups such as al-Qaeda have used the Tigris River Valley and other northern locations as staging areas to launch attacks,” Austin said. “It is also an area that offers great economic potential while at the same time presenting complex political challenges.”
The north division, as defined under Operation New Dawn, includes the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk as well as Iraqi Kurdistan, whose borders with Iran and Turkey remain restive. As the U.S. military carried out its deactivation ceremony, 10,000 Turkish soldiers engaged in a ground offensive against Kurdish rebels who had attacked border towns Wednesday, the Turkish military said. |
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